patio heater vs. chiminea

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
ok kids, after this past w.e. I'm starting to think of those chilly evenings to come but I don't want to give up life on the patio yet... so...

has anyone ever used either a patio heater or what I have come to find out is called a "chiminea" ( those tiny outdoor fireplaces )

what do you think of them? heat output vs attractiveness vs. easy of use vs danger to neighbourhood cats? (ok, don't care so much about the cats really. )

any comments welcome.

thanks,

2
Howdy,

I'm glad that atleast someone is thinking ahead of the cold weather. So..... I don't know about the Clay pot with fire that you have in your pictures but I do know about the Patio Heater.

One of my friend has it on his Patio and I found it to be pretty effective during chilly evenings and also quite safe as the base is heavy (so you really can't knock it down carelessly) and also the fire output it too far away from the ground (so you can't really burn yourself) but then again close enough to keep you warm. Also the heat regulator is pretty effective so you can manage how warm you want it to be. I don't know if you can toast marshmellows though..

Also very easy to use...

Stig

3
the stig speaks !!!

4
A lot of stores in the UK have stopped selling patio heaters as they are so energy inefficient and are basically just heating up the sky and also dumping loads of CO2 into it.

Something that you may want to consider...

5
A friend of ours had a patio heater and in the really windy weather it did fall over - luckily no-one was around at the time. Consequently the top bit got bent. So I think if it gets knocked by a person it will be fine but might not withstand wild weather.

It really depends where it would be stored when you aren't using it.

We had a chiminea and it was great. You do have to be careful as the sides get really hot.

Husband liked it as his caveman instincts could come out - collecting sticks and burning stuff!!!

6

thanks... but what was the heat output like?.. did you have to be standing/sitting next to it or did it warm up a fair area?

and yes... I'm leaning towards the chiminea just for the caveman aspect.

7
We have a chiminea that I like very much.

It does the job for a small space, but I wouldn't count on it to heat a larger area. Mostly, though, it's an attractive decorative piece, the fire adding more to the evening ambiance than to climate control.

Do make sure that the top is covered when raining, or your next fire might be rather smoky. (I just use a terracotta saucer.)

ETA: You can feel the heat from a 1 to 1.5m radius, but not really much farther. Think 'a few chairs gathered round the fire' type of thing.

8
We have had a chiminea that sadly just got cracked in our moved here....we used it for years and it added some warmth but always in locations where todays weather was like a chilly winter day-- it was definitely more of a decorative fire than one that produced enough heat to warm a patio on a truly cold day. I have no idea about patio heaters but was going to look into them, I have also seen a fire pit and an outdoor fireplace that I was going to look into.

9
I've seen those fire pits and to me they just look plain dangerous.

one tequila two

two tequila three

three tequila floor.