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How To Manage The Temperature In Your Patio

by Adrienne Wild
Adrienne Wild

Adrienne started her professional life as a gardener at her local parks department and went on to train at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh where she was the first female student on the prestigious and world-renowned horticultural course run by the Botanic garden. An experienced and award-winning garden writer and past editor of some of Britain’s favourite gardening magazines, Adrienne has for over 30 years, inspired gardeners with a breadth of gardening know-how plus creative and decorative ideas. One of her main aims is to make gardening accessible, even to the smallest green fingers, with her clear advice and straightforward step-by-step instructions. Adrienne loves to travel and has visited, given talks and met ordinary home gardeners in far flung places like China, South Africa, Philippines and Caribbean as well as the UK.

Last Updated: April 2, 2021

Ways To Control The Temperature In Your Patio

Other than moving north or to another, cooler climate, there is not much you can do about making your patio completely controllable in terms of its temperature, especially in the summer, otherwise, it wouldn’t be a patio! However, there is some useful technology out there, that can help you manage things so that they’re somewhere close to comfortable.

ceiling fan for patio

Outdoor Ceiling Fans

This useful addition to your cooling army (air conditioners, desk fans, pedestal fans, refrigerators, etc.) can work to some extent out on the patio, too. An outdoor ceiling fan swishes the air around and makes the body’s natural sweat evaporation process quicker and more effective, thus lowering body temperature, even when the actual temperature remains the same. An outdoor ceiling fan will also keep bugs away. This is especially useful when you are thinking about having a barbeque when gnats, mosquitoes, bees, flies, and other annoying flying nuisances try to gate-crash your party.

A ceiling fan installed on your patio will help reduce the humidity of your patio to some extent. This is great for thwarting the plans of hungry, blood-sucking mosquitoes, who thrive in humid (dehumidifier, humidifier) conditions. Drier air is less liked by them, and the increased airflow is even more of a turn-off.

Due to the larger, less enclosed and sealed nature of a patio, a larger blade span is a definite advantage. It provides a broader coverage area and looks pretty cool, coming in a design range of industrial, rustic, modern, traditional, or perhaps nautical!

How many ceiling fans do I need for a porch?

It’s probably sufficient to go for one large ceiling fan and make it the centerpiece of your porch’s design. However, if you want to do things mathematically and would like to know the best advice on optimum measurements, then the size of the fan you should be looking for is calculated as follows:

  • An area up to 75 square feet = 29-36 inch
  • An area 76-144 square feet = 36-42 inch
  • An area 144-225 square feet = 44 inch
  • An area 225-400 square feet = 50-54 inch

Based on the specific measurements of your porch you can thus calculate whether it would be better to have one high-end larger ceiling fan, or perhaps two ceiling fans which are half the size, one on either end of your porch. Both options can look stylish and classy; it depends on personal preference.

ceiling fan porch

Patio Misting Systems

Ceiling fans aren’t the only cool kids on the block. There are also Misting Systems that can connect up to your water source and send water via various high-pressure misting nozzles in and around your patio. Such systems are perfect for drier climates because the minuscule droplets of water evaporate instantaneously, and this cannot happen at lower temperatures. Installing such a system necessitates a professional plumber; however, if you’re in a fairly dry state it might be a fantastic investment to enable you to host dinners and gatherings on your patio, regardless of the weather.

Patio Misting Fans

A solution that doesn’t depend upon paying for installation is outdoor misting fans. They are essentially large floor fans which contain an array of mist jets emitting water when it generates airflow. These work even outside due to the water instantly evaporating, which then decreases the surrounding temperature. It has the added benefit of enabling you to direct where you want the cooling to occur, as well as adjustable fan speeds. It connects snugly into your garden hose, without requiring any plumbing work or paid installation. It will be suitable not only for very dry states but also for humid summers anywhere, in which oscillating fan just isn’t quite enough.

fan for patio

Portable Evaporative Coolers

These useful machines also go by the name of swamp coolers; they are known for grappling with high temperatures through using evaporation alone, rather than the water being pressurized which is what mist cooling systems chiefly do. This process of evaporation enables water to dissipate and create cleaner, more refreshing air. Cooling pads absorb the water, using a generous surface area so as to increase the breadth and strength of the evaporation; usually, an in-built fan will then disperse the cool air. Unlike air conditioning units that constantly use electricity to move air over condenser coils, portable evaporative coolers use electricity just to operate the fan – so they don’t burn up as much energy.

Overall, these measures will help you to effectively manage your patio’s temperature. Other strategies might include growing an evergreen hedge (check out our hedge trimmer guide) to create afternoon shadows or purchasing a gazebo made of sturdy canvas, which can be stowed away for most of the year. There are various furniture options, too, not to mention parasols and sunshades. So long as you’re staying cool then you could even mix and match to combine one or more of these great ideas.

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