conservatory heating

robowen

Pat_ wrote:

In your present life how many have you had .

The personal remark about spitting dummys out I think is quite uncalled for.
And no you didn't ask him/her to withdraw their comments, but the way you shredded every bit of advice they were trying to offer you shot down was definitely not very nice.
He was only offering ADVICE like everyone is entitled to.
We don't all come across like no it alls.

The object of the matter is that the OP has plenty of advice and information to decide what is best for them.

Pat.
I didn't shred every bit of advice given to me at all.
Nor did I shoot anyone down. If that's what you're trying to imply.
Read back what was said.

I said it wasn't a good idea to put this kind of heating in a conservatory and gave a clear reason for this. Malestron told everyone how great it was and gave everyone info from companies trying to sell the stuff.

I only asked him 1 question. He then withdrew all his posts and "Spat his dummy out", "threw a tantrum", "stamped his feet"......whatever !

Going for the sympathy vote really worked eh ! Malestrom.

beaker141

wendyl1967 wrote:

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

Wendy,

We have P shape conservatory, 5m wide, 5m long into the longest P section. Like you we use it as dining room, general play room. I have a double radiator and a single. To satisfy building regs they need to be indepenantly controlled from the main heating system, so they have thermostatic valves fitted, I also have isolater valves fitted inside the house so they can be removed from the system completely if required. The other building reg concern to avoid it becomming an extension and subject to all the heat loss calculations is that there must be an external door between the house and the tory, we have internal doors (whoops) but I am aware that one day I may have to rectify this, probably get pulled up in house survey at sale time. I suspect at this poinnt I will agree to give purchaser a sum of money equal to the value of external doors and installation and let them decide if they want them installing, I suspect they would prefer the appearance and practicality of the internal glazed doors I have there now.


From overnight cold, say 5-8 degrees C it takes about an hour of heat to get it to an acceptable 16 degrees, it then gets to 20 within the next hour and could get higher if required, I was in mine this am with it snowing outside and I was happy enough in t shirt. Looking up now, 10pm it is still 19 in there because I have forgotten to turn the rads off in there ! We tend to only have the heat on between 4pm and 7pm, ie teatime, early evening play, then into the front room for Emmerdale.

I have wanted timer controlled trvs for a long time to be able to use a seperate timer/thermostat in the conservatory, only just found some but cant find the link anywhere so guess I have lost them again.

It is not very "green" to heat tory, the heat just goes so quickly when heating is turned back off. I would recommend you get the 5 layer poly carb roof at a minimum, althought to be honest I would go for glass next time, when you are in there in any rain above light drizzle it really does sound like peas on a tray and it is impossible to hold a conversation over dinner.

Getting back to your original question, I would say my way is the best and cheapest option for heating, I understand your fears about the boiler. Perhaps it might be worth pluming some radiators in but not connecting them, then get a new energy efficient boiler installed back end of next summer and then connect them up, the money saved by more efficient boiler would then offset cost of heating tory.

Hope this helps - I find a good source of info is the newsgroup uk.d-i-y, available from google groups if you dont have a newsreader - although search through old posts to check info before making a repeat request for info.

Stuart

karimi

Is there any quick way to know if your boiler can afford another radiator for your conservatory? I mean any rough BTU calculation or something which can help you to decide which way of heating is more suitable.

thanks,

wendyl1967

I think I will get another plumber out to see what he says about a radiator and also supplement with something else if very cold. We are having external french doors fit. also a 5 layer poly roof. We are due a new boiler soon. This one keeps breaking down! But keep putting it off when it can be fixed but not for much longer. Head in a tizz now with all the advice!!! 11 March is the finishing date.

Wendy

Yoshii

can i ask you how you managed a 4m x4m conservatory for just £6000.

thanks

Yoshii

chinagirl

Yoshii wrote:

can i ask you how you managed a 4m x4m conservatory for just £6000.

thanks

Yoshii

Well Yoshii. Its definately a case of "who you know". My good friend got her brother to quote for us, as he has his own window/conservatory business. The price was "all in", including base, small ankle height brick wall which the panels rest on. and roof, guttering etc. He said he likes to keep his prices realistic and still manages to make a profit and can't understand why the bigger companies need to be so greedy with their prices. I don't know where you live, but if you were thinking of having one built and lived in the Midlands I am sure he would be happy to quote for you.
We are more than happy with the result. I am now enjoying sourcing furniture to compliment it (only bargains of course).
cheers, Chinagirl.

chinagirl

hi Wendy. We installed brand new gas central heating just before we had our conservatory built, and had the forethought to run pipes down the wall that can be drilled through into the conservatory. They obviously have been capped for now, and we were going to call back the plumber once the work was done, but my husband says he is going to have a go at fitting the radiator himself, all we need is the rad, some pipes and connectors. He added a radiator to the system in our old house when we divided a big bedroom in two, and all went well, and only cost was the materials!

chinagirl

by the way, why does "stay lucky Steve " appear at the bottom of my postings?

Gaz_Hammer

Hi,
Have you thought about using something like a fan convector connected to your heating system. You get blown warm air in the winter and it can be used to blow cooler air in the summer (unfortunately it will only recycle the air temperature in the conservatory that is present at the time).
I fitted a lo-line in a friend's conservatory due to him not having much wallspace and he is really pleased with it.
The only downside is that after a period of time the fan may run noisy so a bit of maintenance may be required. Although having said that his has been fitted for 4 years now and is still very quiet!

Have a look Here for various examples of the Myson range and click on fan convectors.

Hope it helps

Gaz

p.s.
There are other makes as well.

George_Bray

I believe electric heating/cooking costs 4 or 5 times more than gas heating/cooking for any given amount of heat energy. Bottled gas is even more expensive.

So I would guess it may be cheaper to turn the main house gas heating on full-blast, and let the warmth flow into the conservatory, even if the heat escapes from the conservatory fairly quickly due to relatively poor insulation.

I guess this approach could be cheaper than using a separate electric heater or bottled gas heater in the conservatory.

Regards
George