Conservatory, best way to heat?

applepad

Looking at getting a 3x4 m conservatory, and have had 2 lots round to give me a price.

Think is I told them I wanted to be able to use the room all year round, and alot of people say that they are too cold in winter. One said under floor heating was the way to go, keep it on low all the time then turn up when you go into room, will heat whole room and cheap to run ie about £1 a week. But guy who came yesterday said under floor was expensive to run and to go with with electric wall heaters.
Also rember talking to another conservatory co a few years ago, and they said the way to go was an air conditioning/ wrm air system.

Going for self cleaning, heat reflective glass glass roof etc.

Which is the best way to go?

Not bothered if it costs more initially just want a room warm enough to use in winter, which will not cost a four tune to run.

Owain_Moneysaver

A conservatory is not suitable for use in winter. That's why it's a conservatory, not an extension.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Although I agree with the above.... friends of ours use an oil heater in the spring and autumn. I'm not sure if this would provide enough heat for the winter though.

Yorksboy

We had a 5x4m conservatory built about 4 years ago. Has reflective glass, self cleaning roof- dwarf walls etc. at the time I specified that the floor slab be installed so that it was 12cm below the final floor height. I then installed a wet underfloor heating system myself. This runs off my central heating system. Basically it was layered up of 5cm Kingspan, then special plastic matting that holds the pipe, then cement/fibre screed (6-7cm). Used a thermostatic valve to control this. The whole floor acts as a large radiator, keeps the room quite reasonable all year round, for the coldest winter days we have an electric oil filled portable radiator. With regards to running costs I haven't noticed any major increase, but I'm sure it does increase costs. We tend to leave the thermostatic valve on a fairly low setting, turn it up when we use the space. We use it as a sitting area.
PM me if you want any details on sourcing the parts needed.

flea72

we have a 5x4m conservatory, polycarb roof, dwarf brick wall on 2 sides and nigh on full height wall along boundary. we just extended the central heating and put in a radiator.

the room is not cold and our gas usage has not increased to any noticeable degree

we did look at underfloor heating, but as this is now our main living room i wanted to have carpet on the floor (which i think helps with keeping it warm)

F

yangptangkipperbang

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

A conservatory is not suitable for use in winter.

I would disagree with that. My conservatory is about the same size as the OP's. It is on the North side of the house, so in the winter it gets no sun at all.
The only heating is provided by a 2kW fan/convector thermostatic electric heater.
I use the room all the year round - so does the cat, if it was that cold he certainly would go somewhere warmer

It IS cold first thing on a winters morning, but I put the heater on when I go down - by the time I have fed the cat, made my tea and got my Shreddies, the place is quite habitable. I leave the French window into the conservatory open and the heat migrates from the rest of the house into the conservatory.
The heater has no noticeable effect on my electricity bills.

You can get a cheap 2kW electric heater in B & Q for about £15 - try one.

andy.m_2

Our conservatory is about 6.5m x 2.4m, glass Edwardian roof, dawrf wall standard stuff really.
We extended the GCH out there with 2 rads although the purists will tell you it is no longer a permissbale development with permanent heating!
I find it is not the cold weather that causes an issue, it is the stifflingly hot summer days that make it baking in there, going to look at a heat exchanger or a fan, although the fan would presumably require a vent to get the hot air out.

southcoastrgi

The best way is as yorksboy said underfloor wet heating, the only two things you need to consider, due to the fact that the screed acts as a rad so any change of temp you require will not be instant by any stretch of the imagination, so fit a trv find a comfortable temp & leave it, the other thing if you are going down this route then when the slab is being put in make sure the levels are right, the pipework must be pressure tested before the screed goes in & don't switch that circuit on until the screed has dried naturally or it will crack.

Kathy535

My conservatory (put on before we bought the house) is about the same size as yours and we have a smallish radiator in there (powered off the same system as all the other radiators). In a usual winter (down to zero degrees or so) it's fine if the radiator is on the usual timer switch. When colder (like the year before last) it needs to be on most of the day. Even so, my teenage daughter, her friends and our cats are happy to spend a fair bit of time in there, watching tv, playing on the play station etc and daughter is the first to complain if she's cold etc. it also proves v useful for drying clothes as even when there's only a little sun it gets really warm so we don't need to use the tumble dryer.

Ben84

£1 a week sounds unrealistic to me. That's about 10 kWh of electric or about 25-30 kWh of gas.

Anyway, building a sun room with a solid insulated roof and using good glazing (double pane, maybe some kind of coating) for the walls would result in a room that's much more suitable for all year use.

skivenov

Daft as it sounds. Blinds! Thick roller ones.

Have them open when it's sunny, and close them just before the temperature starts to drop. It's amazing how much heat can come in, even on a cool but bright winters day.

On days when there was no heat coming on, I used to keep the blinds closed and use a little gas space heater (like garages have). 10 minute blast and it was warm for ages.