Blog posts from January, 2015

Winter hasn't been too bad here at National Event Supply. There was a little whining when the windchill reading dropped to -29 Celsius, but for the most part we’ve been surviving. The recent cold snap did get us thinking about tent heaters (and vacations to warm locales with beautiful beaches). Now, there aren't a lot of weddings happening, in tents, in Canada, in the dead of winter, but spring is coming. And while every bride hopes for gorgeous weather on her big day, tent heat may be needed for those spring and fall weddings. Even though we don't sell tents or tent heaters, we do sell to tent rental and party rental companies looking for these products and want to help our customers and potential prospects make educated decisions on the types of tent heaters to purchase. So we decided to take a look at the two different types of tent heaters and highlight the pros and cons for each.

The first major type of tent heater is a direct tent heater. Direct tent heaters heat the tent by forcing air over an open flame to produce hot air which is then ducted in to the tent. Direct tent heaters are usually fuelled by propane and are most efficient in totally enclosed tent applications.

Photo Credit: L.B. White

The other major type of tent heater is an indirect tent heater. Indirect tent heaters have a heat exchanger much like the forced air furnace found in many homes. The fan of the heating unit blows air across the heat exchanger sending the hot air into the tent through ductwork. Indirect tent heaters are also usually fuelled by propane, although diesel units can be found. Indirect tent heaters are most commonly used in larger applications where clean, warm air is required.

Photo Credit: L.B. White

Depending on your jurisdiction, the choice between direct-fired and indirect-fired tent heaters may be a simple one. If not, you'll need to weigh the efficiency and ease of use of direct tent heaters against the better quality heat and larger size of the indirect tent heaters.

Banquet chair dollies are the perfect way to transport banquet chairs between the storage room and your event venue’s different rooms. Perhaps you already own multiple or just one banquet chair dolly, or perhaps you don’t own any – regardless of whether you own one or not – the number one question you’re bound to ask yourself when looking for a dolly is “how much does a banquet chair dolly cost?” Below will detail the approximate cost to budget when looking to purchase a banquet chair dolly in Canada.

Banquet chair carts range in price from $49.95 - $130.95 CDN. The range in price is due to three different style variations and different materials in use.

Picture Source: Global Industrial

Picture Source: PS Furniture

Hopefully this article helps you figure out the approximate price you should budget for each banquet chair cart you’d like to purchase.

Portable Folding Coat Racks are perfect for party and event rental companies as they’re foldable and easy to store and transport to customers. While not a lot of assembly is required, there is still a few pieces to put together in order to begin using the Folding Coat Rack. Here’s how to assemble a Portable Garment Rack:

What you should receive:

• (1x) Folding Coat Rack Base
• (1x) Folding Coat Rack Top Closet Rod

No Tools Required. Recommend having two people to set it up

Approximate Assembly time: ~ 2 minutes

1. Check to make sure all parts are accounted for. Below is what the portable folding coat rack will look like immediately after taking it out of the box. (see picture below). The coat rack ships folded to optimize shipping costs.

2. Remove the Folding Coat Rack Top Closet Rod from its housing by grabbing the Folding Coat Rack Top Closet Rod and pulling up. It is held in place to the Folding Coat Rack Base by two clips.

3. Remove protective plastic from Folding Coat Rack Top Closet Rod.

4. The two poles are held in place folded against the Folding Coat Rack Base by short 1inch metal pieces on opposite pole. Grasp the bottom pole at the end and pull the pole towards you until it clears the short 1 inch metal piece. Then place the bottom pole on top of the metal piece.

5. Doing the same thing as above, this time on the left side, grab the bottom pole at the end and push away from you until it clears the 1 inch metal piece. Then place the pole on top of the metal piece.

6. Here’s where a 2nd person comes in handy – one person should then raise the poles vertically (like so below) and hold them in place.

7. Then the second person puts the Folding Coat Rack Top Closet Rod and connects it onto the two poles.

8. Finally, on each side, there is a button that can be pushed to raise and lower the height of the folding coat rack – depending on what length of garment you will be hanging.

We were recently asked what size of tablecloth fits on our NES Reliable 32" Low Plastic Folding Cocktail Table. If you're looking for a tablecloth that will go all the way to the floor, you'll want a 90 inch round tablecloth. A 90 inch round tablecloth will also go all the way to the floor on an NES 30" Wood Cruiser Table with a 30 inch pole.

Image Source: http://www.pacificpartycanopies.com/

If you're looking for something that will only go halfway to the floor, you'd need a 60 inch round tablecloth. A 60 inch round tablecloth would provide 15 inches of overhang on both the NES Reliable 32" Low Plastic Folding Cocktail Table and the NES 30" Wood Cruiser Table with a 30 inch pole.

Image Source: http://www.pacificpartycanopies.com/

White resin folding chairs have been by far one of our bestselling chairs over 2014 with no signs of stopping in the year ahead. The best kind of purchase though is knowing exactly what you’re getting with the product – and that includes the problems that may arise. It makes sense to know what problems may arise in a product so you’re able to determine what you’re willing to live with and what you’re not. Here are the problems with white resin folding chairs and solutions:

1. Screw hole caps can be lost

White resin folding chairs have screw caps that hide the screw holes. Sometimes these screw caps after high turnover, can become loose and tend to fall out either at the event venue or in transit to or from your storage location. Solution: New replacement screw caps can be purchased in lots of 100. We have heard of rental companies putting a little glue in the hole before putting the new screw cap on as well – to ensure it doesn’t get lost.

2. Scuff marks can occur

With white furniture in general, you’re going to get maintenance issues that require solving on an ongoing basis. Add to that, you’re a rental company or event venue who turnover a large amount of events a year and you have the potential for a lot of scuff marks to occur. This generally happens when guests put their feet on the legs, accidently brush the seat in front of them as they cross their legs etc. Solution: Magic Eraser has been shown to remove most if not all scuff marks.

3. Yellowing can occur after years of extensive outdoor use

We were under the impression that our white resin folding chairs wouldn’t yellow due to UV exposure and had that on our website. Our factory repeatedly assured us of this. And we didn’t have any complaints (that we knew of) in the 9 years the current owners have owned the business. But it turns out we were wrong. Last year we received some great feedback from a party rental company out in Western Canada who let us know that the chairs he had purchased in 2006 had begun to yellow. He was in the market for new chairs anyways as 8+ years of high rental turnover can make a white resin folding chair look a little worse for wear. It was great receiving this feedback so that we can set expectations for other customer’s or potential customers about our product while working with our factory to better the product. Solution: Keep white resin folding chairs in indoor, heated storage only free of elements to lengthen product colour and be prepared for the possibility of having to do a chair replacement after 8 years.

4. Deep scratches in resin can occur

Because resin is a highly durable product, it does hold up extremely well to nicks and scratches. That being said it is not perfect and can become susceptible to deeper scratches due to the high turnover of the product. Due to the nature of resin, it can’t be easily fixed once a scratch can occur (which is why some party rental companies prefer wooden folding chairs over resin folding chairs). Solution: Always use the proper chair dollies to transport, ensure all chairs and dollies are locked down from movement when in transit and train employees to handle the chairs with care. Alternative solution is to purchase new chairs when existing chairs are becoming well worn.