Instructions are not perfect, but if you are somewhat handy it will be no problem.-I did have to shim one of the 'legs' that hold up the tube, in order to get the unit to be vertical; I had to buy a longer stainless bolt for that..-I added four flat SS washers to sit under the small lock washers when I attached the heater head; wouldn't have hurt them to have thought of that.-peeling the plastic sheeting is annoying.-I put the cap bolts on the underside of the reflector. I may switch that for the visual effect
It works as intended. I had a hard time putting it together and even removing all the wrapping plastic carefully it smoked from burned plastic for 20mins the first time I used it. after that the smoke and smell stopped and worked just fine. was pretty good giving me a partial refund because during the delivery one of the assembly parts fell and got lost. I bought new on the hardware store and I was good to go.
This heater is fantastic, the self igniter works well, control knob is easy on the fingers., puts out variable amount of heat. I've only used it for a few days, but its been really nice.It does require some assembly, the assembly instructions are clear and the hardware came in a blister pack so all the parts were visible, and identified. A nice advance in DIY kits. I used combination wrenches in 3/8", 9/16", 5/8" and 3/4" for the assembly. A small wrench comes with the hardware pack with 3/8 and 9/16". Assembly probably took me about 30 minutes solo. The larger wrench attaches the regulator to the hose. Regulator to tank has a nice plastic grip for doing it by hand.
Good heater to keep you warm. heavy to roll-on from one place to another. Need to be kept in open for performance and covered for winter .. so there is work associated with the heater
Works better then more expensive, different model we borrowed. Would have been 5 stars but column is unlevel as assembled. Had to add washers to fix
I wish that you could move the heating element up or down. Sometimes it's too high up to really project the heat. Someone needs to invent a better product for this category.
Just wish there was something to hold up the tank cover like a hook...very awkward to hold with 1 hand and change the tank or something
Timed at 94 minutes to assemble out of the box. Instructions were OK, not great, but at least understandable.Upon completion of the assembly, the first light off was easy and we had no issues. The heating grate does have to "season" for a bit, and causes some smells, but that goes away within minutes and you'll be sitting on you patio in cool weather feeling toasty warm.True 46,000 BTU's when set on "HIGH", but would have been better if the hood was wider as we have another heater that is the same BTU level but covers a larger area due to its wider top hood.Remember, you have to hold the selector in for a bit after lighting. It's how it gets primed to draw gas from the tank.All in all, a nice unit that should last for a number of seasons. Here in Oklahoma, we are getting into hard winter, and we still can enjoy sitting on the patio with this heater working...at least when there isn't a strong wind. Recommended!
I own several similar patio heaters, and the unit compares very favorably in construction, operation, at attractiveness. Nicely built, throws out a lot of heat, and looks good. All of these heaters seem to suffer the same issues. They are sometimes hard to start, but overall a nice heater.
This was a bit of a bear to assemble, but not too bad. More awkward than difficult. Once assembled, we set this up on our yard patio, with chairs surrounding it and lit it up. It does throw heat, but you need to be fairly close to the unit if out in the yard. If you can set it up where there is some overhead shelter, it works MUCH better to spread out the heat. I would recommend getting the shorter unit for open areas, but on a porch, this works quite well. Not as much of a propane hog as we expected, either. Overall, we like it but wish we had the shorter version. It is very well built, a quality piece.