How to Heat a Covered Patio or Screened Porch
A covered patio is the easiest outdoor space to heat well. The roof keeps out rain and holds back the night sky, so the warmth a heater sends down stays with the people below it. It also changes the rules: what you mount, how close it can sit to the ceiling and which fuel makes sense. Here is how we plan heat for covered patios, pergolas, lanais and screened porches.
Under a roof, start with electric
Every Bromic heater is radiant: it warms people and surfaces directly, the way sunshine does, rather than trying to heat the air. That is exactly what you want under a roof, and electric radiant heaters suit covered spaces best for three reasons.
- They need only inches above them. Bromic electric heaters need roughly 5 to 13 inches to the ceiling, depending on the model and mount. Gas heaters need 36 inches, or 14 inches with a heat deflector.
- No flame and no gas line. An electric heater is hard-wired by an electrician on a 220 to 240V circuit (208V and 277V versions exist for commercial buildings). There is nothing to ventilate and no tank to refill.
- They can be dimmed. With a dimmer controller you can run an electric heater gently on a cool evening and at full power on a cold night. Bromic gas heaters are on and off only.
Gas still has a place. Bromic's Platinum and Tungsten gas heaters are rated for outdoor and semi-covered exterior rooms, cover up to about 215 square feet each and suit a tall, open-sided structure where the headroom is there. They need at least 96 inches from the floor and the larger overhead clearance, so measure before you choose. Our electric vs gas guide compares the two in detail.
Screened porches: the one to think through
Searches for infrared heaters for screened porches are common, and with good reason: a screened porch is part outdoors, part room. Screens let air through, but add solid walls, glass panels or storm inserts and the porch starts to behave like an enclosed room.
That matters for gas. Bromic's product pages state that its heaters should only be installed outdoors or in semi-covered exterior rooms, and each gas heater's installation manual sets out how open the space must be. If your porch is mostly enclosed, an electric heater is the simpler and safer choice: no combustion, small clearances and a slim profile that suits a porch ceiling. Either way, your installer should check the manual for your exact model and your local code before anything goes up.
Ceiling, wall or recessed
How you mount the heater depends on where people sit. These are the minimums from our product specifications; mounting higher spreads the heat wider but more gently.
| Heater | Wall mount (min. height) | Ceiling mount (min. height) | Gap to ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum Electric 2300W / 3400W | 72" | 96" | 6" wall, 8" ceiling |
| Platinum Electric 4500W | 71" | 96" | 6.7" wall, 8.5" ceiling |
| Tungsten Electric 4000W / 6000W | 72" | 96" | 12" wall, 13" ceiling |
| Eclipse Electric pendant | - | 96" | Hangs from a pole |
| Platinum or Tungsten Gas | 96" | 96" | 36", or 14" with deflector |
- Wall mounted heaters angle down toward the seating, the simplest install when the table or sofa sits along the house wall.
- Ceiling mounted heaters go over the middle of a covered patio, centered over the dining table or lounge group. Poles and suspension kits bring a heater down from a tall or vaulted ceiling.
- Recessed is the cleanest look: Platinum electric heaters sit flush in the ceiling with a recess kit. Plan it before the ceiling is finished, since the kit needs space in the ceiling cavity.
- Pendant: the Eclipse is a round heater with an LED light ring that hangs over a table on the included 24 inch twin pole, so it heats and lights the table at once.
Our Bromic installation guide lists every clearance and the electrical details to share with your electrician.
How many heaters you need
Measure only the area where people sit, then divide by the heater's heat area and round up. Bromic's published figures: the Platinum Electric warms about 65, 108 or 143 square feet (2300W, 3400W, 4500W), the Tungsten Electric about 130 or 160 square feet (4000W, 6000W) and the Eclipse about 121 square feet.
A 12 by 16 foot covered dining area (192 square feet) is a good example: two Platinum 3400W heaters, one at each end, warm it more evenly than one big heater on one side. Our guide to how many patio heaters you need has more worked examples, and the heater finder on our Bromic page asks three quick questions (where it goes, how you want to power it and how big the space is) and suggests a heater and a count.
Controls and dimmers
Bromic heaters do not come with a switch or remote; the controller is chosen separately and wired between the circuit and the heater, so decide on it before your electrician starts. An Affinity Dimmer sets electric heaters anywhere from 0 to 100 percent, and one channel runs up to 6,000W of heaters together. The Eclipse uses its own controller, which dims the heat and the light. See our guide to Bromic controls to match one to your setup.
Wind and open sides
Radiant heat holds up far better in a breeze than heat that warms the air, because it warms you directly. The Platinum Electric's glass front also keeps wind and debris off the heating element. Still, a covered patio with one or two open sides facing the prevailing wind loses warmth faster, so size up or add a heater on that side. For gas, Bromic lists a wind rating of 13 mph for Platinum and 8 mph for Tungsten.
Heaters for covered patios and porches
Frequently asked questions
Can I put an infrared heater on a screened porch?
Can a patio heater go under a covered patio roof?
How high should an overhead electric patio heater be mounted?
Do overhead electric patio heaters plug into an outlet?
Can I turn an electric patio heater down?
Plan it with us
Send us a photo of your patio or porch and a rough size, and we will suggest heaters, mounting and controls. Every Bromic heater ships free, and real people answer at (949) 782-7338.
Keep reading
