Fire bowl
Also called: pool fire bowl, fire-and-water bowl, gas fire bowl.
A fire bowl is a gas burner in a bowl, set on the bond beam, a pedestal or a raised wall beside a pool. It is plumbed gas and permanent, and it needs electricity only if it has an igniter.
Why it matters
A fire-and-water bowl is the same bowl spilling water into the pool as it burns, so it needs gas, a water supply and return, and electric, and its water half behaves exactly like a scupper. The fixture is the small half of the job: you are paying for the gas line, the electrical and something for the bowl to stand on. Match-lit ignition is cheapest and needs no electricity; electronic ignition wants a 24V transformer, conduit and a relay. Ask for a thermopile heat sensor, which shuts the gas off if the flame blows out. Under a screen cage, settle clearance to the mesh and the aluminum frame first.
In numbers
A small decorative bowl is a light source with a flame in it. Builders sizing a fire you intend to sit around work to roughly 150,000 to 240,000 BTU per hour, with about 180,000 as a working minimum.