It’s Spring and that means Beer Garden and BBQ season. People are looking for more places to eat and drink outside. If you are a bar or restaurant owner having outdoor seating is a big draw. In the Pacific Northwest where Heating Green has it’s humble origins nearly all of our 15+ breweries have set up some sort of outdoor eating area. If you are from the PNW you know why. If the weather is nice (which isn’t as often as it should be).. you want to be outside! However, even with it’s nice outside.. it’s often not warm (it’s sunny and 46 degrees (F) right now). I want to be outside.. but I want to be warm as well.
Thus, the patio and beer garden heaters. There lots of options for creating the ideal outdoor living areas for your friends or guests.. so let’s talk about the options..
Picking a Beer Garden Heater
There are lots of options and we’ve seen them all in town. There is the “Cadillac” of outdoor heating options.. the Infratechs. These are the ones recessed into covered eating areas or mounted on the trusses an arbor.. or even just attached to a wall. The C, CD, and Slimline series from Infratech are by far the most popular option. But don’t let the “Cadillac” part fool you, while you may pay a bit more up front they give you one of the lowest costs per “Watt”, starting at just just fifteen cents per hour. And, they pack a punch. They warm up instantly and will fill your eating area with sunlike warmth.
You only need to open your outdoor eating area to guests few hours a week more or earlier in the season.. or keep it open later in the season and these will have paid for themselves very quickly. Be sure and check these out on our products page or on the deck and patio heating page we put together. If you have questions about these, one of our heating experts ask the right questions to figure out what heating solution is right for you.
For those needing a gas heater option we’ll soon be carrying the famous Sunpack gas heater. While this uses natural gas we still consider it green because of it’s efficiency in heating. If you have a gas line handy this may be the option for you. 
Introducing the pellet patio heater…
We’ve all seen the propane gas heaters at the breweries, wineries, and restaurants. They are very popular in backyards as well. They are great for a lot of situations but they
also have a lot of draw backs. For one, they are pretty flimsy.. if they fall over once.. it’s never going to be the same. They also require propane.. a LOT of propane. Propane is byproduct of the oil refining industry and it’s not cheap, nor is it getting any cheaper. Not to mention the fact that it’s greenhouse gas producer.
At Heating Green we are always on the look out for the latest clean heating options. The other day during a meeting I sketched out an idea for a wood pellet patio heater. My parents always loved their pellet wood stove and I’ve even looked into creating my own wood pellets using yard waste (yes, this is a thing). Well, after a quick Google search we discovered someone was making these things in Oregon already. So, we got on the phone and we are going to be an exclusive distributor for the Pellet Patio Heater by Tyson Traeger (yes, of the Traeger BBQ family).
This thing is beautiful and functional. It will hold enough pellets for 3-4 hours and runs cheaper than propane heaters. Not only that, but they kick out twice and much heat! (90,000 BTUs vs 40,000 for propane). But wait, it gets better.. they have a great camp fire ambiance.
Did we mention that most pellets are made from waste? Very little smoke.. only when they get started and just a hand full of ash at the end of it. These can round out your Infratech heated patio or operate on their own depending on your seating area.
These things sell out very quickly so make sure you get on our waiting list or mention them when you talk to one of our experts for a free estimate.
