One Heater. Three Ways To Hold It Up.

Start with how it should be held up, because that settles most of the rest. If the furniture moves and the layout changes, you want one of the portables on a weighted base, and then the only question is whether you will run a gas line to it, which is the A242, or would rather it carried its own 20 pound propane cylinder in the post, which is the A270. If the layout is settled and you want the floor clear, the PSA265 goes on a 3 inch post fixed into the ground or the deck. If there is a roof over the space, the A244 hangs from it and takes up no ground at all.

Sunglo publishes a heat coverage of 10 feet by 10 feet, and the same figure across the range, including the 40,000 BTU A270. The number worth planning from is their spacing guidance rather than the area: 15 feet apart in well protected areas, 12 feet in semi exposed areas and 8 feet in completely exposed areas, with 12 feet given as the average. Note which way that runs. A windier patio needs heaters closer together, so exposure increases the count rather than reducing it.

Where the gas comes from, and how much heat you get. The A242 is 50,000 BTU per hour, runs on natural gas or propane, and needs a supply run to it, either a plumbed line or Sunglo's optional hose kit, which is certified to 12 feet maximum. The A270 is 40,000 BTU per hour, propane only, and carries a 20 pound cylinder inside its own post, so it needs no line, no hose across the patio and no installation at all. Both stand 93 inches tall on a 20 inch weighted base. Sunglo publishes no sentence comparing the two directly, so that is the difference read off each model's own specification rather than a claim of theirs.

A switch instead of a walk, and it needs a transformer you supply. On the PSA265 and the A244, the 24 volt version runs a complete automated ignition system that turns the pilot and the main burner on and off from a switch, and the A244 version monitors the flame by flame rectification rather than a thermocouple. It matters most on the hanging heater, where the pilot sits above head height. What Sunglo requires in return is specific: 24 VAC from an NEC Class 2 transformer that the installer provides, 20 VA for each heater, and the transformer is not supplied with the heater. Run 18 gauge wire up to 50 feet and 16 gauge beyond that. The manual versions need no electrical connection of any kind.

One table covers the range: 18 inches above the heater, 24 inches at the sides, and 84 inches below the head. Those are minimums to combustible material and they do not change with the finish, so a stainless heater needs exactly the same room as a black one. The 84 inch figure below is also the published mounting height for the hanging A244, which is worth knowing before anyone picks a beam to hang it from.

Sunglo does not publish it, and we would rather say so than invent a number. Their own wording is that the heater has a permanent post mounted in the ground or deck, and that the in ground post minimizes the deck space required. There is no published burial depth, no footing specification, no concrete detail and no anchor spec on either of the manufacturer's sites. The fixing is a judgement for your contractor based on the ground and on local code. What Sunglo does publish is the overall height of 93 inches and a 3 inch post diameter, and we will send both in writing along with the gas requirements.

No, and this is the one that catches people out. Sunglo's own specification sheet lists the L bracket as supplied by the installer, so the mounting hardware is not in the box with either the manual or the 24 volt version. Neither is the transformer the 24 volt version needs. Tell us how you are hanging it and we will make sure everything you need is on the order the first time.

Under a cover yes, in a garage no. Sunglo's definition of outdoors allows walls on all sides with no overhead cover, or an overhead cover with no more than two side walls, or a cover and three walls as long as 30 percent of the perimeter stays permanently open. These are unvented appliances, so they also need 4 cfm of supply and exhaust air for every 1,000 BTU of input. The A270 is the strictest of the four: Sunglo states that it shall not be used in a building, a garage or any other enclosed area.

It changes how many you need, and past a point it shuts the heater down. The certified wind rating is 10 mph horizontal, and Sunglo states the heater can be safely operated when the cross wind or breeze is 0 to 10 mph, listing wind above that among the conditions that shut it off. Below that threshold, wind still costs you coverage, which is why Sunglo tightens the spacing from 15 feet in a well protected area to 8 feet in a completely exposed one.

A half inch supply and three fittings people forget. Sunglo requires a half inch lever handled shut off gas cock within 6 feet of the heater, a drip leg on each heater, and an eighth inch NPT plugged tapping upstream for a test gauge. Minimum inlet pressure is 6 inches water column on natural gas and 11 inches on propane. On the A242 you can use the optional hose kit with a quick connect coupling instead of a hard line, certified to 12 feet maximum, and Sunglo's own advice is to make sure the hose pathway does not become a trip hazard.