Making Your Patio Heaters Actually Smart
Ever notice how some outdoor heaters just seem to warm up the air around you, but you’re still shivering? That’s because they’re trying to heat the whole outdoors. We do things differently. Our heaters use short-wave infrared, which means they heat you and your furniture directly. It’s like stepping into a patch of sunlight on a cold day. And since these live outside, we wrap everything in waterproof, IP-rated housings. Rain, humidity, snow—it doesn’t matter. The guts of the machine stay dry and safe.
Heat, Right Now
The best part? There’s no waiting around. We use quartz tubes that hit their top temperature in seconds. When you tap a button on your phone, the power hits the filament and—boom—you feel the warmth instantly. Even if it’s freezing outside, you aren’t standing there for ten minutes wondering if the thing is actually working.
Getting Them to “Talk”
Making these heaters work with your smart home setup is simpler than it sounds. We basically put a heavy-duty relay or a smart controller into the power line. Whether you use Wi-Fi or Zigbee, the process is the same: your phone sends a signal, the relay clicks shut, and the heat kicks in. You can even set it to be automatic. For example, you can tell your house, “Hey, if the patio drops below 10°C, turn the heat on.” By the time you walk outside with your drink, it’s already cozy.
A Quick Warning on Wiring
Here is the thing: these heaters pull a lot of power. Please, for the love of everything,**do not just plug these into a cheap smart plug.**You’ll likely melt the controller. You need a dedicated circuit and a relay that can actually handle the amperage. If you’re running a unit over 2kW, we always suggest using a contactor. It protects your smart switch from those nasty power spikes. It might seem like a bit of extra work upfront, but it’s the only way to make sure your system doesn’t fry itself in the middle of January.