Propane fire pit, propane heater, or maybe both? (2024)

My wife has always wanted a pergola, so this summer we extended the patio and I built her one with a friend.

She has expressed interest in a propane fireplace. It would replace the current coffee table. She did say if she ever got one, it would be a fire pit/coffee table combo.

I found one at Academy that checked all the boxes, so I ordered it.

However I started thinking about my kids who are five and two. They wouldn't be out on the patio that much when we are enjoying the fall/winter heat, but this probably isn't the safest thing for them. A propane heater would make more sense, but it wouldn't provide the coffee table.

So I wondered - could I get a propane patio heater that also has a coffee table in it? Does such a thing exist? Would it be safe for the kids, plus give room for beverages?

The answer is - sorta. The table isn't as big, and it is over my $200 - $250 target price. However it might be the better choice?

Alternatively, I could get both. The patio heater could be "stored" next to the couch where the natural gas line for the grill is. But that space is only 18 inches...it would create a little bit of a hazard coming out of the door.

I've overthought this to unbelievable levels. @loganb has blocked my number as a results.

I welcome your thoughts if you have experience.

My kids have been around wood and propane camp fires since they were babies.
By the two years old they understood not to touch fire.

Our propane fire pit doesn’t really throw any heat, it’s just for looks.

AldeanFan said:

My kids have been around wood and propane camp fires since they were babies.
By the two years old they understood not to touch fire.

Our propane fire pit doesn’t really throw any heat, it’s just for looks.

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We’ve socialized around those coffee table fire thingies and always found them to be semi useless. And by that I mean that it’s pretty and all, but you can’t put anything on the ledge next to the flames for obvious reasons. Your legs and feet don’t get any heat. We have a propane fire pit that is only about 6 inches off the patio and it throws a lot of heat nice and low so one gets toasty warm.
If you want to get really decadent, have one of those umbrella type propane heaters behind your chairs. Toasty all over. Especially if there is a breeze.
Our granddaughters 7 and 10 know to be careful and are never unsupervised around the fire. Someone has to have a beer and supervise, right? I said toasty twice. Gotta dig up that thesaurus.

We have a round propane coffee table/propane fire pit on our deck in between two adjacent bench seats. Basically a round version of the first link in your post. It has a 6-10" ledge around it to sit drinks or small appetizer plates.

It looks nice and give a nice ambience when hanging on the deck at night, but it really doesn't really give off enough heat to make me want to stay outside much later in the season than I normally wouldn't. All of the heat basically goes straight up and there isn't any real radiant heat to warm you up if it's chilly. If we were to do it again, I think I'd have went with a normal coffee table and one or two of those heat lamps similar to one of these:

I don't find the propane fire pits radiate heat well; it just goes straight up. Rather make a real fire.

If I have to burn propane, it's going to be one of those tall radiant heaters with the dish on top. You can sit under/near that and stay warm.

Merch1 said:

We’ve socialized around those coffee table fire thingies and always found them to be semi useless. And by that I mean that it’s pretty and all, but you can’t put anything on the ledge next to the flames for obvious reasons. Your legs and feet don’t get any heat. We have a propane fire pit that is only about 6 inches off the patio and it throws a lot of heat nice and low so one gets toasty warm.
If you want to get really decadent, have one of those umbrella type propane heaters behind your chairs. Toasty all over. Especially if there is a breeze.
Our granddaughters 7 and 10 know to be careful and are never unsupervised around the fire. Someone has to have a beer and supervise, right? I said toasty twice. Gotta dig up that thesaurus.

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Do you mean your fire pit is only six inches tall, and therefore gives more heat to your entire body?

CraigStu said:

One option for you regarding the kids, look at fire place screens. A lot of them are self standing so you just position them when you need to. I can see an evening w/ the screens in place til the kids go to bed. Then move them away, maybe stick them behind that sofa on the left.

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I think I like this idea the most so far. Lots of different feedback on firepit vs heat lamp for heat effectiveness, which is the biggest reason I'm getting this. I think this would be perfect - have the screen out when the kids are out, and put it away when it is just the adults. It would give good peace of mind, we entertain what we call "The Under Sixers" a lot. We have a close knit neighborhood where friends with kids our age bring their kids to play in the backyard while the adults chill out. I suppose that this happens mainly in the spring/summer/fall though.

In any case, one issue is that it seems like most of the screens are "single sided", meaning they are like a three pane device similar to what I have for my fireplace in the house. Is there a "four pane" one that you've seen that would go around the entire fire pit? I suppose you could use two of them.

We didn't have a whole lot of safety devices when I was a kid and most people managed pretty well. I tend to like to live in that same world. We do a lot of camping and have a solo stove in the backyard that gets a lot of use. None of my 5 kids have had any issues with staying safe around a fire. Fires tend to be pretty hot and they don't require a lot of instruction to realize they need to keep a safe distance, most of our issues come from kids touching stuff that has been in or near the fire. My experience is that fire screens tend to get pretty hot and kids tend to touch them a lot more than they will get close enough to the actual fire to get hurt.

However, I don't feel like those gas flames give off a ton of heat to people sitting around them and adding in one of those taller propane radiant heaters is very helpful. I would say use both.

I also don't tend to be a helicopter parent and am definitely subscribed to free range parenting, so take that for what it is.