Patio Heaters for Sitting Outside After Dark

The best part of a patio often comes after dinner, and in autumn it is also when the cold sends everyone back inside. A heater buys a few more weeks of evenings outside before the furniture goes under covers for winter, and on a covered porch it can stretch the season well past that.

Propane heaters stand on their own and need no outlet, so they suit an open patio or a lawn. The classic tower shape throws heat down from a reflector overhead, and the pyramid heaters here burn a tall flame inside a glass tube that doubles as a light. Electric infrared heaters warm the people and furniture in front of them, and they mount on a wall or a ceiling, or stand on a tripod, which makes them a fit for porches, pergolas, and balconies where a propane tank would be in the way.

Pamapic Pyra Pyramid Patio Heater With Glass Flame Tube

A column of flame rising through a glass tube makes the Pamapic Pyra as much a lantern as a heater, and on a dark patio it becomes the thing people gather around. The stainless steel body suits a modern deck or a gravel terrace.

A door in the side opens onto the propane tank, so swapping a tank partway through the evening is quick work.

Amazon Basics Commercial Patio Heater

Picture the tall gray heaters standing between tables outside a café, and this is the same shape, with a wide reflector on top that spreads warmth over a seating group below. It rolls on wheels, so it can follow the party from the dining table to the chairs by the lawn.

That reach makes it a good match for a wide patio where a dining table and a pair of armchairs share the heat, or for a family that eats outside from spring until the first frost.

Outsunny Ceiling-Mounted Electric Patio Heater With LED Light

Hung from a pergola beam or the ceiling of a covered porch, the Outsunny warms the table below while an LED at its center lights it, so one fixture replaces both a heater and a pendant. It runs on household electricity, with two heat settings and a remote.

Because it hangs on chains, it can sit higher over a sofa or lower over a dining table, and it works in a garage or a sunroom as well as on a covered porch.

Garvee Propane Patio Heater With Wheels, Bronze

Garvee’s tower heater comes in a warm bronze finish, a softer look than bare steel beside wooden furniture, a brick terrace, or a row of terracotta pots. Its round reflector spreads heat over a circle of chairs gathered underneath.

Two wheels let one person move it to wherever the chairs end up, and it is easy to tuck against a wall when everyone heads inside.

Pamapic Pyra Propane Patio Heater With Round Table

The Pamapic’s round table sits partway up the pole, a ledge for drinks and a plate of snacks within reach of everyone standing around it, which makes the heater a natural centerpiece for a party on the deck. The tabletop doubles as a cover for the propane tank below.

Its stainless steel body and burner are made to resist rust, and the heater shuts off if it tips, if the flame goes out, or if oxygen runs low.

Briza Infrared Electric Patio Heater

The Briza comes with both a tripod and the hardware to mount it on a wall or a ceiling, so it can stand beside a reading chair this fall and go up under the porch roof next year. Its carbon infrared element warms people and surfaces directly, the way sunshine does.

Three heat levels and a timer run from a remote, and the housing is built to stand up to rain, snow, and dust, so it can stay mounted outdoors through the winter.

Garvee Pyramid Propane Patio Heater With Glass Flame Tube

In a brown finish, this Garvee pyramid looks at home on a cedar deck or beside wicker furniture, with its flame climbing a glass tube to a reflector at the top. A knob turns the flame from low to high, and a battery ignition lights it at the press of a button.

Wheels make it easy to roll back against the house at the end of the night.

Pamapic Pyra Propane Patio Heater With Wheels

A plain powder-coated tower in black, brown, or gray, this Pamapic heater is a straightforward way to warm a backyard seating area, with no outlet to find and no wiring to run. A control valve sets the heat, and one push lights it.

It rolls on wheels, so it can stand beside the grill while dinner cooks and move to the table once everyone sits down.

Garvee Infrared Electric Patio Heater With Tripod

Set on its tripod beside a balcony bench or a garage workbench, Garvee’s infrared heater sends quiet, direct warmth toward whoever sits in front of it. Three heat settings and a timer run from a remote, so it can switch itself off after the last guest leaves.

The same heater can come off the tripod and go onto a wall, which suits a porch where floor space is tight.

Garvee Modern Pyramid Patio Heater With LED Lights

Color-changing LEDs glow in the base of this stainless steel pyramid heater, beneath the flame dancing in its glass tube, so it lights a pool deck or a garden party as well as warming it. A remote changes the color and sets the lights to flash, fade, or shift slowly.

It suits a household that likes to entertain after dark, at an autumn dinner on the terrace as much as a late swim in September.