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Patio Heater

Why accept premature endings to those rare, wonderful summer evenings just because it gets chilly. Switch on an instant gas patio heater and continue to enjoy the evening outside! These patio heaters really do work and are well established in the US and on the continent. Their comfortable heat radiates out over a 5 metre diameter.

For the traditionalists, how about a charcoal, coal and/or wood burning chiminea. You can't stare at a patio heater like you can a real fire!

More recent are cast iron chimineas. They really are the bees knees.

Gas patio heaters

All these heaters run on propane (traditionally in a red bottle).

They all claim to heat an area approximately 4-5 metres in diameter. Whilst the difference between an 8 and an 11 kw heater is noticeable, the heat difference isn't so noticeable when you get above 11kw! The conditions make the biggest difference, whether it's windy, calm etc and how many people are between you and the heater.

I would recommend going for the bigger ones though as you can turn those down whereas you can't turn less powerful ones up!!

If you want a patio heater to go through the middle of a table either choose a smaller one (the bottle casings on bigger ones would normally lift the table off the ground) or have a look at the Hotspot design. Most of their heaters happily sit under a table and their pole goes through most holes. For those who have an even smaller hole in their table Hotspot do a clever table mounting bracket. Choose accessories in the main product search drop down menu.

Charcoal patio heaters

Basically these are the 'real flame' heaters but without the risk of setting the garden fence alight. Put your rubbish on them, poke them with sticks, do baked potatoes or just stare at the patterns whilst you drink your beer and tell tall stories.

Clay chimineas

Clay chimineas have an aesthetic quality that can't be matched. The only down side being their occasional fragile nature - they crack. Especially if you let water in which freezes. Now a certain amount of cracking and crazing is normal. These are made from natural material which does expand and contract. 99.99% of these cracks are not structural.

Curing a chiminea for the first time is quite simple and straightforward. Put about 4-6 inches of sand inside and build a small fire. Let it go out and do it again a few times, increasing the size of the fire each time. Don't be tempted to go for an inferno as that could crack them too. And definitely don't throw water on them when they are hot! Gently does it is the rule. If you shovel out the ash and sand at the end of the season before any frost then it won't absorb moisture and be able to freeze. Likewise a lid of some sort to keep out the rain is sensible.

Cast iron chimineas

Cast iron chimineas are getting very popular. They will not crack (unless there is a flaw in manufacture) and you can even burn coal on them. Unlike clay they do rust. Get rid of the worst of the rust with wire wool and touch it up using some high temperature stove paint. Cast iron chims really do radiate out the heat in all directions.