Radiant heaters; The best way to keep warm
If you're reading this post, it's probably because you're an outdoor cooking enthusiast like me and have a variety of BBQs that you love firing up when you have friends over. My taste buds have become so accustomed to wood-fired cooking and smoke that unless my meat has been cooked over charcoal or in a smoker, it tastes as bland as low-fat salt reduced diet rice crackers.
When we have friends over, I want to be able to entertain outdoors, ogling over the BBQ regardless of the weather. Let's face it, living in Melbourne, this doesn't necessarily mean only during the cooler months either. It could be 30 degrees during the day and then feel like a snow blizzard is coming that same evening!
At home, I have both a fire pit set up outside on the grass as well a couple of electric radiant heaters mounted on the ceiling of my outdoor entertaining area. The fire pit mainly gets used when we have friends with kids coming over so the kids can toast marshmallows and it brings everyone together sitting around the fire rather than the kids playing video games inside.
In the outdoor entertaining area, we have 2 2400w electric radiant heaters positioned directly over the dining table. These radiant heaters work best in pairs and should really only be used to spot heat over specific areas you want to heat such as a dining table or a lounge area rather than trying to heat up the whole room. They are a gentle heat which really just cuts the chill. You'll never be sitting directly underneath one in the middle of winter in a t-shirt and shorts that's for sure! On a positive note though, once you turn them one, you can just leave them on. No-one will be complaining the top of their scalp is burning or breaking out into a sweat.
I chose to have my radiant heaters hard wired into the wall mounted control unit which gives me the option to set a timer and turn the heaters on/off via the remote control. An easier and cheaper way would have been to plug them directly into a power point and just turn them on and off via a normal on/off switch which would have saved me electrician fees. Each to their own.
Some customers I speak to have spent more on their outdoor kitchen than their indoor kitchen so it seems silly to skimp on heating and only be able to use this area during the warmer months of the year. Until next time, keep barbecuing and stay warm!
Check out our previous blog post about How Does Infrared Radiant Heating Work
