Gas or Electric Heaters to Keep Your Terrace Warm
A terrace heater can be very useful for the winter months when you don’t have electricity and can’t heat the area for which you want to keep you warm. This is especially true if you live in a rural area where there are no good, reliable, permanent power lines in the landscape.
If you’ve had a frost or cold spell for any length of time recently, you may think about heating your terrace using an old-fashioned way, such as a fireplace. Of course, you’ll have to put in a chimney, but it’s a decent idea to try the old-fashioned and inexpensive fireplaces. Keep in mind that there may be restrictions in your area about putting up chimneys, so check with your local building department.
However, most people want to find ways to heat their terrace more efficiently than what’s possible with wood burning. A good terrace heater can make an old-fashioned fire look like a modern day electric heater and do so much more.
Heating your terrace using traditional fireplaces has some disadvantages too. One thing is that they’re difficult to control when wood is used. A second problem is that chimneys and the flue, a hole in the roof, can become blocked by leaves, moss and other material.
An electric terrace heater is a very convenient and economical way to heat the terrace. If you use one that has an outdoor battery heater, there will be no need for a chimney and there will be no obstruction in the flue either. Since the battery heats the room, you won’t have to worry about dry ice and the like, so the energy cost will be much lower.
Electric heaters come in all shapes and sizes. There are small ones for heating only a few rooms, medium sized ones for heating two or three rooms, and large ones for heating six or seven rooms. The smaller ones are usually installed in the house and often the floor or the ceiling is made of stone, brick or other insulating material.
Most electric heaters are connected to a circuit so that they can be switched on and off in order to heat and cool the room. This means that the electric heaters that are installed in the house will need to be wired in, which again eliminates the need for a chimney. In fact, some electric heaters require that the circuit be kept unplugged at all times so that they don’t overheat the place.
Because electric heaters are so much more cost effective than wood burning and they’re not affected by damp, moss or other build-up, they’re a much better choice for the garden or patio. Many electric heaters use a gas or propane burner so that the gas can be used in the engine instead of wastefully blowing up into the house every time you turn on the heater. Keep in mind, however, that it’s the installation and wiring that take the most work, and you’ll probably have to have someone come out and wire everything for you, so make sure that you hire a professional.