Q. How much heat does a patio heater produce?
A. These latest 2012 patio heaters produce 42,000 BTU/h up to 50,000 BTU/h of power, the size of a small central heating boiler and enough to heat a small house. Don't be fooled into thinking more is better, anything larger requires a much wider reflector to harness the heat and reflect downwards or the heat is lost in the air, so far nobody manufactures giant reflectors. Our patio heaters have unique high energy stainless steel burner finely balanced between optimum usable heat versus running costs. Always check the burner itself is stainless steel and not just steel or chrome type fitted to most other brands.
Q. What is the warranty on your patio heaters?
A. We offer high quality patio heaters that are built to last for years, we back that up with a two year warranty across the range of patio heaters. We also provide dedicated support and genuine patio heater spare parts, please note we no longer support spare parts for older generic 16kw patio heaters, these are now discontinued.
Q. How much gas do your patio heaters use?
A. All our patio heaters have the latest high energy burners with pilot control so you decide how high or low you want the heat. At full power our latest high energy burners will use less than 1kg of LPG per hour. Older 16kw gas guzzlers burn a great deal more, by fitting the latest high energy burners it will yield plenty of heat without costing a fortune and wasting energy and money. You'll find the best way to use a patio heater is to warm the area up and then reduce the heat control to your comfort zone. Under normal use a gas LPG cylinder will last 3-6 weeks depending on the weather.
Q. You only have drinks tables on stainless steel patio heaters?
A. Drinks tables are only suitable for full stainless steel patio heaters and should never be fitted to hammered or powder coated models. The reason is simple, all drinks table are clamped on the pole via a twist/turn grip to hold in place. To access the gas cylinder the table must be unclamped and move up and down the pole, this works fine on full stainless steel patio heaters but leaves groves in hammered and paint effect heaters. Given time and a few cylinder changes the pole on hammered or powder coated patio heaters will rust due to loosing of the factory finish, only full stainless steel is self repairing and will maintains it's finish.
Q. What is the right size reflector?
A. To make cost saving many suppliers ship patio heaters with cut down reflectors, these are undersized compared to a full sized patio heaters. Most are around 75cm diameter, the traditional size is 81cm diameter which makes quite a big difference in heat delivery.
Q. Why is this important?
A. A reflector does just that, reflects heat downwards. Cut down reflectors have less surface to reflector and cannot yield the same level of reflection as a full sized reflector, in many cases 20% less heat.
Q. Is an electric patio heater cheaper to run?
A. Typical 2KW electric patio heater will cost approximate 21p per KW per hour. LPG gas heater at max heat (13KW) will cost 9 per KW, turn it down to 7KW and the cost goes down to less than 6p per KW. In the same way as heating a building, electric heating is far more expensive than gas heating. Gas and electric patio heaters both emit radiant heat that heats object.
According to the Carbon Trust grid electricity produces twice the CO2 of LPG per KW.
Q. Do you supply free covers, wheels and regulators?
A. All of our domestic gas patio heaters are shipped with a full length starter cover, wheels, regulator and LPG hose.
Q. How easy are patio heaters to use?
A. Since 2006 all BFX patio heaters have been fitted with the latest quick fire controls, just press the push button piezo ignition, wait 30 seconds and the patio heater will be ready to use.
Q. I don’t know anything about gas, how do I get gas?
A. We can supply the LPG gas direct to your door via the gas company, to order with your patio heater go to the LPG gas supply page. Pricing is the same with no delivery charge. If you wish to get LPG gas yourself we recommend propane using an 11kg or 13kg cylinder and with a clip-on fitting. Our patio heaters are supplied with EN 12864 propane regulator and EN 1763-1 LPG high pressure hose.
Q. Why buy from you?
As one of the leading and oldest patio heater companies supplying pubs, restaurants and European breweries the company mantra is quality, quality and quality. If you want to know what our customers think of us and our patio heaters read feedback and review pages.
Q. What about the 50%, 65%, 70% off sales on patio heaters?
A. There are a few web traders that run fake sales all year long. The web sites look very convincing and offer 50% off, 75% off a patio heater plus free extra's. These are meant to hoodwink shoppers into believing they are genuine sale offers and the normal price of their patio heaters will revert after the sale. Check back a few weeks or months later and the same fake sale tickets are always there. The truth is that if these traders use such sharp practices to misled shoppers then what else are they hiding? Fake sales are already illegal under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, this law is being strengthen next year to ban the last few patio heater sites that still mislead consumers. Most savvy shoppers already know the RSP's are inflated to make the sale look genuine, see our report on how patio heaters get to market to learn more about buying a quality patio heater.
Q. Are deliveries safe?
A. To get the best service we dispatch patio heaters via secure couriers, a signature will be required. Patio heaters are shipped via City Link or UPS and tracked all along its journey to your door. If you are out don’t worry our courier's will leave a calling card to make arrangements for your patio heater to get to you. Select from free supa save to next day, special rates for Scottish highlands and islands or Saturday am when ordering. Spare parts are generally dispatched via The Post Office on standard postal service - please allow a few days for spare parts to arrive. Please note if using Debit/Credit cards we only deliver to the card holder’s address, for gifts sent to a different address please send a cheque and remember to allow for the cheque to clear.
Q. Can I collect from the patio heater warehouse?
A. No problem collecting any item from our patio heater warehouse, just call 01793 613900 to book in advance and we'll prepare your order ready for collection. The patio heater warehouse is bulk storage only and does not have a trade counter.
Our address is:
Urban Industry Limited
Thor Industrial Estate
Braydon Lane
Cricklade (3 miles from Swindon)
SN6 6HQ
For directions please refer to: Warehouse Directions
Q. I need a few heaters for a restaurant, do you supply trade?
A. We maintain high quantities of stocks for our major clients with full support, after sales service from our skilled engineer and support that is unmatched within the industry. You'll see our commercial patio heaters in many of the top restaurants and hotels around the country, they are real workhorses that keep going and going. If you are in the market for commercial patio heaters that are up to the job call us for special pallet rates and details on volume contract terms on 01793 613900 or e-mail national a/c's on nam[at]urbind.co.uk Our factory service can also offer corporate brand or logo service to patio heaters, please call our office for more information.