[Princess Auto] Standing Propane Patio Heater $149.99

konig1 wrote: ↑ how does this work again? you just plug in a propane tank? any idea how many hours you can get out of it on one tank?

wildlele wrote: ↑ Please buy it and report. I must know!

goozy1 wrote: ↑ Actually that is terrible advise. Avoid the electric infrared ones at all costs!

First of all you have to have a dedicated 240v circuit installed, which could costs thousands depending on the location (if you can even do it). Next, they are very weak compared to the natural gas or propane versions. My friend installed a commercial quality infrared heater on his back porch (cost was close to $2k not including electrical). We sat directly under the thing and could barely feel any heat. This is on a early october day in Vancouver so not even cold out. He ended up removing the thing and upgrading to the tube style natural gas ones you see at hockey arenas. And finally, the running costs are significantly higher than LNG/LPG.

At any rate, these cheap portable units are probably good enough for most people. Keep in mind, unless you shell out for a premium commercial unit, these will fall apart after a few seasons.

goozy1 wrote: ↑ Actually that is terrible advise. Avoid the electric infrared ones at all costs!

First of all you have to have a dedicated 240v circuit installed, which could costs thousands depending on the location (if you can even do it). Next, they are very weak compared to the natural gas or propane versions. My friend installed a commercial quality infrared heater on his back porch (cost was close to $2k not including electrical). We sat directly under the thing and could barely feel any heat. This is on a early october day in Vancouver so not even cold out. He ended up removing the thing and upgrading to the tube style natural gas ones you see at hockey arenas. And finally, the running costs are significantly higher than LNG/LPG.

At any rate, these cheap portable units are probably good enough for most people. Keep in mind, unless you shell out for a premium commercial unit, these will fall apart after a few seasons.

theflyingsquirrel wrote: ↑ How do you refill the propane?

theflyingsquirrel wrote: ↑ This may be a stupid question, but is there similar heater that use electricity?
I am too lazy to keep changing the propane.

Jeremy_H_Chan wrote: ↑ I'm in the restaurant industry and been doing a bunch of research and real world tests with for my 250 seat patio. These style tall heaters with 5 foot high burners in these posts are great for areas mostly sheltered from the wind or for people lining up or heating people while standing and mingling, heat rises and the fire and round flame guard and perforated cylinder does get hot enough to transmit some infrared rays to heat downward when at full blast but if you're seated around a table or lounger on even a slightly breezy day you will get only a small fraction of the heating that this unit outputs as the fire and all the elements getting heated are 5 feet above ground, and the heat level below 4 feet drops to almost 0 when you run the unit at 50% or lower. I had a dozen of these style Napoleon commercial ones and automatic igniters going is a bother, and the thing tipping over in high wind when the tank is empty and bending the guard also annoying (but can be bent back) I found for commercial uses the thing that failed that caused the unit to need a $100-200 repair for an expensive and hard to find part is failure of the perforated metal element that gets hot. We are running the heater a ton in the spring and fall and the metal gets super brittle eventually and if it tips the whole element cracks and that part to get is over half the cost of the heater.

I have one of the stand up glass tube types and went to a few patios with my wife that had dozens of those long glass tubes with fire rising inside (one between every other table) and on a 10-15C night with a slight breeze it was too cool for comfort with a long sleeve shirt with 2nd short sleeve underneath (my wife with a light sweater and dress was borderline wanting to leave it was too cool with the unit right beside her 2 feet away). The bright flame upwards starting at 2.5-3 feet helps bring some of the heat downward and the glass gets hot so it radiates good heat outward when standing at close proximity (my kids and I use ours when drying off from the pool), but the majority of the heat transmitted at face height, also compared to the ones in this post they are less efficient as some of the energy wasted creating that cool flame. I'm no scientist but its something about it creating more visible light energy (bright but not warming), in exchange for less infrared rays which will make people warm from a distance.
The best seated patios heating I've found for overall use is infrared. For commercial, the highest end restos have spent the money on individual gas or electric infrared heaters pointing at each booth or covering 2-3 tables, or have long patios like mine and have infrared natural gas tubes with parabolic reflectors. Electricity is super expensive to run, natural gas for the next few should stay at a all time low so those of us willing to invest have gone gas (I bought 2x 40 foot natural gas tube heaters to cover 1/3 of my patio, the infrared running heats up the tables, concrete patio pad, along with the awning and galss patio wall cutting most of the wind the unit runs on low fire right now when its 10-15c out and its feels warm as our iron tables, chairs, everything is getting warmed by the infrared rays). 120V 15A regular plug infrared might be ok for a small small table of 4 if positioned correctly for residential purposes. I've also been eyeing this for home use (https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -p8945081e) these knee height propane ones should be casting a large amount of infrared heat and are cheap enough that putting 2 in opposing corners might cover a decent size patio as all people would be covered on one side. If anyone has experience with these type heaters please DM me. I'm trying to find 2 cheap natural gas infrared elements to make a similar heater but using natural gas.