Why Infrared Heaters Are a Must-Have for Your Patio or Outdoor Space

When the weather turns chilly after a long summer of leisure, most people are disappointed to have to give up the pleasures of outdoor living and entertainment. Similarly, when spring arrives and there is desperation to resume using patio spaces, the lingering cold days can put a damper on that plan.

Luckily, there are options for extending your time enjoying the outdoor living spaces you've created into the chillier months by staying warm with infrared patio heaters. Using radiant heat, infrared heaters radiate heat to the objects and people around them, rather than heating the surrounding air like indoor sace heaters do—think of how your body absorbs radiant heat from the sun, even in the winter. Using radiant heat allows infrared heaters to act as a more efficient and effective outdoor heat source.

When you’re looking for the best infrared heater for your space, you’ll find many options to choose from. Infrared heating offers some of the more advanced outdoor heaters on the market, as they not only use the latest heating technology, but are built with attention to design and detail.

The best infrared heater is both functional and stylish.

An Infrared outdoor heater combines the best of all worlds, not sacrificing design for functionality. Rather, infrared heaters are highly effective at providing enough infrared heat to stay comfortable and efficient while also looking stylish, providing the perfect functionality and design elements to compliment your outdoor living space.

Whether you prefer an electric infrared heater or a propane infrared heater, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Radiant heat technology comes in a variety of efficient heating methods and sources of power, too, including heat sourcing mechanisms like tungsten, cobalt and ceramic. Electric infrared heaters are diverse in their potential uses; what kind works best for you depends on what type of space you’ll be using it in, since they all offer different ranges of heat efficiency.

Using infrared heaters for smaller spaces.

When you’re trying to provide heat in an area with less square footage, like a smaller deck, balcony or veranda with minimal, close together outdoor furniture, you won’t need as much wattage or radiance. The objects being heated are all within close proximity to the heat source.

An electric infrared heater can do the trick here. Starting a fire in a wood fire pit in order to generate heat can be too dangerous in that small of a space, so it’s a great option to have a heater that can attach right to your surrounding gazebo or pergola and walls, or even sit on a tabletop.

Using infrared radiant heat in medium to large spaces.

The ideal infrared patio heater when you have more surface area to cover is a cobalt electric heater or a larger-range tungsten heater. It’s more efficient to use these models with higher wattage, as they don’t need to work as hard to heat their surroundings.

For instance, if you install a 4000W or 6000W cobalt infrared heater, outdoor ranges for its heat will be 120 and 144 square feet, respectively. That’s perfect for a medium or large-sized patio space, where things are more spread out and heat has to travel farther to reach objects and people. Imagine being able to use your outdoor gas grill in December!

Using a portable infrared heater in large spaces.

A portable gas heater is ideal for large outdoor spaces that need to heat a lot of people, have no wall or overhanging surface to install a heater on and may need to shift around depending on how people and objects are configured within the space.

Compared to the traditional “mushroom” or umbrella-style heaters, portable heaters not only have higher heat output, but also offer directional heating. This means they can more accurately and efficiently target their surroundings without wastefully sending heat out into the atmosphere that won’t be absorbed. They’re also wind resistant up to 8 mph—not to mention that they look like pieces of modern art.

Other potential uses for an infrared heater.

Of course, they’re most ideal for a patio or outdoor setting where there is no way to keep heat trapped in an area, but you can also use an infrared heater indoors. For example, an infrared garage heater is far better at keeping you warm when you’re working in an uninsulated garage during colder months, as a convection heater would be ineffective or inefficient at heating the surrounding air.

You might also opt for an electric infrared heater in your home, which provides spot-heating that can be more efficient than conventional atmospheric heating. Just be sure to first read up on some tips for using space heaters safely.

Going all in with your new infrared patio heater.

If you decide to make the investment in an infrared heater, you can get more out of it when you pair it with patio heater accessories. Some infrared heaters use smart technology that can be controlled remotely, including powering the heat on and off or dimming it. You should also make sure you grab a cover for your patio heater to protect it when it’s not in use.

With numerous options readily available, you can extend your outdoor living season almost indefinitely with one or more infrared heat sources.