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My wife's 50th birthday is coming up this December, and she decided to have a big party. We will need to use our deck (it's some type of ground-floor balcony rather than a traditional open deck) to fit all the guests, and as it will be cold, we will close off the open side with a thermal tarp. I also bought a gas patio heater, which I just finished assembling and testing.

Here's the issue: the top of the heater is a little too close to the wooden ceiling, and while I am not afraid that it will burn, I'm quite certain it will cause at least some damage to the surface or the paint, if not at the very least yellow it. Here's what it looks like (not it's final placement, it's just in the corner now, until it's needed):

Patio heater

The gap between the dish-shaped heatsink and the ceiling is around 4in/10cm. I ran the heater for about 15min, and the wood is quite warm to the touch. The decoloration you see in the heater is from the 15min test run, as it got glowing orange hot.

I'm looking for ideas to protect the ceiling. My first thought was to place a non-flammable (metal?) spacer on the top, flat portion of the heatsink dish, and place some kind of firestop material or non-flammable insulation on top of it. The flat area is around 8in/20cm wide, until it slopes away from the ceiling. I thought I could use either a rigid firestop board, or make one out of non intumescent firestop foam. Anything that won't offgas when very hot.

What do you think could be the pitfalls? And what would be your advice and recommendations?

Rohit Gupta
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FrK
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    As a cheap and cheerful experiment, I'd hang a metal dustbin lid - from the hook that's directly above. You'll need to move the hook when you move the heater, of course. – Tim Nov 12 '23 at 09:21
  • I think a metal dustbin might work But of course I'd rather avoid poking holes in the ceiling. – FrK Nov 12 '23 at 10:19
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    Not a dustbin - only its lid!! Idea came from the hook already in the ceiling. – Tim Nov 12 '23 at 11:28
  • Sorry, yeah, yeah, that's what I meant, a dustbin lid. Of course a whole dustbin wouldn't fit in that small gap. :) – FrK Nov 12 '23 at 11:30
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    Another idea could be a welding blanket. You probably don't want it directly on the heater dome (but maybe it'll be fine? IDK), but you could attach it to a piece of plywood and hang the plywood from the hook. – Huesmann Nov 12 '23 at 13:36
  • Is it wise to have that heater in what will be a closed area? Just my thoughts. – RMDman Nov 12 '23 at 13:58
  • @Huesmann: there aren't hooks all over the ceiling....just that one odd one by the corner, which is probably not where the heater will be. I guess we'll place the heater smack in the center of the deck. I'm not sure about the welder blanket. They are non-flammable, sure, but are they insulating, or excellent at disipating heat? – FrK Nov 12 '23 at 14:56
  • Thank you for the concern, @RMDman It will not be fully closed, no. The deck is completely open on one side, and we will hang a tarp from hooks in the ceiling that already run along the open edge. There will be more than enough ventilation along all 4 sides of the tarp. As the air inside will be warm while the air outside will be very cold (I live in Switzerland, so mid December is quite cold), there should be a pretty decent flow due to convection. – FrK Nov 12 '23 at 14:57
  • I tend to agree that this is simply the wrong kind of heater for that space, and should be replaced with one that does not put focused heat into the ceiling above it. Outdoor heaters of this sort are designed for open air spaces, not roofed spaces. – keshlam Nov 13 '23 at 15:38

1 Answers1

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It is very likely that the ceiling will be damaged. Personally, I would not use it.

If you are intent on using this heater, then you could use some high temperature flue tape and tape up an area a little bit larger than the heater lid, onto the ceiling itself.

Being silver it will reflect some heat. But I would still keep an eye on it. Caution, it is a bit sticky.

Examples

3M™ Professional Grade High Temperature Flue Tape

3M High Temperature Flue Tape

Rohit Gupta
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