Outdoor Infrared Heaters - Worth it?

HofstraJet

We recently moved to Charlotte, NC and are building a new house.  We are considering getting electric infrared heaters installed on the ceiling of our covered patio for the fall/winter months.

Anyone have experience with them and whether they are worth it or should we just get a standalone propane heater? They aren't very expensive and we can easily do the wiring since it is a new build, but wanted to get some opinions on whether they are worth it.

Thanks!

lkapigian

Stand alone lp you will be filling all the time , I go gas before electric , but yes to a permanent system 

pgprescott

No personal experience but I’ve heard through others that are very familiar that they are the very best option for actually doing the job. 

Thatgrimguy

These style heaters have been on my hit list for a while but I haven't pulled the trigger on one yet. My buddy has one and it's amazing but I live where it's pretty much always hot or not cold.



https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/even-embers-pellet-patio-heater-htr1085as

lkapigian

I’ll throw this out there, if in the rough stage, you can’t beat floor radiant heat

pgprescott

Those towers are not what he’s talking about. They don’t heat the air as much as they heat a person. 

Mark_B_Good

Are these the infra-red heaters that will plug into a normal 15A receptacle? If so, they are a waste of time.  You need to be very close to them to feel the heat, and in an open, patio environment ... any little bit of wind ... forget it. Think about a hair dryer ... it draws almost all the 15A, and most of the power is going into the heating element, not the dryer fan.  That's as powerful of a heat you're going to get (with no flow of air).  If you are talking about commercial grade IR heaters, that will need to have a direct power feed from the electrical panel ... yes, those are good ... but ... they're expensive and the draw a lot of amps ... so you'll need to check if the panel can accommodate.

pgprescott

Mark_B_Good said:

Are these the infra-red heaters that will plug into a normal 15A receptacle? If so, they are a waste of time.  You need to be very close to them to feel the heat, and in an open, patio environment ... any little bit of wind ... forget it. Think about a hair dryer ... it draws almost all the 15A, and most of the power is going into the heating element, not the dryer fan.  That's as powerful of a heat you're going to get (with no flow of air).  If you are talking about commercial grade IR heaters, that will need to have a direct power feed from the electrical panel ... yes, those are good ... but ... they're expensive and the draw a lot of amps ... so you'll need to check if the panel can accommodate.

TYep. Definitely wouldn’t consider anything other than a 240v kinda application. These are first world applications. If you are concerned about the cost of operating them keep walking. 😁

HofstraJet

Thanks, everyone. This is a new house being built so I can do whatever I want at this stage. I am looking at 240v ceiling mounted infrared heaters like this:




For those interested: https://www.infratech-usa.com/heaters/

Pricing isn't obscene and the wiring is easy at this stage of the build (needs 240V/30A service). The controls can be very expensive if you want mobile app control, infinite setting levels, etc., but a simple high/low switch is very reasonable.

I did find that there are gas versions of these as well - going to look into those since I can easily run gas to the area.

lkapigian

You'll need a few at 3.14 X Watts = BTU's , the biggest being 18,840 BTUS VS about 50 KBTU for your average free-standing one 

unoriginalusername

i have the bromic (https://www.bromic.ca/product/tungsten-smart-heat-electric/) in my outdoor kitchen and gas habenaro (https://www.irenergy.ca/the-habanero-ceiling-wall-gas-patio-heater-collection/model-hab-m20/) in my pergola.

The gas offers way more heat, but it needs for code a large clearance so it hangs down and visually not as nice.  its cheap to run, and heats well.

The electric we planned to have recessed but the studs dont run the right way to allow flush mount.... they are a little further away and the slightest breeze negates any benefit.  

if i had to do it again, gas 

GoldenQ

We have two infared portable heaters that came from Costco .  They have a reflective dish area that it about 15 in diameter and they do a very good job and we can move them around with a cord.

Mark_B_Good

By the way, if you have a covered patio, can you install vinyl blinds/enclosure? That's what I do. With this (see photo below), it's easy to retain heat, as you're not heating the whole neighborhood. We're in Canada and I get my patio to 75F in the middle of winter when it's like 10F to 15F outside. The other beauty is I have my BBQ gasser in there hard piped to the natural gas line  ... 65,000 BTU ... so guess what I use to heat the patio, lol. It works brilliantly.

lkapigian

@Mark_B_Good , you ever monitor the CO levels in there when running the gasser ? That could/should be a concern especially with cumulative effects 

fishlessman

Mark_B_Good said:

By the way, if you have a covered patio, can you install vinyl blinds/enclosure? That's what I do. With this (see photo below), it's easy to retain heat, as you're not heating the whole neighborhood. We're in Canada and I get my patio to 75F in the middle of winter when it's like 10F to 15F outside. The other beauty is I have my BBQ gasser in there hard piped to the natural gas line  ... 65,000 BTU ... so guess what I use to heat the patio, lol. It works brilliantly.

that would work beuatifully. my ice fishing hub is 8 x 18 foot long, 8 foot wide and will heat to teeshirt weather on a below 0 F day with a small portable propane heater. i like this idea on an a patio, maybe too hot down in the carolinas, im thinking the sun would heat that up down there

Mark_B_Good

lkapigian said:

@Mark_B_Good , you ever monitor the CO levels in there when running the gasser ? That could/should be a concern especially with cumulative effects 

I haven't but good point. It's not air tight though ... there's room for air to breath in ... just need the heat source to overcome that cold air exchange.  Also, natural gas does burn pretty completely ... I'd be concerned if it was charcoal, or if I was cooking anything on that grill.  But I typically fire it up, and if there's any initial smoke that comes off, I vent the area (if you see that 2nd photo, there's a storage box, and above that a window that I roll up ... my gasser is just below that window, and I have installed two exhaust fans off the sealing where that window is).  Once I have clean heat coming off the grill, we close everything up, and it doesn't take much time to heat the area.

I actually do also have 2 propane patio heaters like the photo below. They're like 40,000 BTU each ... I do use those ... but sometimes replacing propane tanks is a pain in the butt ... so the BBQ is so much more convenient.

 

Mark_B_Good

fishlessman said:

Mark_B_Good said:

By the way, if you have a covered patio, can you install vinyl blinds/enclosure? That's what I do. With this (see photo below), it's easy to retain heat, as you're not heating the whole neighborhood. We're in Canada and I get my patio to 75F in the middle of winter when it's like 10F to 15F outside. The other beauty is I have my BBQ gasser in there hard piped to the natural gas line  ... 65,000 BTU ... so guess what I use to heat the patio, lol. It works brilliantly.

that would work beuatifully. my ice fishing hub is 8 x 18 foot long, 8 foot wide and will heat to teeshirt weather on a below 0 F day with a small portable propane heater. i like this idea on an a patio, maybe too hot down in the carolinas, im thinking the sun would heat that up down there

Without ANY heat source inside the patio, the enclosure already is a good 20F to 25F higher than the outside temperature (I have a thermometer on my patio to verify). And that area hardly gets any sun ... it's mostly the bit of heat coming off the windows, and eliminating the breeze from outside. So you could be right ... on most days, in the Carolinas ... you might not even need that much of a heating source, especially if sun is hitting the area.