This is the counter hire: a freestanding propane radiant heater, roughly $25 to $60 a day, taken from the tool side of a general rental center to keep an outdoor work area or a home patio usable in the cold. Marquee and function heating is a separate trade with separate suppliers, so if the job is an event, that is where to ask.
What the counter means by the phrase
Almost always the tall freestanding mushroom unit: a cylinder inside the base, a burner and a reflector at head height, radiating heat in a circle around the post. Tabletop versions exist and are mostly sold rather than hired. Forced air units, which blow heated air into a volume, are a different item at a different rate.
The gas is a separate line
The rate covers the heater. The propane comes as a cylinder you exchange or buy, and a standard twenty pound bottle gives a working evening rather than a week. Ask how the yard bills gas, whether part used cylinders are credited, and take a spare, because running dry halfway through is the usual complaint.
Radiant heat only reaches so far
You feel it in a circle a few paces across, and outside that circle you feel nothing. Two modest units placed among people beat one large one in a corner. Anything more than a light breeze carries the warmth away entirely, so a windbreak does more for comfort than a bigger burner does.
Clearances, and where one may not stand
Every unit states minimum distances to anything above and beside it, and those numbers assume level ground and no fabric overhead. A propane heater burning under a closed canopy or indoors puts combustion products where people are breathing, which is why manufacturers restrict them to open air. Read the plate on the base before you light it.
Questions people ask about patio heater rental
How long does a cylinder last?
A standard twenty pound bottle typically runs a freestanding unit for an evening at a moderate setting, less on full. Hire a spare cylinder if the heater has to work a full day, and store it upright, outdoors and away from the burner.
Can I use a patio heater inside a garage?
Not a propane radiant one. It is built for open air, and using it in an enclosed space is both a carbon monoxide risk and outside what the manufacturer permits. For enclosed work, ask the counter about an indirect fired or electric heater instead.
Is it cheaper to hire or to buy one?
For a weekend or a single cold spell, hiring wins outright, and the yard takes it back afterwards. For a business that wants heaters every winter evening, the maths turns over a season or two, and hiring is then a way to test how many you actually need.