I really wanted to like this, but it takes way too much work to keep it going. With pellets, the first light is great and it burns strong for about 30 minutes. After that, you basically have to dump the ash and refill it. I saw people say to toss in a handful of pellets every few minutes, but that's annoying to keep up with and half the time it just killed the flame anyway. I also tried kiln-dried wood, but you have to place it just right or it won't burn well. Overall, way more effort than I want for something that's supposed to be relaxing.