Patio Heater Product

Overview

A patio heater is an outdoor radiant heater built around a simple fact: warming the open air outdoors is hopeless, but warming people and surfaces directly with infrared radiation works regardless of air temperature or wind. The familiar mushroom form, a 2.2 m pole with a glowing screen under a wide aluminum dome, burns propane at 11–13 kW and converts roughly half of that into medium-wave infrared aimed at the seating area below. A standard 9 kg cylinder hidden in the base runs the heater for about nine to ten hours at full output.

How it works

Propane leaves the cylinder at tank pressure (about 800 kPa at 20 °C) and is dropped by the Gas Regulator to a working pressure of 2.8 kPa. From there gas flows up the Gas Hose inside the pole to the Control Valve, through the calibrated Burner Orifice, and into the Main Burner in the head. The orifice is the metering element: its drilled diameter fixes maximum gas flow, which is why converting a heater between propane and natural gas requires changing this one brass jet.

The burner itself is unremarkable; the part that does the heating is the Emitter Screen, a perforated stainless cylinder surrounding the flame. Combustion heats the screen to 700–900 °C, hot enough to glow orange and radiate strongly in the 2–4 µm infrared band. Radiation leaves the screen in all directions; the Reflector Dome above intercepts the upward half and redirects it down and outward, producing the characteristic cone of warmth about 2.5–3 m in radius. The Reflector Spacer standoffs leave a gap between the Head Housing and the dome so exhaust gases escape around the rim rather than overheating the reflector.

Radiant transfer is the reason these heaters work in wind that would strip away any heated air instantly: infrared travels line-of-sight and deposits its energy only when it hits skin, clothing, or furniture. It is also the reason the warmth ends sharply at the edge of the cone, intensity falls with the square of distance from the emitter.

Ignition and flame safety

Lighting follows the classic pilot sequence. The user presses and holds the Control Valve knob in the pilot position, which manually opens gas to the Pilot Burner, and clicks the Piezo Ignitor, a piezoelectric crystal that generates a several-kilovolt spark when struck. The pilot flame heats the tip of the Thermocouple, which after 20–30 seconds produces enough millivolt current (typically 25–30 mV) to hold the valve's electromagnet open. Releasing the knob then leaves the pilot self-sustaining. If wind or an empty tank extinguishes the pilot, the thermocouple cools within about 30 seconds, the electromagnet drops out, and the valve closes all gas, the entire flame-failure system works with no battery or external power.

Turning the knob to low or high admits gas to the main burner, which lights from the pilot. Output modulates between roughly 5 kW and full rate across the knob range.

Stability and tip-over protection

A 2.3 m column with a hot head is top-heavy by nature, so the Base Assembly carries the countermeasures. The stamped Base Plate spreads the footprint, and the Ballast Reservoir accepts water or sand, adding up to 15 kg low in the structure; standards effectively require ballasting, and unballasted heaters blow over in moderate gusts. The Anti-Tilt Switch is the active safeguard: if the unit leans past roughly 30 degrees it interrupts the thermocouple circuit, dropping the safety valve closed exactly as a pilot failure would. Two Wheel Assembly units on the base edge let one person tilt and roll the heater rather than lift it.

The Tank Housing encloses the cylinder in sheet steel with an Access Door for swaps and a Tank Retainer Strap strap holding the bottle upright. The housing keeps the cylinder shaded from the emitter; codes prohibit any configuration that lets radiant heat warm the tank.

Construction and standards

The structural path is simple: Lower Pole bolted to the housing lid, Upper Pole joined by the Pole Coupler, head and reflector on top. Wall thickness of the pole tubes (typically 0.8–1.2 mm steel) and the bolted joints are what EN 14543 and ANSI Z83.26 test for wind-load and tip-over compliance, along with surface temperatures, flame-failure response time, and CO emissions in the exhaust. Certified units must keep CO below 0.02 % air-free in the combustion products, which the primary-air mixing geometry of the Main Burner is tuned to achieve.