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Flame & Flagstone

Pillar guide

Every outdoor heating option, in one page

Seven ways to heat an outdoor space, what each one is genuinely for, and the one question that eliminates most of them in about four seconds.

By Scooter M.

Published September 1, 2026

Last reviewed September 1, 2026

A patio heater glowing on a terrace at night

Outdoor heating comes down to seven options: propane towers, pyramid flame heaters, tabletop propane, electric infrared, wall or ceiling infrared, natural gas, and fire pits or fire tables. Whether your space has a roof eliminates most of them immediately.

Start with the roof

Before comparing anything, answer one question. Is there something above the space — a roof, a pergola, a porch ceiling, a gazebo top?

If yes, combustion heaters become a clearance and ventilation problem, and electric radiant becomes the natural answer. If no, electric struggles to compete on output and propane becomes the natural answer. Nearly every real decision in this category resolves on that one fact, and everything below is the detail.

The seven options

1. Propane tower, mushroom style

46,000 to 48,000 BTU/h with a wide reflector that pushes heat down and out. The default for an open patio, and the option with the most warmth per dollar. Needs a 20 lb cylinder, gives roughly nine hours per cylinder at full output, and is about seven feet of sail on a small base. The propane roundup.

2. Pyramid, or flame tower

The same 40,000 to 48,000 BTU with the flame inside a tall glass tube. Beautiful, and a chimney: more of the output goes up than with a mushroom. Buy it for how it looks, knowing that. Pyramid vs mushroom.

3. Tabletop propane

10,000 to 11,000 BTU on a 38-inch stand. Heats a table and the people around it, not a patio. Excellent on a balcony, excellent as a supplement to a tower, disappointing as a sole heat source for an area. Tabletop heaters.

4. Electric infrared, portable or on a stand

1,500 W, which is 5,118 BTU/h, capped by your outlet rather than by the maker. Radiant, so wind does not affect it and there is no flue gas. About 28 cents an hour to run. Needs line of sight from a height. Electric heaters.

5. Wall or ceiling mounted infrared

The same 1,500 W element, permanently mounted and aimed. The right answer for a pergola or porch ceiling, and the version to buy if the heater is never coming indoors — which makes the published IP rating the specification that matters. Wall mounted heaters.

6. Natural gas

Never runs out and cheapest per BTU in most of the country, behind a gas line, a permit and an installer. A good decision for a permanent patio, a poor one for a first heater. Natural gas heaters.

7. Fire pits and fire tables

A different product answering a different question. A fire pit heats a ring of people gathered around it; a heater heats an area. Fire tables are the poorest heat per dollar here and the best at being furniture. The fire pit section.

All seven, side by side

OptionTypical outputCost per hourWhere it belongs
Propane tower46,000 to 48,000 BTUAbout $1.40Open patios
Pyramid flame tower40,000 to 48,000 BTUAbout $1.30Open patios, looks first
Tabletop propane11,000 BTUAbout $0.32One table, a balcony
Electric infrared1,500 W = 5,118 BTUAbout $0.28Covered, sheltered, screened
Mounted infrared1,500 W = 5,118 BTUAbout $0.28Pergolas, porch ceilings
Natural gas40,000 BTU and upDepends on your therm ratePermanent installations
Propane fire pit35,000 to 58,000 BTU$1.02 to $1.70A gathering, not a seating area

Costs computed at 18.34 cents per kWh and $2.674 per gallon of propane. Natural gas is billed per therm and varies too much by utility for a single national figure to be useful.

The prices every cost figure on this site uses

Your rates are not these rates. Every table on this site is the arithmetic, not the verdict — put your own number in and the answer moves.

The shortest possible decision path

  1. Roof overhead? Yes, go to 4 or 5. No, continue.
  2. Screens or walls? Yes, electric only, no exceptions. No, continue.
  3. How big? Run the numbers. Under about 5,000 BTU/h, electric will do it. Above, propane.
  4. Windy? Read this first. It changes the answer more than the size does.
  5. Just want the picks? The flagship roundup has one for each of the cases above.

Common questions

What is the best type of outdoor heating?

There is no single best. For an open patio, a propane tower gives the most heat per dollar. For a covered patio, pergola or porch, a mounted electric infrared unit does more with far less output. For a gathering rather than a seating area, a fire pit. The space picks the type.

What are the best outdoor heating options for a small patio?

Under about 250 sq ft, a single 1,500 W electric infrared heater is usually enough and costs about 28 cents an hour. A tabletop propane unit works if the warmth only needs to reach one table. A full 48,000 BTU tower on a small patio is buying fuel consumption you will not feel.

What is the cheapest way to heat a patio?

In running cost, an electric infrared heater on its lower setting, at roughly 17 cents an hour at 900 W. In heat per dollar of fuel, propane, at about 2.9 cents per thousand BTU. The genuinely cheapest change is usually a windbreak, which reduces the heat you need in the first place.

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