Patio Heaters

What to Know Before You Buy

Five decisions shape a patio heater.

• Fuel and mounting. Under a roof with a 240 V circuit available, a hardwired electric heater fits, and in open air a propane or natural gas heater does. How to choose a patio heater compares the fuels and mounts.
• Size. No standard says how much heat a patio needs, so the working answer is each maker's published coverage. The guide on how many BTUs or watts a patio heater needs turns those areas into ranges.
• Hardwired or plug-in. The electric models from Bromic, Infratech and Heatstrip are almost all hardwired. See hardwired or plug-in infrared heaters.
• The roof. Electric heaters are made for it, and gas heaters carry open-wall rules. On a solid-roofed patio with a ceiling around 8 feet, the guide on using a patio heater on a covered patio points to electric infrared.
• Heater or fire pit. For warmth across a seating area, the comparison guide picks the heater: heater makers state the area each one covers, and none of the fire pit makers it read states one. See patio heater vs fire pit and Bromic vs Infratech vs Heatstrip.

Sizes, Output and Fuel

Bromic states 215 square feet for its 43,000 BTU Tungsten Gas 500, in ideal conditions. Infratech states 25 square feet for its 1,500 W heater and 121 for its 6,000 W heater, each tied to a mounting height. Across the 31 heaters in the BTU calculator, rated input divided by stated area gives 140 to 267 BTU per hour per square foot for gas and 20 to 64 watts per square foot for electric. That puts a 200 square foot zone at about 28,000 to 53,300 BTU per hour of gas or 4,000 to 12,800 W of electric, a wide spread because each maker measures coverage its own way.

A 20 lb cylinder holds 4.7 gallons, and a gallon of propane holds 91,500 BTU. Bromic's 38,500 BTU freestanding heater therefore runs about 11.2 hours at full output and Heatstrip's 32,225 BTU portable about 13.3, and a lower setting lasts longer. The propane tank runtime calculator runs your own heater.

Who Makes Them

These makers' own documents show they build patio heaters. The order is not a ranking.

Bromic Heating makes infrared patio heaters in gas and electric. Its US office is in Irvine, California, and it belongs to Bromic Group, headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Its lines are Tungsten, Platinum, Eclipse and Cobalt. Warranty terms vary by line, from one to five years, with seven on some heating elements.

Infratech, of Gardena, California, makes electric infrared heaters only, and every model uses a quartz tube element. It says it manufactures every part at its Southern California facility. The warranty runs 3 years from the original date of purchase, requires registration and covers the original purchaser at the original site.

Heatstrip gives its head office as Melbourne, Australia. It makes slim electric radiant heaters on 240 V, with the Classic rated IP55, plus two gas models: a natural gas wall-mounted heater and a portable propane heater that takes a 20 lb cylinder. Its documents do not agree on every warranty term, so confirm yours.

Lava Heat Italia is the trade name of Hamazon G2 LLC, of Los Angeles. It makes freestanding gas heaters for propane or natural gas, and every collection lists anti-tilt automatic shut-off and flame-failure protection. Its About page describes them as CSA certified without giving a certificate number, and it says a standard 8-foot covered patio will not take its Positano towers.

Rules and Placement

Electric heaters are fixed wiring. The manuals call for a licensed electrician, mostly on 240 V, with listed currents from 6.3 A for a 1,500 W Infratech to 25 A for the 6,000 W models. Circuits are sized at 125 percent of the listed current, so a 25 A heater needs 31.25 A of capacity. Bromic and Infratech both recommend installing theirs under cover.

Minimum mounting heights come from the maker's documents. Bromic's Tungsten Electric cut sheet gives 72 inches on a wall and 96 on a ceiling, Infratech's manual 6 feet when labeled UL Listed and 8 feet when labeled UL/CUL Listed, and Heatstrip's Classic manual 6 feet 10 3/4 inches. A 92.5 inch Lava Heat Italia tower needs a ceiling of 9 feet 8.5 inches, which includes 24 inches overhead.

Gas heaters carry location rules. Bromic's Tungsten Gas manual is for open-air use and is not approved for indoor use. It allows a roof over no more than two walls, or over more walls only if at least 25 percent of total wall area is completely open and 30 percent of the rest is open and unrestricted. Heatstrip's gas manuals carry one page that bars use under any overhead and another that allows a partial enclosure with a cover, so ask Heatstrip before planning either under a roof.

A portable propane heater with its cylinder in the base is harder to place. The 2024 International Fire Code bars it from beneath, or within 5 feet of, combustible overhangs and awnings, and from within 5 feet of a building. That chapter is scoped to portable equipment for temporary heating, so whether it reaches a home patio is a local call, and a city may be on an older edition. Start with the fire code library. Run a gas heater's load through the gas line sizing calculator, and have a licensed gas fitter connect the line.