Your Fall Guide to Outdoor Heater Safety

Now that autumn is here with a nip in the breeze and changing colors on the trees, you need not stop the party on your porch, patio, or deck! Outdoor furniture options include portable, super-efficient outdoor heaters, some approved for indoor use if your porch isn’t heated. Just like alfresco tables on the sidewalk at a fine downtown restaurant, your heaters will help you be the host with the most, literally for all seasons. So keep enjoying your twilight time over appetizers and drinks outdoors with these practical tips to make sure your outdoor heater use is always a fun experience.

Outdoor Heater Operating Tips

First, choose an outdoor heater with the power you need. The key abbreviation in all this to measure your outdoor heater’s ability to warm you is actually not temperature degrees but British Thermal Units, BTUs for short. Scientists define a BTU as the energy something burns to heat a pound of water by one Fahrenheit degree, or the energy of one burning match. Well, our outdoor heaters burn a heck of a lot of “matches” and much more safely. A typical midsize outdoor heater creates about 40,000 BTUs; smaller ones 10,000 to 35,000.

Next, do a bit of math to choose the BTUs you need. How much space do you have to heat? Is it for one small dining table, restaurant style? An enclosed space such as a screened porch? Or a wide span like a backyard deck? Now, the math: to determine your ideal BTUs, take the cubic feet of the area and multiply it by how many degrees you want to increase the temperature. A factor affecting this is if your area is windy.

Will you be using your outdoor heater strictly outside or in an enclosed space not quite indoors? This is crucial for your household’s well-being. Electric patio heaters are safe in all these environments. Gas heaters are strictly outdoor because of the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, and even then make sure the space is well supplied with air flow.

How much are you willing to shell out to heat your outdoor gatherings? A 40,000-BTU natural-gas heater costs about 48 cents per hour to run while a propane model burns $1.70 at that rate.

Make sure the outdoor heater has enough space around it (clearance) so as not to inadvertently light anything on fire. For your typical heater, again, 40,000 BTUs, that’s usually about 3 feet all around. Check your heater’s instruction manual to see if it requires more.

A valuable feature on your outdoor heater is a tilt switch to automatically shut off the heat in case the device is knocked down. It’s still hot so it’s dangerous but this reduces the risk of fire or injury.

It almost doesn’t need saying but it’s important: NEVER leave children around an outdoor heater unattended. Its emitter screen and dome are dangerous to touch.

Choose Well and Enjoy

For your outdoor furniture needs including UL-listed, safety-tested outdoor heaters and fire pits, our Detroit, MI furniture store is always at your service so you too can choose well after doing some research, and then enjoy the change of seasons outdoors with your friends in the utmost comfort.