4 ms·

In my neck of the woods, it’s not too uncommon to find year-round outdoor seating at restaurants thanks to radiative heaters. Mind you, I’ve never tried one of

• wyldfire 6y ago
  Northern midwest US - up until January, probably. I don't think they'd be terribly effective in late January or most of February.
• KMag 6y ago
  Having grown up in Minnesota, come late January and early February, on the days when the high temperatures are under 0F/-18 C, putting a child out there for 8 hours under a radiant heater, I think you might actually melt hats/coat hoods before you fully prevent frostbitten toes. Even if you can keep the whole kid at reasonable temperatures, I think it would just be very distracting. Also, for that power/propane bill, you're probably better off with either per-desk transparent positive-pressure medical isolation tents or full-face snorkel masks fitted with 3D printed adapters to ceramic-element anesthesia machine air filters. In addition, kids play. Some small percentage of those kids are going to get burned by heaters.
• kayodelycaon 6y ago
  Grew up in Wisconsin, this wouldn't work at all. I've been around a roaring bonfire in winter. There's a massive temperature difference a few feet in any direction. It's far too easy to overheat or freeze if you aren't paying attention. Any amount of wind makes this more complicated. Radiative heating outside, in winter only works if you have some kind of shelter to reflect and contain the heat. Even then you have to be mindful of your environment.