Patio Heater Information

Consumer Reports published a brief report on patio heaters in June 2003. It tested only three models, none of them still current, but offers some good insights overall.

If you are interested primarily in expensive commercial, rather than residential, patio heaters, the Food Service Technology Center offers extremely long, detailed and technical individual reports on a dozen gas- or electric-powered wall- or ceiling-mounted patio heaters, including the Sunpak S34 that's recommended on the retail website PatioExperts.com below. While offering no comparative purchasing advice, the reports do give a good analysis of what kind of performance can be expected in various situations.

VirginiaRadiant.com is the website of a fireplace retailer, but it has the most easily understood explanation of radiant heat, including a brief description of convective heat.

Another good, comprehensive explanation of how infrared heating works is on the website of the higher-end commercial heating manufacturer Schwank.

On PatioHeat.com you can find a good diagram of a standard patio heater and a brief history of the Sunglo invented by Edwin J. Cowan in 1961.

If you are interested in electric infrared heating, the charts on the fifth page of this six-page PDF show how many watts you'll need to heat a specific area.

The Tennessee retailer Backyard City doesn't rate or recommend models but does a pretty good job explaining the basics of how each category works.

There's a helpful FAQ section from the online retailer PatioHeaterStore.com.

Some decent advice that we didn't see elsewhere, including the possibility of greasy fingerprints burning into the finish if you don't wipe them off, can be found at Outdoor-Heating-Guide.com.

Columnist James Dulley sells a report on patio heaters for $2.95. He does no comparative reviews and we did not think he had much information that couldn't be found for free elsewhere; however, it is in a tidy package.

Because patio heaters are often made by the same company and rebranded under several names, it's hard to find manufacturer information. Blue Rhino has a page on its patio heaters, branded under Uniflame, Endless Summer and Blue Rhino names.

Sunglo has a page on its commercial heaters.

Easy Radiant also has a site for its commercial-grade patio heaters.