Comments on: Hot or Not? Patio Heaters

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:15:51 +0000

In Arizona they’re fine - I had lunch by one yesterday. But I still think it’s a waste of energy to use one when you have a perfectly warm BBQ nearby - and maybe a sweater.

By: Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Hot or Not Roundup

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Hot or Not Roundup — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:14:12 +0000

[...] We asked all the Toolmongers out there about a couple of products recently, and here’s what you told us:Patio Heaters: Not. The majority of readers say that these type of heaters will be painfully hot nearby and worthless just a few feet away — though some suggested that with proper wind blocking they can help. Others pointed out that you can get the kind that mount directly to the top of a propane tank cheaper, and still others recommended we just suck it up and freeze our asses off. You’re a hearty lot, aren’t you? [...]

By: Bohemian

Bohemian — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:45:38 +0000

Here in north Texas those things would be useless due to wind. The heat would be ripped away with no benifit to anyone standing by them.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:43:24 +0000

C’mon grow a pair! It’s supposed to be cold in the winter for crying out loud. Drink the right things, or wear the right clothes or something. And as far as barbequing goes for me barbequeing on Chistmas day is sort of a tradition. Snow sleet I don’t care I’m gonna start me a fire! The colder it is well, the more briquettes I chuck in the grill. Yes getting totally faced drunk is another holiday tradition of mine but that’s another story …

Just looking at this thing doesn’t heat rise? Shouldn’t then the heat source be placed as low as possible? If I am running a process in the cold that needs to be warmed up I have a couple of 250,000 BTU block heaters we call them. It looks like a little garbage can with a big burner in it, and runs on LP gas. I’ve used them with a tent to paint cars in the dead of winter, just shut the thing down before you start spraying is all. Suck out the cloud with a fan then bake. I could hit temps of 110F when it was 10F outside. The trick is to have a ceiling fan though to drive the heat back down onto your target. My neighbors loved me when I was doing that. The whole tent would blow up like a hot air balloon. I got a picture of it someplace.

By: jonathan peterson

jonathan peterson — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:20:52 +0000

Lots of places in Atlanta have gas IR heating. But these things aren’t really the way to go. They’re convenient, but if you have natural gas, you’re MUCH better off with a more uni-directional IR heater mounted on the eave of the house.

For temporary use a cheap bold on top of the tank heater costs $40 for half the BTUs and takes up next to no space in the off season.

If you don’t enclose the patio it isn’t really going to matter much. You could save a LOT of money

By: Baron

Baron — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:30:46 +0000

We have some great places here in MS that use them for those days when it’s to cold to eat outside without help. What they do here that works best (IMHO) is use them for outdoor decks that have a roof (usually tin) and/or they will take the area and put up some all weather plastic around the outside of the deck (good b/c it tends to be rainy here when it is cold, so it stops the rain from blowing in). That way, the heat is better trapped in the area and it tends to keep the temp warm, but as other posters have said, if you sit too close, you will bake.

By: Crashin

Crashin — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:05:19 +0000

I used to see these a lot in SoCal for outdoor patio venues and they worked well. I now live in Missouri and they are just about a necessity if you like to do any kind of socializing outdoors at night from November to March.

By: kythri

kythri — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:59:31 +0000

Richard amuses me.

As others who commented, these are at a lot of bars/pubs here in the Mid-Willamette Valley of Oregon.

They seem to do a pretty decent job of taking the edge off around the table they’re next to.

If I was going to be spending some serious time out on a cold patio, I’d think about building an outdoor woodstove of some kind.

Nothing beats burning fossil fuels quite like burning trees.

Of course, the woodstove wouldn’t be quite as handy as the propane heater that can be shut off.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:21:19 +0000

By definition, isn’t this automatically hot? They use these at restraunts in the area to warm the outside deck areas when it starts to get cold here. Like most of the other commenters have said, about 4 people around one is the limit to it’s comfortable range.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 05:21:06 +0000

A bunch of bars in central IL had them when I was in college and made for decent sittings in the outdoor patios, but the range of heat wasn’t that great. Next to a table with four people is about right. Get a longer table with six people and two are cold.

By: HunterB

HunterB — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:20:01 +0000

These are great if you enjoy melting like a wax candle within 4 feet of it and freezing while standing 8 feet away staring at the melting people with envy because you can’t feel your fingers.

By: Tomp

Tomp — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 03:03:03 +0000

Up north we use these things when its actually, you know, cold. I don’t think that they heat as large an area as you think they will. While it may work better in a warmer climate, they really only work when you are standing next to them. Being huddled around a pole isn’t what I call hanging out with friends.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:35:20 +0000

A pointless waste of energy at a time when the frugal misuse of the planet’s natural resources needs to be curbed more than ever before - especially in the US…