Learn How to Build a Self-Feeding Campfire That Will Burn for 14 Hours Straight

Camping is one of the best outdoor activities you can experience, but it has its challenges. One of the most labor-intensive camping tasks is keeping your campfire going all through the night. Fire is necessary to keep your campsite warm. The blaze also drives away any animals who may want to get to your food and other supplies.

Often, though, campers stay up all night to make sure that the fire doesn’t die. It’s a bummer to have to constantly feed the campfire with logs when you already want to get some sleep. Then again, the thought of waking up in the middle of the night or in the early hours of the morning because you’re freezing is even more painful.

This is the setup for the self-feeding campfire.

A former Biology teacher-turned-outdoor enthusiast named Bob Hansler tried out a setup that would guarantee a blaze that would continue to burn even when nobody is up to feed it fresh logs. Hansler pointed out that he had learned about the self-feeding fire setup from other outdoor enthusiasts. However, since he hadn’t seen anyone actually execute it, he thought he would give it a try. If done right, the campire would burn for 14 hours or so straight.

In a Popular Mechanics article, Timothy Dahl explained:

“The premise of this self-feeding campfire design is that two ramps are setup across from each other and loaded up with even sized wood logs which meet in the center. Kindling is used to start the fire, and large wood sticks are inserted between the bottom logs to provide proper ventilation. The ends of the bottom logs should also be clear of wood and debris so the fire can breathe.”

Watch and learn!

Dahl added:

“Once lit, the fire should maintain an even burn over the course of a few hours and even into the wee hours of the morning. As your night winds down, just remove the logs you don’t intend to burn and let the fire burn out or just extinguish it on your own.”