We attended the overland expo in Flagstaff in May of this year and found this really interesting product called the Lava Box. It was a bit of an expensive replacement to the Amazon propane fire pit we used. We decided to drop a huge pot of cash on this product.
Well we had a busy summer and finally got out camping again on labor Day weekend. Up in the mountains of Arizona, a rainy chilly night pushed away from the burning embers and we set this little guy up just outside the awning. It came on, and we felt some heat. But the flame was not adjustable with the dial on the regulator. Kind of weird. We hung out for a while and turned in.
The next night we fired it up again and a little flame entertained us for a while. But it didn’t create a significant amount of heat and sent one of us off to bed to warm up. I fiddled with the regulator a bit and found it to be the defective piece. At some point while turning it up, it will click, and an uncontrolled inferno erupts from the Lava Box. I’m talking 6 foot flames and a roar of gas causing me to lurch back. Several attempts to regulate and I gave up and watched the little flame dance in the breeze while I zipped up my fleece.
The last attempt on our final morning of camping I played with the regulator, vacillating between a minuscule flame and a fireball that chased my girlfriend away until I tweaked it to something that provided heat without signaling the forest service with a heat signature that might indicate danger.
I’ll call their service department and have them send a new regulator. Lesson for me, test equipment at home.