A man holds his hands over the tall, twisting A-Flame of a HOWL R1 in the studio

A-Flame® Technology

More flame. Less gas.
No walls.

Most propane fire pits make a row of stubby flames that hide down in a box. But a campfire should look like a campfire.

The short version

The A-Flame® packs 160 tiny flames so close together that they merge into a single, tall, leaping flame – the same way wood flames do. Taller flames have more surface, so you get more light and more radiant heat from the same fuel. Then we took the walls away, so nothing blocks the heat.

Same amount of fuel.
6X taller flames.

Put an R4’s A-Flame next to an ammo can fire pit. The ammo can burns 32,000 BTUs of propane per hour and makes a 4-inch flame. The R4’s A-Flame burns 31,000 and makes a 24-inch flame.

4"Ammo can
32,000 BTU/hr

24"HOWL A-Flame®
31,000 BTU/hr

BTUs are what you use.
Flames are what you get.

A BTU is an amount of fuel, like a gallon. BTUs, explained →

In the studio, a HOWL R4 throws a 24-inch A-Flame beside an ammo can fire pit making a low row of 4-inch blue flames

Rule #1

Quit punching holes in a pipe.

Most fire pit burners are just a gas pipe with holes punched in it, same as an old barbecue. A popular ammo can fire has 29 big holes spaced far apart. Each hole makes a short flame, kind of like a birthday candle. They add up to a cute line of candles in a decorative box. That’s not a campfire.

The A-Flame burner has 160 precision-machined micro-emitters, carefully placed. Each makes a tiny flame. Spaced correctly, they stop acting like 160 flames and start acting like one big one, stretching skyward like the flames of a wood fire. No extra fuel, just the laws of physics and fluid dynamics.

Close-up of an ammo can propane fire pit: a row of short, separate flames rising from widely spaced holes — Ammo can: 29 holes, 29 short flames.

Close-up of the A-Flame burner plate: clusters of machined micro-emitters, their small flames merging and rising together — A-Flame®: 160 micro-emitters, one tall flame.

29 short flames make a birthday cake. 160 tiny ones make a campfire.

Rule #2

Tear down those walls.

The heat you feel from a flame is radiant. A taller flame has more surface facing you, so the same fuel throws more light and more heat your way.

Most fire pits give you short flames, so less heat. And then what heat they do make, they throw it away on walls. That’s because radiant heat travels by line of sight, so while the walls of a box or a bowl protect the flame from wind, they also block the heat.

HOWL’s A-Flame tears down the walls, so there’s nothing standing between you and the heat.

If you can’t see the flame, you can’t feel it.

On a beach at night, two friends laugh beside a HOWL R1 throwing a tall flame, nothing between them and the fire — Nothing between the flame and the folks around it.

At dusk on a rocky beach, an older man warms his hands over a HOWL R1, its flame bending sideways in the ocean wind

Rule #3

Give your flame a home.

No walls used to mean no wind protection. But HOWL solved it with the horizontal FlexDome Windscreen. It sits just above the burner plate, domes up when it’s hot, and returns to flat when cold. Instead of trying to block the wind with tall vertical walls, it uses laminar separation to let the wind slide right over the top, while a pocket of air below stays largely undisturbed. That pocket gives the flame a secure place to live.

The A-Flame keeps burning in winds up to 60 mph. Above that, it can get blown out. But if a big gust snuffs the flame on an R3 or R4, it simply relights itself off the BarCoal®, which stays lit in 120 mph winds.

Rain and snow won’t end your night either. The A-Flame sheds water and keeps burning.

The wind passes over. The flame stays put.

Cutaway diagram of a HOWL: stiff wind passes over the horizontal windscreen, a pocket of stabilized air sits beneath it, and the A-Flame burner burns below. — The FlexDome Windscreen: wind over the top, calm air underneath.

60 mphWind Tested

Auto-relightR4 + R3 off the BarCoal®

Rain + snowSheds water and keeps burning

R4 only

Three modes. One fire.

On the R4, the heat and flames have their own knobs. Run either or both for three different modes that map to your night at camp.

Just after sunset
Lantern Mode

Run the A-Flame for light to cook and work on gear. It’s warm out, so leave the BarCoals off.

All firelight, no radiant coal heat.
About 13 hrs on a 20 lb tank.
As the temperature drops
Campfire Mode

Turn on the BarCoals and start toasting your thighs.

All light, all heat.
About 6.5 hrs on a 20 lb tank.
When camp work is done
Stargazing Mode

Kill the A-Flame and keep the BarCoals running like a scorching bed of coals. Your eyes adjust, and the sky comes alive.

All radiant heat, no firelight.
About 13 hrs on a 20 lb tank.