I live in Mill Valley, CA, which is located in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. The weather doesn’t get too cold or too hot! Today was a very mild 62 degrees and tonight it will drop down into the 40s. I do recall one doozy of a storm about five to six years ago with lots of rain and flooding!
During the pandemic, we enjoyed our outside time. Recently it’s been getting a little chiller! I am not complaining by any means after seeing the news and the snowy conditions around the country, especially on the East Coast this past week.
However, since we are now back in the Purple Tier, which allows tiny bubbles of socially distance gathering, we invested in an outdoor patio heater! Actually, it was my birthday present.
Many of the local restaurants were using similar patio heaters during the fall when outdoor dining was actually happening here! They were very popular and soon became an out-of-stock item!
After checking and re-checking their inventory status, they appeared back in stock at Costco.com last week! Yahoo! We ordered one! It is branded FireSense and it came in a bronze-colored base.
These heaters use a propane tank, similar to our Weber Gas Grill. We have two tanks that we keep on hand, so we don’t run out during an important meal experience!
Totally was delivery day. A giant box came via UPS and the nice delivery man carried it to our front patio from the truck! This afternoon at lunchtime, we were lucky enough to have the help of our nineteen-year-old son to assemble it! The packaging was amazing. Everything arrived in perfect condition. Instead of lifting it out of the box, I just cut the cardboard down its sides and slid the base out onto the patio.
After consulting the directions (does anyone still do that anymore?), it looked like we had all the nuts and bolts and pieces in the right places! One AA battery was needed for the starter. My son lifted our spare propane tank into the bottom raised area and latched it closed. Click, click and click and the flame turned on! Yippee! Success!
The true test of the heater was this evening! Yes, it works! And the flame is a very cool spiral shaped movement. It puts off a good amount of heat and so this coming weekend will be the ultimate test to see if we can sit outside, at dark and be warm enough!
I even ordered a cover for it, from Covers and All, which will be arriving next week! If you need an outdoor cover for almost everything, check them out, and please use my referral link!
The heater stands 58″ tall and the top hood is 23″ across in diameter. The heaters that you see at the restaurants are generally about eight feet tall, which is a bit high for our yard.
Today was a good day! The sun was out. We put our outdoor patio heater together! And it works! That is all!
Paul Taubman
Oh Wow! Have fun with that! Here in Central New Jersey, we are still digging out of the 2 feet of snow from last Tuesday. So much so that I have not even shoveled out my car at the end of the driveway! The driveway is 90% snow-covered, and only the last 10% by the road is cleared, and that is where my wife parked (she is the one to go out and work – I get to work from home).
A nice outdoor meal on the patio is just what I want/need at this point. However, with freezing temps, I think I will have to wait for at least another couple of months before I can do that.
Again, Enjoy!
Anne Z
I can’t imagine the snow you have had Paul! I will be thinking of you this weekend under the stars next to my heater :). Thanks for stopping by! Stay warm!
Nancy
love the patio heater! I’ve been wanting to get one similar to the one you purchased. We have a fire pit, but with my Environmental Asthma, I no longer can sit around it. I’m definitely bummed about that…I’ve thought though, if we had a patio heater, we could extend our times outside when we want to.
Let me know how you like it!
Anne Z
Will do Nancy! I’ve had my eye on one for a while. I think my propane budget may go up! It has helped to see how much some friends have enjoyed theirs, especially when all the stars were in alignment last month!