Electric Heater Controllers and Switches

There are a range of products exclusively designed to operate your outdoor electric patio heaters, these can be used not just to switch the heaters on and off but also control the amount of heat that is generated at any one time. This can lead to significant energy saving and of course energy cost savings as well.

Electric patio heaters can be switched either manually or automatically by a sensor, by a PIR (Passive Infrared) sensor. The PIR in reality is just a simple motion detector, similar to the ones used in burglar alarms that will sense the presence of you or a customer within its proximity and then automatically turn the patio heater on for a pre-determined period of time. The electric heater will then automatically switch off until next time it is triggered. Some of these have the added feature of their own temperature sensor which will prevent the heater operating when the ambient temperature is sufficiently high.

Time Lag switches do much the same thing i.e. they will turn on your electric patio heater for a pre-determined period of time, however, are operated by a customer physically pressing a button.

Both these switches are available IP65 fully weatherproof.

Controllers are still switches, however, have the added benefit of allowing you to vary the amount of heat that your outdoor patio heater emits, ideal for when perhaps where a small amount of additional heat warmth is needed to create the ideal environment. Variable controllers are available in 1, 2, 3 and 4 zone variants, allowing you to control each zone independently from the others. This can be really useful when perhaps restaurant guests on one table are feeling the chill more than the youngsters seated in an adjoining area. Tansun offer a 3 zone controller that is operated by a remote control.