Although several of us will find any excuse to spend time in the garden or eat outside at restaurants, the weather is usually too cold to allow this. The bitter winter months are far from welcoming while the long summer evenings can get chilly quite quickly.
For this reason, both commercial businesses and domestic properties buy outdoor heaters to provide ample amounts of warmth, even when external temperature is somewhat off-putting.
Even so, one thing that puts some people off is the running costs associated with outdoor heaters. Pub landlords and restaurateurs will want to protect profit margins, as today’s economy and market conditions can change at a moment’s notice. Then again, homeowners will be conscious of pricey utility bills, which could skyrocket with an added heating expense.
Thankfully, outdoor infrared heaters can provide sufficient warmth to paying patrons and party guests without the worry of paying out significant sums of money. But what exactly are the running costs of outdoor infrared heaters?
Outdoor infrared heater running costs
In many respects, this is a difficult query to answer, as a lot will depend on the power of your heater and the cost of electricity in your area. What’s more, some businesses or households could end up paying more if they have their outdoor infrared heater on constantly and fail to turn it off when not in use.
But generally speaking, you can expect to pay 10p per KW, per hour, per lamp. And if you take one of the market’s best outdoor infrared heaters as an example, things should become a bit clearer.
The Herschel IR2 and IR3 heaters are available in 1300 watts and 1950 watts. This means the former would cost around 13p per hour to run, whereas the latter would cost in at just under 20p per hour.
As you’ll no doubt agree, this is not much money at all in the grand scheme of things. Especially when you compare this to the cost of fuel for gas patio heaters and timber for wood burners.
On top of that, outdoor infrared heaters are much more efficient than oil, gas, wood and propane heating alternatives, which can also result in significant savings.
The energy efficiency of outdoor infrared heaters
The way in which outdoor infrared heaters deliver warmth to those sitting or standing nearby is a lot different to oil, gas, and wood burning alternatives.
Outdoor infrared heaters do not heat the air, as there is no convection current to speak of and no moving parts. Instead, they lock heat into surrounding objects such as people and furniture, which slowly release warmth into the air.
This is very similar to how the sun warms the earth, but rather than giving off harmful ultraviolet rays, infrared is a pure form of heat and therefore poses no health risks.
Oil and gas heaters as well as wood burners will kick out a lot of warmth into the air, but this is subsequently lost as the heat rises up and escapes. So, they work extra hard to try and warm up the cold outside air, which soon disappears anyway.
As you can imagine, this is very inefficient and will require you to spend out more on fuel. But with an outdoor infrared heater, you can rest assured that the money you are paying for electricity will be put to good use.
Saving money with outdoor infrared heaters
Despite the fact outdoor infrared heaters cost much less to run than gas heaters and oil burners, there are a few ways you can save even more money too.
Seeing as outdoor infrared heaters provide instantaneous heat, they do not need to be given much time to warm up. Therefore, you should consider having a push button installed to conveniently turn off when not in use.
You can also have a motion sensor fitted, which will detect when people have left the vicinity of the heater and then switch the power off.
Another option is a thermostat control, which can adjust the temperature according to the weather conditions. This will also prevent unnecessary energy from being wasted and is yet another way to save money from your cost-effective outdoor infrared heater.