Fire by Design: Fire Bowls, Gas Tiki Torches & Water Features Explained

By the Outdoor Heat Direct fire feature team · Authorized Fire by Design dealer · Reviewed September 2026

Tiki torch output

25,000 BTU/hr per head

Torch pole height

68" above grade (80" total)

AWEIS wind rating

55 mph stays lit, auto-relight

Supply pressure

7–14" water column

What does Fire by Design actually make?

The catalog splits into four things: cast concrete vessels, gas burners and pans, electronic ignition systems, and permanent gas tiki torches.

The vessels come in named series — Aspen, Aura, Banded Rim, Belize, Biltmore, Elevate, Executive, Fire Cube, Geo, Legacy, Linear, Manhattan, Midway, Oblique, Round Cube, Spartan, Tuscany, Vessel, Wok and Zen. Most series are offered in three body styles: fire only, fire and water (a scupper that sheets water into a pool), and fire on water (burner submerged, flame appears to float).

The torches are the part most people get wrong. They are not oil torches. They are plumbed gas appliances on a permanent pole. We carry the full range in the Fire by Design collection, with bowls broken out under Fire by Design fire bowls.

Why is almost every Fire by Design bowl made of GFRC?

GFRC means glass fiber reinforced concrete. Instead of steel rebar, the concrete matrix carries alkali-resistant glass fibers, which lets the wall section be thin. Fire by Design describes its bowls as "lightweight, durable GFRC construction."

That matters three ways. A 36" GFRC bowl can be set by two people instead of a crane. It does not corrode the way carbon steel does, so it suits pool decks and coastal sites. And it takes a cast finish, so a bowl reads as stone without the weight of stone.

The tradeoff is spelled out in the warranty: "Small stress cracks and surface crazing are a natural occurrence in concrete and not covered by warranty." That is how cast concrete behaves outdoors. If hairline crazing on a matte surface will bother you, buy spun copper or steel instead; our whole GFRC category runs 419 products if you want to compare across brands.

Metal appears where it has to. Torch heads use 16-gauge spun copper or stainless steel; burner pans are stainless or aluminum; burner rings are stainless.

Which Fire by Design fire bowls should you price out?

Below are live Outdoor Heat Direct prices for natural gas builds. Every model is also sold in propane; propane adds roughly $17 on match lit and about $500 on electronic ignition, because the propane AWEIS build is different hardware.

Prices are live Outdoor Heat Direct pricing as of September 2026 and change. "From" is the smallest size in that configuration.

Read the spread between the last two columns. On the 24" Legacy Round, going from match lit to AWEIS adds $1,625.64. That is the single biggest decision in a Fire by Design quote, and it is worth understanding before you pick a bowl.

What is the real difference between match lit and AWEIS?

Match lit means no pilot and no electronics. You open a key valve, hold a long lighter over the burner, and the media lights. Close the valve to shut it down. Nothing to fail, nothing to power, nothing to service. We sell the key valve as a separate line: $60 for side-of-bowl installation, $185 installed on the bowl.

AWEIS stands for All Weather Electronic Ignition System. It adds a pilot burner, a flame-sensing circuit, a gas valve and a control board. You hit a switch, remote or timer; the system sparks the pilot, proves flame, opens the main valve, and monitors flame continuously. If wind blows it out, it relights. If it cannot prove flame, it shuts the gas.

Fire by Design rates AWEIS to stay lit in rain and in winds up to 55 mph with automatic relight. It is certified to ANSI Z21.97:2014 / CSA 2.41:2014 for Outdoor Decorative Gas Appliances by LabTest Certification under certificate 14394-1G Rev.0. Browse what we stock under ignition systems and remote controls.

Which Fire by Design ignition system fits your project?

There are four families, not one. A common misconception is that "Penta" is a Fire by Design ignition — it is not. Penta describes a pentagon-shaped burner used by other manufacturers. Fire by Design's own systems are these:

Note the Vulcan Fire Module's 25,000 BTU rating — exactly a tiki torch head. That is why the warranty groups "Vulcan Fire Modules & Tiki Torches" under one term. AWEIS pilot burners come in 12", 18", 24" and 30" lengths with extensions, so the pilot is sized to the burner.

How do Fire by Design gas tiki torches actually work?

A Fire by Design gas tiki torch is a decorative head on an aluminum pole with a gas line running up the inside. No canister, no wick, no citronella, no refilling. You run gas to the base, set the pole, connect the head, and it burns on demand.

The head is what you pick for looks. All heads share the same mechanicals: 25,000 BTU/hr, a 1/2" FIP inlet, and a stainless steel base and burner under the decorative sleeve. Copper Cone heads are 16-gauge spun copper; the rest are stainless, with the Bamboo sleeve laser cut.

Two versions of each head exist. Manual light torches use a key valve at the base. Automated torches carry a 24VAC electronic ignition with transformer and installation instructions included, so one wall switch, timer or remote runs the whole line at once.

All heads: 25,000 BTU/hr, 1/2" FIP inlet, natural gas or propane. Poles and mounts sold separately. Propane runs about $32–$49 less per head than natural gas on these models. Live Outdoor Heat Direct pricing, September 2026.

How do you plan a gas tiki torch installation?

This is where most torch projects go wrong, and there is almost no good published guidance on it. Work through it in this order.

1. Fix the flame height first. The Fire by Design aluminum pole is 80" long and stands 68" above grade once the 12" base pole is set. Add the head and the flame sits roughly at eye level for a standing adult. That is deliberate — it puts light on faces and on the path, not in your eyes when seated. If your torches will line a sunken patio or a raised deck, check the sightline from where people will actually sit.

2. Space them off the path, not off each other. Fire by Design does not publish a spacing specification. Our own field guidance, based on installs we have supplied: 8 to 12 feet on center along a walkway, and 4 torches minimum to read as a deliberate rhythm rather than an accident. Two torches flanking an entry is the other pattern that works. Three in a row looks unfinished.

3. Size the gas for the whole run, not one torch. Each head draws 25,000 BTU/hr. Six torches is 150,000 BTU/hr on one line — that is our arithmetic, not a manufacturer figure, but it is the number your plumber needs. Installation instructions call for a 1/2" gas stub and gas line at 7" to 14" water column. On natural gas that is usually a meter and line-sizing conversation. On propane, a 20 lb cylinder holds roughly 430,000 BTU, so a single torch runs about 17 hours per tank — our calculation, and a good reason to run torches off a buried tank rather than cylinders.

4. Get the electrical right if you chose automated. Automated torches run on 24VAC. The installation instructions call for minimum 14-gauge wire on individual runs, 12-gauge when daisy chaining, one transformer per two torches, and explicitly: do not daisy chain more than 2 tiki torches. Rough in the gas and electrical in the same 12"-deep hole at the pole location, and leave 8 feet of wire beyond the end of the conduit.

Do you need a pole, a deck mount, or a pedestal?

There are two factory mounting paths and they are not interchangeable.

The aluminum powder-coated pole ($302.67) is for soil: 80" of aluminum tubing, powder coated black against corrosion, shipped with a 12" base pole set in the ground to carry it. Use it in planting beds, turf and landscape edges.

The deck mount ($200.00) is for hard surfaces — concrete, pavers, hardscape. It bolts down and accepts the same pole. If your torches land on a pool deck or patio slab, coordinate this with the slab pour or core drilling before anything gets finished.

There is no wall-mount bracket in the Fire by Design line. If someone quotes you a wall-mounted Fire by Design torch, they are adapting hardware from elsewhere and putting the factory warranty on the head at risk. Poles and bases for every brand we carry sit under torch posts; the wider torches collection covers 15 products.

What is the difference between a fire bowl, a fire & water bowl, and fire on water?

A fire bowl burns gas over media in a dry vessel. A fire and water bowl adds a scupper on the face: water is pumped up from the pool, fills a channel, and sheets out below the flame, so it needs a plumbed feed and a pump and normally sits on a pedestal at the pool edge. A fire on water bowl — Fire by Design calls these Submersible Fire on Water — puts the burner below the water line so flame appears to sit on the surface, and it requires the SUBEIS submersible ignition rather than standard AWEIS.

Prices track that complexity. The 39" Wok is $2,972.57 as a fire bowl and $5,842.48 in the submersible fire-on-water build. Shop across brands in fire & water bowls (96 products) or water bowls (59) if you want water without flame.

What does the Fire by Design warranty actually cover?

Fire by Design publishes term lengths by component rather than one blanket number. Verbatim from the current limited warranty:

• Bowls: "(2) years from delivery date"
• Fire Rings: "Lifetime Warranty"
• Burner Pans, stainless steel: "(5) years"
• Burner Pans, aluminum: "Lifetime Warranty"
• Electronic Ignition Systems: "(1) year from date of purchase for Commercial Applications and (3) years from date of purchase for Residential Applications"
• Vulcan Fire Modules & Tiki Torches: "(1) year from the date of purchase"

Coverage is against "defective material and workmanship," and for field-serviceable ignition parts "a replacement part will be provided at no charge." It excludes "misuse, neglect, accident, incorrect wiring" and "any incidental or consequential damages." Keep your invoice: "The original purchasing information such as an invoice or product serial number is required on all warranty returns." Installation documents sit on our manuals and guides page.

Who should not buy Fire by Design?

Three cases. If you want to buy today and burn tonight, look elsewhere — these are made to order and typically ship in 10 to 15 business days. If you want a portable propane fire pit to drag around the yard, GFRC vessels are the wrong tool; they get set once. And if hairline crazing will bother you, the warranty says plainly it is not covered, so buy metal.

If you want a permanent, plumbed, code-certified fire feature that still looks correct in ten years, this is one of the few brands building torches, bowls and ignition hardware under one roof.

Fire by Design: common questions