Offering your customers the opportunity to relax on a quiet, peaceful patio can be a great way for restaurants and other businesses to boost their profits. People always enjoy sitting outside whenever the weather permits it, so as a business owner, you can easily increase the amount of time your customers can remain outdoors by installing commercial patio heaters for use on those not so hot days. In fact, these heaters can allow you to even keep your patio open for months more, as there are a number of incredibly efficient and effective units on the market that will provide the warmth your customers crave.
Types of Commercial Patio Heaters
Although there are actually quite a few different styles and types of outdoor heating units, by far the two most common are gas and infrared radiant heaters. Most people are quite familiar with the gas type of heater, having seen them used in numerous cafes, restaurants and other outdoor areas.
For a long time these gas units were the most popular, as many business owners like the look of them and feel that the visible flame adds a nice touch to any outdoor setting. While this is definitely true and many of these gas heaters do look quite classy, the truth is that they are more expensive to use due to the need to continually refill the gas or propane tanks. Still, most of these heaters are incredibly effective, pumping out a huge amount of heat (sometimes well over 80,000 BTU’s). Better yet, some of the larger models can heat an area of twenty square feet or more, making them a great option for bigger patios. Still, if you’re looking for something smaller, you can also find many different table top heaters, hanging units and a variety of other products that may better suit your needs.
The most common type of gas heater you’ll find are free standing torch style units, where the fuel tank is hidden in the base of the unit. This type of commercial patio heater offers quite a bit of versatility, as they can easily be moved to wherever you need. What’s more, some of these units are even considered to be all-weather, meaning that they are waterproof so you won’t have to move them to shelter should it start to rain.
Although propane heaters remain popular, many people are looking for a more environmentally friendly option, as these units produce CO2 and other potentially harmful emissions when running.
For this reason, infrared radiant heaters are quickly increasing in popularity, as these units offer much higher heating efficiency and are also much cheaper to run. These units work by emitting infrared radiation, which travels out in straight line from the heater and warms up anything it comes into contact with. Most infrared heating units emit an orange glow when they’re turned on, which can also add a nice, cozy touch when the sun goes down.
Although there are a number of different styles of infrared radiant patio heaters, the most effective ones are probably the overhead mounted style, which are designed to be placed high up on walls and pointed downwards to deliver heat wherever it’s needed.
The only drawback to these infrared heaters is that they need to be wired or plugged into your electrical system, making them not quite as versatile as the free standing or portable propane units. Nonetheless, the radiant units heat up instantly and offer much greater efficiency, while also not releasing any harmful emissions like the propane heaters do.
Still, at the end of the day both the propane and infrared commercial patio heaters can be a great solution for any business owner looking to keep their customers warm and toasty whenever it’s needed.
