Every year thousands of pubs throughout the country who enjoy additional trade from their outside areas must think about how they’re going to utilise these spaces for longer – after all they cost the business whether they’re being used or not (maintenance, rates, lighting, rent/mortgage). One way to extend your summer season and encourage customers to continue using your beer garden or decking is to provide some of the creature comforts they enjoy inside your pub, for instance with big sporting events.
Increasing numbers of pubs are installing outside televisions for their customers to enjoy sports broadcasts whether inside or out and, with new waterproofing and anti-glare technology, throughout the year. Greene King have recently started installing outside televisions in their sites to maximise the appeal of their external areas.
Just as interior TV systems come in a variety of sizes, so it is with outside televisions with popular sizes ranging from 32” to 65” there are systems to suit most beer gardens or outside decking areas. They can be mounted on exterior walls or from specially designed brackets underneath garden umbrellas.
For detailed guides on TVs in pubs see my article TV and Big Screen Projectors as the same principles concerning viewing angles and distance to viewers etc still apply.
Outdoor TV Specifications
IP Rating
The main thing you should be looking for in your choice for outdoor TVs is its IP rating – this is an internationally recognised standard for determining Ingress Protection – in the case of TVs suitable for outdoor use a minimum rating of IP66 is recommended.
The first digit measures how resistant an enclosure is to physical intrusions and the second relates to its waterproofing.
For instance a first digit rating of 1 would mean that it is protected “from a large part of the body such as a hand (but no protection from deliberate access); from solid objects greater than 50mm in diameter.”
So a TV for outdoor with a first digit IP rating of 6 would mean that it is “totally dustproof”.
The second digit rating of 6 means that “Water projected in powerful jets (12.5mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects” – and will have been tested to withstand a water volume of 100 litres per minute at a pressure of 100 kN/m² at distance of 3m for at least 3 minutes. (That’s a powerful jet of water and is used to rate equipment used in “heavy seas”!)
Second digit ratings do go up to 8, which, would mean protection from “prolonged effects of immersion under pressure” – for instance if one were to install a TV in the wall of a swimming pool.
This rating will mean that an outside television rated at IP66 will be a waterproof television, suitable to withstand all the British climate can throw at your outdoor TV, all year round.
A good weatherproof television will also be rust-resistant and be able to withstand temperature ranges of -10°C and 40C° – this should take care of the majority of UK winters and summers.
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