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For restaurants, hotels, and other commercial facilities, when it comes to stylish outdoor terrace seating, the essential equipment during the cold season is undoubtedly outdoor heaters. Recently, due to an increased emphasis on safety and disaster prevention, the use of combustion-type equipment like gas stoves has become increasingly prohibited, leading to a focus on replacing them with electric heaters. In terms of initial costs, it varies depending on installation conditions, environment, and the number of units introduced, but the cost of introducing a gas stove (which is almost the same as the equipment cost) is approximately equal to the equipment cost of an electric heater plus the electrical installation costs. In many cases, the costs are not significantly different. In the related links below, we provide a comparison table of gas stoves and electric heaters. We hope that understanding the advantages and disadvantages will assist you in making your selection.

There is an indicator called "IP" that represents waterproof performance. In Japan, a standard based on one of the international technical standards of IEC, specifically IEC60529, has been established for "Protection degrees of electrical equipment enclosures (IP code)." The protection degree standard indicates how much protective performance the enclosure part of electrical equipment has to protect the internal components. It standardizes the verification methods for this protection performance. This protection performance is mainly considered from the following three perspectives: (1) Protection of the human body from approaching dangerous areas within the enclosure (2) Protection of electrical equipment inside the enclosure from the intrusion of solid objects from the outside (3) Protection of electrical equipment inside the enclosure from harmful effects due to water ingress Additionally, "IP" is represented by a two-digit number, such as "IP65," where the first digit indicates dust protection performance and the second digit indicates waterproof performance.

In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in scenes where various industries are switching from traditional indoor activities to outdoor implementations. One concern here is how to address winter measures for outdoor activities. What should we be careful about? How much will it cost? The worries are endless. There are many factors to consider, such as budget, cost-effectiveness, and safety, but we recommend breaking it down into three main categories: ■ Cost (initial cost, running cost, cost-effectiveness) ■ Customer perspective (comfort, design, safety) ■ Company environment including employees (company resources, safety, operability) The related links below further explore these three perspectives. As a "manual for installing heating equipment and heaters outdoors," we have organized our accumulated know-how, from general considerations to often-overlooked points.

I believe that restaurants and hotels with stylish terrace seating have considered the introduction of outdoor heating equipment at least once. Here, we will organize when the best time for implementation is. As a guideline for the timing of introducing outdoor heating equipment, our company suggests "an average daily temperature of 15°C or lower." (However, this applies to tenants operating lunch and dinner services, and if breakfast is also included, we believe that "minimum temperature" should be the indicator.) We provide recommendations for the approximate timing of implementation by region in the related links below.