Best Rated Infrared Heater-Are You Ready To Heat Things Up?

Introduction

Hello,  I’m Marla, founder of https://outdoorpatiomisters.com.   Welcome to my review of the outdoor heater called Dr. Infrared DR-238.  Even though I have moved from MN to AZ, I think I will still be using an outdoor heater in my patio space this Fall, Winter, and Early Spring. 

Arizona is usually quite warm during the day, but it gets cold in the desert at night.  That is when I will be using an outdoor heater.  The purpose of this review is to guide you to or away from a good or bad purchase.  

I have done my research, and I think you will consider my review honest and trustworthy.  Let’s face it, the expense of these things cautions us to do our research, so we get our money’s worth. I won’t steer you in the wrong direction.  

                             Product Name: Dr. Infrared Heater DR-238

How Does The Product Work

This 8-pound outdoor heater is electric ( 120V) and easy to operate. This heater is infrared, so the heater heats up what is right in front of it.  Infrared heating is similar to your body emitting heat.

Your body doesn’t heat everything, just what is directly near you. For instance, the seat of your chair warms up by your body touching the various parts of the chair, but your body doesn’t heat any other part of the chair.  

According to Wikipedia, Infrared technology does not heat the air of the room directly. It heats the objects in its path, such as a person but doesn’t heat the air in between.  

There are definite disadvantages of this product: you can’t heat a room by having it on without you in there. Still, it is important to maximize the exposure of available surfaces, which then will re-emit the warmth to provide ambient warmth all around the area.   

Infrared heat circulates and permeates the room you are in and eventually heats the whole space. This product has definite disadvantages: you can’t heat a room by having it run without you in there.  

Features

You can purchase this heater with an optional tripod to attach it to for moving it around and heating just the right spot on your outdoor patio.  The tripod price adds around $42.00 to the total.  

The tripod stand has three legs supported by weighted bags attached to the legs for added tip-over protection.  If the outdoor heater is used alone, it can be mounted on the wall or ceiling in the area where you will enjoy the warmth.  

This particular model also has manual features to adjust the heat on the heater itself and an easy-to-use convenient remote, so you don’t have to get off the couch to adjust it. 

Included in the features, this heater works on a timer that you set to turn off automatically, so there is no more having to remember if you turned the heater off.

The product includes weatherproof aluminum, but it is not recommended to be used to be exposed to rain or other moisture.  

More Details

A wall and ceiling bracket is included in the box, along with the user manual.  This heater is particularly quiet, not causing competition with normal conversation or tv watching.  

It comes with three heating levels: L1-900 watts, L2-1200 watts, and L3-1500 watts. The levels are displayed in LEDs prominently on the front of the heater itself.  

Dr. Heater-238 can be used indoors and outdoors as the heater is carbon infrared, which heats instantly and is odorless.  Another excellent feature is that it has overheat protection, which will power off instead of overheating.  

FAQ’s

Some questions that are frequently asked include:

Can this heater be mounted either vertically or horizontally? Yes.  Either direction is fine.

Can it be chain mounted from the ceiling, for instance, in the garage? Because it has a remote, hanging it from the ceiling is a viable and great option.  

Can the heater be plugged into the same outlet as other electrical items that will be running? The maximum amp draws on a circuit breaker is 15 amps.  If the combination of items plugged in exceeds 15 amps, it will be unsafe, and the circuit breaker will trip.  This particular heater operates on 15 amps at the highest setting – L3 1500w.  

Is it safe for vinyl mounting? Because the heater requires airflow and vinyl has a low melting temperature, it would not be a good idea to vinyl mount it.

Pros and Cons

The heater has both Pros and Cons to include:

Pros

• Infrared heating can offer savings to the customer if the heater is used in a well-insulated area or in an area that doesn’t have to be heated all of the time.  It is an option for additional heating only when the area is occupied.  
• Infrared heating does not feel the same as a convection heater does. A convection heater warms the air and the person, whereas the infrared heater heats objects and not the air.  Ultimately, the quality of the air is less muggy feeling with an infrared heater.
• People can enjoy infrared heating the minute it is turned on.  
• The heater can be mounted on the ceiling, which is the most effective in saving space and not obstructing objects. 

Cons

• Most carbon infrared heaters are electric, which is more expensive to heat than most gas-fired heaters that are typically not as safe.
• Because infrared heating is focused on warming up what (who) is in front of it, it doesn’t always warm up the air well, and also, some people who are not sitting right in front of the heater can feel cold.
• This heater must run without having anything obstructing it, so it is always important to have it mounted away from objects.  Adults should warn children about the consequences of objects being too close to the infrared heater.  

Alternatives

Some alternatives to Dr. Heater-238 include:

• Convection heaters that are also electric but operate by warming the air and objects in front of the heat source are an option.  One example of a high-rated convection heater is the Lasko Bladeless Ceramic Heater.
• A fireplace or fire pit is not always a good way to heat an area evenly as heat is lost through the necessary air exchange that makes the fireplace work.  Fireplaces and fire pits are not the best heating sources.  
• People can always use wood-burning stoves as long as they have a wood supply to stoke the fire with.  Another negative is the fact that wood-burning stoves don’t always run cleanly.  Wood-burning has pollutants that are not necessarily good for people.  I can’t be around wood-burning as it contributes to my migraine headaches.  
• Gas-fired space heaters that need venting are typically not so safe and don’t operate cleanly, and are odorless.

Conclusion

Now that all of the features, pros, and cons, alternatives, and questions that have been addressed about relying on Dr. Heater-238 are more clear, it is an excellent option for many reasons.  

The first is that it runs cleanly and is odorless.  Next, it is efficient at warming people up.  For example, Dr. Heater -238 works especially well when the people using it are seated or standing near it instead of walking in and out of the room.  

Warming up the air in space is done more efficiently when you maximize the exposure of available surfaces for radiant heating to warm the objects.  

I had a radiant/infrared heater in the garage during cold months when I lived in MN.  As long as I worked in front of the heater, I felt very warm.  If I moved about the garage, I was less warm.  

In the case of using infrared heating as a heat source while watching movies on the patio, it would be my number one choice. The heater will do exactly what it is supposed to do, keeping my guests and me warm