Making Your Patio Actually Useable (Even in Winter)
We build our infrared heaters to take a beating. They have an IP55 rating, which is just a fancy way of saying they won’t quit if they get dusty or caught in a rainstorm. But the real magic happens when you stop messing with manual switches and let a smart home system handle the temperature for you.
Heat That Actually Hits You
Here is the thing about most heaters: they try to warm up the air. In an open backyard, that’s a losing battle because the wind just blows the warmth away. Our heaters work differently. They use short-wave infrared, which feels a lot like stepping into a patch of sunlight on a crisp day. It doesn’t wait for the breeze to die down. You turn it on, and you feel the heatimmediately. It’s instant.
Putting it on Autopilot
If you want to get fancy, you can hook these up to a smart hub using a relay or a dimmer module. I love setting up a “Winter Mode” scene. With one tap on your phone or a single voice command, the heaters kick in and the outdoor lights dim. The quartz tubes heat up in seconds, so by the time you’ve walked outside with your drink, the patio is already cozy.
The “Gotcha” with the Wiring
Now, let’s talk about the boring but important stuff. These heaters pull a lot of power. If you just slap a bunch of them on a standard circuit, you’re going to trip your breaker the second it gets cold. You need to make sure your electrical panel can handle the load. We always suggest using heavy-gauge wiring, especially if the patio is far from the house. It keeps the power steady and prevents the system from choking.
Keeping it Real
Just a heads-up: don’t try to run these on a cheap extension cord. You’ll need dedicated circuits to do this right. Once the hard part—the wiring—is finished, you can forget about it. The software handles the schedule, and the IP55 housing keeps the rain and grit out. You just get to enjoy the warmth.