conservatory heating

wendyl1967

We are having a conservatory installed next month. It will be 22ft by 12 ft. I don't think our existing boiler will cope with another radiator being added. What is the best/cheapest way to heat the conservatory as it is going to be used all year as a dining room/sitting room. I have looked at panel heaters, oil filled heaters, fan heaters (assume this is the dearest way). Ideally need a timer and thermostat. Any advice very much appreciated. Thanks

Wendy

Party_Animal

I'm not sure but I think that one of the reasons that conservatories are not coupled up to the heating system is because they can't meet Building Regs. By not being coupled up theyr'e classed as an extension rather than part of the house.

Malestrom

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wendyl1967

Doh! Never even thought of that. thanks will look into underfloor heating as well.

economiser

I agree with Party Animal that heating your conservatory might well make your conservatory and extension and thus it would have to comply with the insulation required for habitable dwellings under the Building Regulations - which is of course unrealistic. It might also give you problems with planning consent. It will in any case be very difficult to heat a conservatory to provide a comfortable environment in the coldest weather.

All electric heaters have the same efficiency but they are all expensive to operate of course. Extending your central heating would give you lower fuel costs but of course incur a larger initial cost. The boiler would probably cope most of the time but you may have to supplement in the coldest weather

Fairwinds

We were offered a 12000BTU heater/cooler/dehumidifier recently at Wickes (they weren't on display). It was available for around £150 reduced from original price of over £500. If I remember it came from a company called GET plc.
We very nearly bought one but didn't as it needed a fixed drainage pipe.

They had been part of an offer where you got one free if you bought a conservatory over X value, and when that offer ended the individual stores were selling of their remaining stock ( that was in December)

Hope it helps

Malestrom

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wendyl1967

Thanks for that. Very informative link. Foundations being built today so will have to make a decision soon.

robowen

Malestrom wrote:

What about underfloor heating? I'm no expert but I would have thought this would be a feasible option.

Not a good idea at all !

Underfloor heating is not responsive and will take time to heat up and cool down. Conservatorys have large amounts of glass that let the wintersun through.

Imagine the heating being on when the sun comes out, you will have to be opening the windows to let the heat out all the time.

Not good for the gas or leccy bills.

Malestrom

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robowen

Malestrom wrote:

So why do so many companies sell 'Conservatory Underfloor Heating' if its as useless as you imply? Go to the Screwfix forums and search for the above - the only complaints seem to be that underfloor heating on its own may not produce enough heat in very cold winters.

They don't seem to share your concerns here or here either. Oh, or here

Any company involved in selling these heating systems are going to promote it. But it doesnt take a genius to work out the pitfalls of these systems.
I've seen plenty of them scrapped in favour of an oil filled radiator.

I got the next bit from the 1st info you provided : Here they talk about a couple of different types of underfloor heating.

"Your floor warms up much faster, about 1.0 to 1.5 hours compared to 10 hours or more for 'under-floor' or 'in-slab' heating."

If it takes 1-1.5 or even 10 hours to warm up, how long does it take to cool down ? if the sun comes out, how do you turn the heating off quickly ??

Your last two "here's" dont mention anything about heating times - what a surprise !