Fueling and Igniting Fire Features

Outdoor patio at sunset featuring a linear fire table, a round stone fire pit, and a fire-and-water bowl overlooking the water.

Introduction: Fuel and Ignition Are Two Separate Decisions

Every gas fire feature involves two separate decisions that customers often blend together: what fuel it runs on, and how it gets lit. They're easy to conflate because both show up on the same product page, but they're genuinely independent choices — any of the five ignition types Ridgecrest tracks can pair with either natural gas or propane.

This article walks through both decisions separately: the fuel landscape (natural gas vs. propane, and what they share), and the ignition landscape (from the simplest manual match lit through fully automatic electronic ignition), then brings them together into a practical framework for comparing products.

Key Takeaways

Fuel choice (natural gas vs. propane) and ignition choice (match lit through electronic ignition) are independent decisions — any ignition type works with either fuel.

Propane favors portability and lower upfront cost; natural gas favors continuous, unlimited fuel with no refilling but a permanent installation.

Ignition ranges from manual (match lit) to fully automatic (electronic ignition), and outlet-powered or hardwired electronic systems will not ignite the feature during a power outage.

Treat published cost figures and market-tier positioning as illustrative, not settled — get a local quote and talk with a Ridgecrest Guide to match fuel and ignition choices to your space.

Not sure which fuel or ignition type fits your space? Talk with a Ridgecrest Guide and we'll walk through it with you.

Direct Answer: Choose Your Fuel, Then Choose Your Ignition

Start by choosing a fuel — natural gas or liquid propane are the two dominant options for residential fire features — based on whether you want a permanent, continuous-supply installation or a portable, tank-based setup. Then, separately, choose an ignition type — ranging from manual match lit to fully automatic electronic ignition — based on how much convenience and automation you want and are willing to pay for.

These two choices combine independently: a natural gas fire pit can use match lit ignition just as easily as a propane fire table can use electronic ignition. Neither fuel forces a particular ignition type, and vice versa.

Detailed Discussion

Choosing Your Fuel: Natural Gas vs. Propane

Regardless of fuel, any gas fire feature shares the same basic delivery components — burner, regulator, hose/flex line, a manual shutoff (key) valve, a quick-connect fitting, and an orifice — and the same general safety and code baseline: an accessible manual shutoff valve, referenced against codes such as NFPA 54 and ANSI Z21.97/CSA 2.41.

The most consistently corroborated trade-off in the research is straightforward: propane offers lower upfront/installation cost and full portability (a tank-based setup with nothing to permanently connect), while natural gas offers a continuous, unlimited fuel supply with nothing to refill or exchange, at the cost of a permanent, dedicated gas-line installation that generally costs more upfront and ties the feature to one location.

Cost specifics are genuinely inconsistent across sources and are deliberately not repeated here as settled figures: natural-gas installation-cost estimates vary as much as 3 to 6 times across sources, and propane operating-cost estimates still conflict even after adjusting for BTU output. Treat any single published cost figure as a rough starting point and get a local, product-specific quote.

Some products support converting between natural gas and propane by swapping the burner orifice — worth asking about if you want flexibility to change fuel later. Ridgecrest's Fremont fire table line, for example, is sold in both natural gas and liquid propane versions across every ignition type below.

How Ignition Works

Every gas ignition system needs a way to safely start, and in most cases continuously monitor, the flame. The core components behind this — in different combinations depending on ignition type — are a thermocouple or thermopile, a flame rod (flame rectification), a spark or piezo igniter, a hot-surface igniter, a safety shutoff valve, and an ignition control module. For a deeper technical walkthrough of how these parts work together, see HVACR School's explainer on ignitor types.

Fire feature ignition systems are generally referenced against gas-appliance safety standards such as ANSI Z21.97 and CSA 2.41, though specific outdoor performance figures (such as particular wind- or rain-resistance test results) were found to be single-sourced in this research and should not be cited as precise, industry-wide numbers.

Ignition is a completely separate, fuel-agnostic layer from fuel choice: the ignition type you pick works the same way whether the burner runs on natural gas or propane.

The Five Ignition Types, Compared

Ridgecrest organizes ignition into five categories, from the simplest and least expensive to the most automated. Manufacturers don't always use this same vocabulary — the same product is sometimes labeled differently by different resellers — so Ridgecrest content uses these five category names as the house standard regardless of what a specific manufacturer calls its product.

Match lit is the simplest and most affordable type: you manually light the burner with a long lighter or match after opening the gas valve. It has no automatic safety shutoff, is commonly rated up to around 65,000 BTU, and — having no electronics — is often positioned as the most mechanically reliable option. See an example: Fremont fire table, Match Lit.

Match lit with flame sense keeps the manual lighting but adds an automatic flame-sensing safety shutoff (typically a thermocouple) that cuts gas flow if the flame goes out. Note: a reseller listing for this category was found describing battery/spark features inconsistent with the manufacturer's own installation manual for the same product — always verify the mechanism against manufacturer documentation, not retail copy, when in doubt. See an example: Fremont fire table, Match Lit w/ Flame Sense.

Plug-and-play is a fully automatic, push-button system powered by a standard household electrical outlet (110V/120V) rather than a battery. It's simple wherever a GFCI-protected outdoor outlet is available, but it cannot ignite the feature during a power outage, and it's a newer, less mature category overall — at least one manufacturer's plug-and-play product was still listed as “coming soon” at the time of this research. See an example: Fremont fire table, Plug-and-Play.

Flame sense with spark ignition is the fully automatic counterpart to match lit with flame sense: a battery-powered spark igniter lights the burner, paired with the same flame-sensing safety shutoff. Market positioning for this type varies by source — some retailers treat it as a premium tier, others as a mid-tier option below fully electronic systems — so don't assume one fixed price tier when comparing products. See an example: Fremont fire table, Flame Sense w/ Spark Ignition.

Electronic ignition is the broadest category — an umbrella term for any fully automatic, push-button system, whether battery-powered, outlet-powered (plug-and-play), or hardwired into a home's electrical system, sometimes with remote or app control. Manufacturers use a range of acronyms under this umbrella (DSI, HSI, and product-specific terms like AWEIS and SWEIS) without one standard vocabulary, and — like plug-and-play — outlet-powered or hardwired electronic systems lose ignition capability during a power outage. See an example: Fremont fire table, Electronic Ignition.

Practical Considerations: What to Confirm Before You Buy

Fuel and ignition are independent choices — pick each based on its own trade-offs rather than assuming one constrains the other.

If you're drawn to plug-and-play or a hardwired electronic system, confirm a GFCI-protected outlet or electrical connection is available at the install site, and go in knowing these systems will not ignite the feature during a power outage — a trade-off worth weighing against battery-powered automatic ignition.

Get a local, product-specific installation quote rather than relying on a single published cost figure — both natural gas installation costs and propane operating costs were found to vary considerably across sources.

If choosing match lit (with or without flame sense), always confirm the flame is fully extinguished and the gas valve is manually closed, since basic match lit systems have no automatic shutoff.

Have the grounding of any spark-ignition electrical component checked by a licensed installer as part of a safe setup.

Installation Readiness: What Ridgecrest Already Covers

Fueling and ignition work both call for a qualified installer — gas line connections (especially natural gas) generally require licensing and permitting, and electronic ignition systems involve electrical work that should meet GFCI and grounding practices. Ridgecrest's companion article, Planning to Succeed: Fire Feature Installation Readiness, covers site preparation, utilities, and pre-delivery coordination in depth. Ridgecrest also rates products against a four-level Installation Readiness Guide — most gas fire features with dedicated utility connections fall at Level 3 (“Dedicated utilities, mounting, or site preparation required”).

Summary and Next Steps

Fueling and igniting a fire feature are two separate decisions that combine independently: choose natural gas or propane based on whether you want a permanent, continuous supply or a portable, tank-based setup, and separately choose an ignition type — from manual match lit through fully automatic electronic ignition — based on how much automation you want and are willing to pay for.

Ready to talk specifics? Book a complimentary pre-purchase consultation with Ridgecrest Guide Service™ and we'll match a fuel and ignition combination to your space and budget.