The heater is on, the bottle is full, and someone at the far end of the table is still sitting in their jacket. It is the most common complaint about outdoor heating in Australia, and it is almost never a power problem. Outdoor heater placement is what decides whether the warmth lands on people or drifts off over the garden.
This guide is about layout rather than specifications: where the heater sits relative to the chairs, how radiant and convection heat behave in the same space, and what wind and walls do to both. Everything here comes from our outdoor heating range.
Map the seating first, then the heat
Start with a rough sketch and mark where people actually sit still. Not where they stand with a drink or walk through, but where they sit for an hour or more. That is usually the dining chairs at the table and one or two seats on the lounge.
Those spots are your targets. Everything else can stay cold without anybody noticing, which is what most people miss when they hang a heater in the geometric centre of the roof.
The second thing to mark is whatever sits between the heater and those seats. Radiant heat travels in straight lines, so a tall planter, an umbrella left open or the back of a high lounge will cast a cold shadow behind it. Clear sight lines matter as much as output.
Radiant or convection? It changes where the heater goes
Radiant heaters warm the surfaces and people the heat reaches directly, the way the sun does. They need to face the seating and they lose strength quickly with distance, which suits a fixed table or lounge you can aim them at.
The Heatstrip Classic Electric Wall Mount Heater 2400W ($699) is a clear example. Its product page describes gentle radiant warmth rather than a blast, suited to a space people sit in for a while. Mounted on the wall behind a setting, it warms the people in the chairs rather than the air above them.
Convection heat behaves the opposite way. It warms a body of air, and that air has to stay put to be worth anything. It only pays off in an enclosed room such as a cabana, garden studio or closed-in verandah. In a space open on two sides, the warm air simply leaves.
Outdoor heater placement for five common layouts
Most Australian outdoor areas come down to a handful of shapes. The table below is a starting point for where the heat should go in each, before you confirm the detail against the installation manual.
| Layout | Where the heat should go | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Long table under a roof | Two heat sources spaced along the long side, behind the chairs | One central unit leaving both ends cold |
| Corner or L-shaped lounge | Aimed into the inside of the L, where people sit facing each other | A high lounge back blocking heat |
| Narrow balcony | Wall-mounted at the closed end, throwing along the balcony | Clearance to glass and railings; strata approval |
| Open backyard, no roof | A fire or portable heater inside the ring of chairs, not outside it | Wind, and total fire ban days |
| Enclosed cabana or garden room | A freestanding heater with a clear flue run and floor protection | Door swing, hearth space, walking paths |
The enclosed cabana or garden room is the one case where a freestanding solid-fuel heater earns its place away from the house. A potbelly such as the Masport Klondike ($1,299) is a radiant unit with a cast iron firebox and a radiant cooktop. It wants to sit where people can see it and feel it, not tucked into a recess.
Wind, walls and Australian conditions
Wind is the quiet killer of outdoor heating. Radiant heat itself is not blown away, but moving air strips warmth off skin faster than a heater can replace it. The same unit feels weaker on an exposed deck than under a sheltered verandah. Where you can, put the heater on the windward side of the seating and a screen or blind on the other.
Climate decides how hard the placement has to work. In Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Adelaide a covered area can be genuinely cold from March through to October, so the heat needs to reach every seat. In Brisbane the cold season is short, and one well-aimed unit over the table is often enough.
Anything with an open flame brings rules with it. Total fire ban days restrict solid fuel and open fires, and the detail varies between states and councils. Check what applies where you live with your state fire service and your local council. Solid-fuel appliances and their flues can also need council approval.
Apartments and townhouses add another step. A heater fixed to a ceiling or a common-property wall usually needs body corporate or strata approval first, and the rules differ by scheme and by state. Once the position is settled, sizing and mounting height are the next question, and our guide to electric outdoor heaters for alfresco ceilings covers output and mounting heights model by model.
Clearances and the jobs you cannot DIY
Clearances are the one part of placement you never estimate. Minimum distances to timber battens, ceiling linings, fences and furniture come from the product page or the installation manual for that model. They differ more than you would expect between units that look similar.
Hard-wired electric heaters are work for a licensed electrician. Book the trade before the heater arrives, so the position, the circuit and the switch location get decided together rather than after the bracket is on the wall.
Solid-fuel heaters need the flue route settled first. Where floor space is the constraint, the Blaze B520 Inbuilt ($2,299) goes into the wall instead of standing in front of it. It fits a full masonry cavity or an optional zero clearance kit, with a 150 mm flue. It is a wood heater that moves heat by convection, so it suits an enclosed space.
Freestanding units need floor space you may not have measured. The Klondike's cabinet is 38 cm wide and 46 cm deep. Around that you still need clearance, room to swing the door open, and a path people can walk without brushing past hot cast iron.
Outdoor heater placement - frequently asked questions
How far should an outdoor heater be from where people sit?
Close enough that the heat still has strength when it arrives, which for most radiant heaters means seating within a couple of metres. Radiant warmth drops away quickly with distance, so a heater at the edge of a large area feels weak at the table. Minimum clearances set the other limit, and those come from the installation manual.
Should a wall-mounted heater face the table or the seating?
Aim it at the seating. People notice heat on their back and shoulders far more than a warm tabletop, so the useful target is the chairs rather than the timber. On a long table that usually means mounting along the side rather than at one end.
Where should an outdoor heater go on a narrow balcony?
On the solid wall at the closed end, throwing warmth along the balcony rather than out over the railing. That keeps the heat inside the space and away from glass balustrades and the neighbouring unit. Check your strata or body corporate rules before fixing anything to a common-property wall.
Do outdoor heaters work in an open backyard with no roof?
Yes, but only radiant heat is worth trying. With no ceiling to hold warm air in place, convection heating disappears, so the practical options are a radiant unit or a fire set inside the ring of seating. Pull the chairs closer than you think you need to.
Shop the range
Once you know where the warmth has to land, choosing the unit gets much easier. The full heating and fire range covers electric strip heaters, potbellies and wood heaters, including the Eureka Jade ($1,899), which emits heat directly through the outer surface of its firebox. We deliver Australia-wide, delivery is free on orders over $100, and most orders are dispatched in 3 to 10 business days.
