Heating & cooling hire
Indirect heaters and climate kit for marquees October to April. Delivered, set up and collected by suppliers who cover your patch.
Marquee heater hire typically costs £150 to £300 per weekend for a 25kW indirect diesel heater, which heats around 100 sqm of lined marquee. October to April marquee events should include heating by default. Indirect heaters sit outside the marquee and duct warm air in, so no fumes. Heating and cooling hire near you quotes the same guide prices wherever in the corridor you are booking from.
Marquees are canvas: whatever the forecast promises, evening temperature is what guests remember. The trade default is the indirect diesel heater: the burner sits outside the marquee and pushes clean warm air through ducting, with a thermostat inside. Sizing runs about 25kW per 100 sqm of lined marquee, more for unlined canvas or open sides.
Patio heaters cover doorway smoking areas and outdoor bars rather than the main space. At the other end of the calendar, summer corporate events in glasshouse-style structures occasionally need the reverse: air movers and evaporative coolers.
Running cost is diesel, not just the unit fee: a 25kW indirect heater burns roughly 2 to 3 litres an hour, so a 12-hour event day adds up to 25 to 35 litres on top of the hire price. Ask whether fuel is included or billed on return, the same question you would ask about a generator.
Heating and cooling hire near you is usually one supplier conversation, not several: towns across the Oxfordshire–Cotswolds–M4 corridor, from Northampton and Cirencester down to Reading and Newbury, sit inside the same 20 to 30 mile depot radius, so the guide prices and sizing on this page apply wherever in the corridor you are booking from.
PLANNING RATIOMarquee events from October to April should budget heating by default. Rough sizing: 25kW of indirect heat per 100 sqm of lined marquee.
What it costs
| Item | Typical guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indirect diesel 25kW, weekend | £150–£300 | + fuel |
| Indirect diesel 50kW, weekend | £250–£450 | |
| Electric fan heater 3kW | £25–£60 | |
| Patio heater | £40–£80 | |
| Portable air conditioner, weekend | £80–£180 | needs 13A feed |
| Industrial fan / evaporative cooler, weekend | £30–£70 |
Guide prices exclude VAT and vary with season, region and site access. Quotes from suppliers are always the real number.
Heating & cooling hire across the launch corridor
Local pages for every corridor town, with the same honest ratios and local site knowledge.
Heating & cooling hire: questions organisers ask
Is there heating and cooling near me?
Yes: heating and cooling suppliers across the Oxfordshire–Cotswolds–M4 corridor typically quote a 20 to 30 mile delivery radius, so towns from Northampton and Cirencester down to Reading and Newbury are covered from one direction or another. Use the town pages on this hub for the ratios and prices that apply locally, or describe your event once and get matched to whichever verified supplier actually covers your postcode.
How many heaters does a wedding marquee need?
One 25kW indirect heater per 100 sqm of lined marquee is the standard starting point: a 120-guest marquee (around 170 sqm) typically takes one 50kW or two 25kW units with thermostats. Cold snaps and open sides push it up.
Are marquee heaters safe?
Indirect units are the safe standard: combustion happens outside the structure and only clean warm air is ducted in. What matters on site is fuel storage away from guests and ducting runs that no one trips over: both are the supplier’s bread and butter.
How much does it cost to heat a wedding marquee for the weekend?
A single 50kW indirect heater runs £250 to £450 for the weekend, or £300 to £600 for two 25kW units with independent thermostats for different zones, plus diesel. For a 120-guest lined marquee (around 170 sqm), that single 50kW unit is usually the starting point.
How far in advance should a marquee heater be switched on before guests arrive?
Run it for at least 2 to 3 hours before doors open, longer on a cold or damp day. Warming the air is quick, but an indirect heater also has to drive the chill out of the canvas, the ground sheet and the furniture, which takes time the thermostat cannot shortcut. Suppliers who deliver the day before will often leave the heater ticking over on a low setting overnight rather than start from a cold marquee on the morning of the event.
Can I hire air conditioning or cooling for a marquee in summer?
Yes: portable air conditioners, industrial fans and evaporative coolers are a normal summer hire, not just a winter heating story. Most marquees stay comfortable once the sides are open and the sun drops, so full air conditioning is the exception rather than the default, but a clearspan structure, a catering tent, or a daytime corporate event in direct sun is where cooling earns its place. Size it on floor area rather than guest count, roughly one unit per 30 to 40 sqm, and add it to the generator load list the same way you would a heater.
