The Glory of Outdoor Gas Heaters
I’m going to talk right away about outdoor gas heaters because frankly they are my favorite. There is nothing like sitting out on your patio in the evening and, just as the breeze starts to kick up and the temperature begins to drop, not having to move indoors but instead firing up your outdoor heater and letting its warmth envelope you. To me, it is the pincale of modern technology. Ok, that might be a bit of hyperbole there, but the point remains: I adore my outdoor heater. I call it ‘The Sun’ which really isn’t too far from the truth since it works on the same principle, though at a somewhat smaller scale. First a bit about how they work. Heaters generally work by either convection or radiation. Any sort of heat that relies upon heating the air up and then blowing that air over whatever you want to be warm is called convection heating. Lots of indoor central heating systems work on this principle. Radiant heat, on the other hand, heats objects directly and doesn’t require any air to move between the heat source and the heated object. They rely upon infrared light to transfer the energy that does the heating. Remember how I said that these heaters work on the same principle as the sun? Well as you may have heard, there is no air up there in outer space so in order for the sun to warm the earth it needs to do it through radiation. Radiant heaters are ideal for outdoor applications because of the wind. If they relied upon heating the air to warm things and people, even a slight breeze could blow all of the heat away before it was ever felt. No matter how windy it is out, though, you can feel the heat from a radiant heater quite well when you are near it (though of course a strong wind will in its own right cause you to be colder). Patio gas heaters can run on either propane or natural gas and come in a variety of sizes and installation options (ultra portable to permanent installation). We’ll talk more about them in a later post!
The Wonderful World of Gas Heaters
Gas heaters have been an efficient and important method of providing warmth for over 150 years. They operate by burning a mixture of air and either natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (propane). They come in all manner of sizes and uses. They are often used as an indoor heating solution but they are also the most popular form of heater for outdoor use. They can be portable or part of a permanent installation.
Because of this versatility, gas heaters are ubiquitous. Even in warmer climes where heaters might not generally be needed and full home heating might be seen as excessive , they may be kept to help in those relatively few times times when the temperature dips and some local room heating is desired.
Certainly where the cold is more of a way of life they play a larger role. They can be used as both a primary source of heat or to supplement existing heating methods. Or even both! Growing up my family had central gas heat to warm the entire house. This wasn’t always efficient, though, since often we were all in a single room. So we had a smaller room gas heater we would use as well.
Now my home has electric heat. With the high costs of electricity I installed a gas heater in an old fireplace. Not only is my apartment warmer but my energy bills have gone down!
Outdoors you have seen restaurants or cafes use various sorts of gas heaters to warm patrons enjoying their patios or sidewalk seating. Maybe you’ve basked in the warm glow of one of thse devices (I fondly call them ’suns’) and thought you might want one of your own so you can sit in your own backyard and pretend it is a balmy summer evening even when it is really sweater weather. You’re in the right place!
In this blog I will be discussing in more detail all the different sorts of gas heaters available and what considerastions should be taken when in the market to purchase one. In different articles I will discuss what you need to know about indoor and outdoor use and the various attendent safety concerns. Stay tuned!