You’ve built a wonderful patio that you are extremely happy with and have been spending a great deal of your summer time on the patio. If you’re worried that this is going to change once the weather gets a little chillier, you can stop worrying. There is a large selection of patio heaters on the market to make sure you can enjoy your patio even when it’s chilly out.
When shopping for a patio heater, you’ll have to measure the size of the area you’d like to heat. This will allow you to figure out how big (or small) of a heater you’re going to need and what its capacity should be. If your patio is small, you could get away with buying a table top patio heater. Each patio heater has a specific heating range, or the area around the heater that is heated; make sure you choose a heater with an adequate heating range for your space. You will be able to find heaters that heat small spaces or your entire backyard.
Most patio heaters are not electric patio heaters, and so there are no messy cords to deal with; the majority work with propane tanks. You can place them in a variety of locations, as standard, post-mount, suspension and portable models are available; make sure, though, that if you’re transporting your heater outdoors it’s tankless and water doesn’t get on it. Propane patio heaters are economical to use; a standard propane tank can give you about 10-12 hours of heat, depending obviously on heat output level. For large areas, “mushroom” or “umbrella” outdoor patio heaters work best; the propane tank is hidden at the bottom of the unit, and heat is radiated outwards to cover an area of about 12-20 feet in diameter. Table top patio heaters of this type are also available; these heaters can heat a ten foot radius.
You can also find outdoor electric heaters and heaters powered by alcohol-gel, wood, or wood substitutes like charcoal or artificial logs. There is also a natural gas patio heater version, sometimes called a deck or radiant heater, which generates infrared heat rays, and focuses them onto the ground and surrounding objects. These outdoor heaters warm surfaces, objects and people directly; the air is also eventually warmed, but much more slowly and through heat transferred directly from warmed objects. In this way, there is no “wasteful” heating. These heaters often come with a push button, spark ignition, and not a pilot light; this makes these units more fuel efficient. They are relatively easy to use, but most often are built in; if your area does not have natural gas service, you can most likely purchase bottled gas, but you should think about using other varieties of patio heaters.
A fireplace, fire pit, or chimenea can also be used as an outdoor patio wood heater. Wood-burning fireplaces and fire pits are usually the least expensive, though you have to make sure that it’s ok for you to burn wood on your property. You will be able to find units that are small, collapsible, and portable, and you will be able to find units that are quite large and made of concrete.
Chimeneas are essentially tall pottery fireplaces. Make sure you use caution with these units because they are relatively lightweight and fragile. You must not let the fire get hot enough to break the unit; to avoid this, use kindling-sized wood. Many wood-burning units also come with cooking grills, so besides acting as an outdoor patio heater, they are also useful in grilling up some food while you are warming up on the patio.
A typical outdoor heater that isn’t a table patio heater ranges in size from about three to seven feet tall. A good patio heater is capable of raising the surrounding temperature (in its heating range) by roughly ten degrees. While patio heaters do well in exposed areas, its best to protect them from weather and wind as much as possible. Some models come with tilt switches, which automatically shut the heater off when tipped over.
