In case you haven’t noticed, propane post-style patio heaters (often called umbrella heaters or mushroom heaters), are popping up in big box retail stores all over North America. In addition you’ll find hundreds of online stores offering a huge selection of patio heaters.

What’s the outlook for patio heater sales in the future?

Consider the following:

PATIO HEATING PRODUCT DEMAND (million dollars)

Year 1996 - 122

Year 2001 - 174

Year 2006 - 275

Year 2011 - 350

Year 2016 - 440

Source: The Freedonia Group (Study #2221 – US Outdoor Furniture and Grills, Sept. 2007)

It is clear – people are gravitating to the outdoors, spending more on outdoor "rooms". And patio heaters are an integral part of making good use of those spaces during cooler days and nights.

So what does the future hold and why is this information important? Obviously, this is good news for retailers who sell patio heaters along with outdoor grills and furniture. But what about consumers? Is this good news for them?

Well, we think it’s both good and bad. It’s good news in that consumers have a wider range of patio heaters and prices to choose from. So what’s the bad news?

If you’ve ever shopped for or considered buying a patio heater, you’ve probably wondered 1) what makes patio heaters different in quality? And 2) why does one heater sells for $179.00 while the next one sells for up to 5 times that much? It can be a bit confusing.

Rest assured, the big box stores (ie. Home Depot, Costco, Lowes, etc.) will not supply a higher priced patio heater.

Why?

Ever heard of volume discounting? Big retailers buy and stock huge container loads of goods, mostly overseas imports. It’s the lower price of mass produced goods that lures consumers into their stores. The problem with this retail strategy for the consumer is that, over time and with rare exceptions, product quality usually gets diminished.

As consumers demand lower prices from retailers, retailers demand lower prices from manufacturers, and manufacturers have no choice but to find ways to cut costs in order to make a profit. The motive for everyone to make a profit usually means cutting corners in the manufacturing process, resulting in smaller, cheaper, lower grade, and lighter weight products.

Like thousands of other after market products, patio heaters have fallen victim to this vicious cycle over the past decade.

Consider: A post style patio heater once weighing 80 to 100 lbs. now weighs as little as 40 lbs. (which begs the question, "what happens to a light weight heater on a windy day?"). Along the way, something had to be lost in terms of quality, don’t you think?

Here’s another example: Rather than making a more efficient large diameter one piece reflector, we now see much smaller 4 piece reflectors that the consumer must screw together. This 4 piece assembly may save on packaging, weight and shipment costs, but the result is substantially diminished heater quality and poor performance.

Other considerations:

1. Does the heater have a two inch or a three inch diameter post?

2. Is it made of 430 stainless or higher grade 304 stainless?

3. Does it have a push button ignitor or a quality control knob?

4. Does if have wheels or no wheels?

5. Does it come with a 90 day, 1 year or 5 year warranty?

NOTE: Only one brand that we know of (EvenGLO by IR Energy, Inc.) has gone in a completely opposite direction in terms of quality, technology and performance. Their heaters are not cheap, but as the old saying goes, "you get what your pay for". Their heaters weigh 120lbs. and deliver 58% more heat energy than even the "next best competitor". As a suggestion, you may find it helpful to use EvenGlo features as a basis for comparing against cheaper brands.

If you’re looking to buy a patio heater, asking all the right questions can make a huge difference. If your expectations are low, you may be perfectly satisfied with any of the cheaper brands. If you consider yourself to be a more discriminating buyer, and are willing to spend a bit more for something better - do a bit of homework. It can pay off big in the long run.