Stop Letting Your Patio Lose You Money
Let’s be honest: the second the temperature dips, your outdoor seating becomes a ghost town. Most people try to fix this with standard heaters, but those things are useless outside. They try to heat the air, and in an open space, that heat just drifts away into the night. You’re basically paying to heat the neighborhood. That’s why we use shortwave mirror infrared heaters. Instead of fighting the wind, these units send heat straight to your guests’ skin and clothes. It feels like sitting in the sun on a crisp autumn day. The “Mirror” Secret Here is the thing about basic infrared tubes: they throw heat in every direction. If you mount one on a ceiling, half that warmth is just heading straight up into the sky. Total waste. We put a high-reflectivity mirror right behind the tube. It catches that wasted heat and bounces it back down toward the tables. You get double the warmth in the spot where it actually matters, without having to hike up your electricity bill or blow a fuse. Getting the Setup Right We usually run these on 220V-240V. Why? Because when you’re running cables across a big deck, you lose power along the way. This keeps things stable. Plus, we use shortwave lamps because they’re instant. You flip a switch, and it’s hot. No waiting around for a coil to warm up. But you have to get the height right. Aim for about 2.5 to 3.5 meters. If you hang them too low, your guests will feel like they’re being grilled and they’ll move. Too high, and the warmth disappears before it even hits the table. It’s a delicate balance. The Bottom Line When people are cozy, they stay. It’s that simple. A guest who isn’t shivering is a guest who orders another round of drinks or decides to stick around for dessert. It turns a seasonal patio into a money-maker all year long. Just a heads-up on the power: these arrays pull a lot of current. If you’re putting ten of these on a deck, your old breaker box probably can’t handle it. Don’t try to run them off a cheap extension cord—you’ll end up tripping the power right in the middle of a Friday night rush. Get your distribution board checked first.