blinds and heat loss from DG windows

carefultraveller

I have a doubled glazed conservatory with a DG glass roof, and underfloor heating. I don't know if the DG has low e glass. The room gets too cold in winter, and I want to know how much difference blinds are likely to make. Will they make it feel more cosy (reduce radiant heat loss from occupants)? How much might the air temperature be increased? I know it would be better to have blinds that don't have a gap round the edges.

Doozergirl

It's not going to help much.

Conservatories are outbuildings. The reason that building control demand external doors between house and garden is exactly because of the heat loss.

You need some form of insulation. Heavy, interlined curtains are good for keeping heat in, but how you put those on a conservatory roof, where the majority of heat is lost, I don't know. If you want to use it in winter then you either need to heat it with something more than underfloor (what a strange choice of heating) and accept the cost of doing so or insulate the roof and lose the vision panels.

huckster

A neighbour has just had one installed and because they are not having any heating in the conservatory, it was heavily insulated.

nobulljusttruth

Despite the fabric that is offered as insulation , its for keeping heat out, not in the conservatory.
With roof blinds getting into the £ooo's for a set, thats a lot of heating to get your money back.

Consider having internal insulation panels fitted, though they obviously cover the light, this was not an issue in most cases.
There are a number of companies offering this these days.

NOTHING ELSE WORKS,

Furts

nobulljusttruth wrote: »

Despite the fabric that is offered as insulation , its for keeping heat out, not in the conservatory.
With roof blinds getting into the £ooo's for a set, thats a lot of heating to get your money back.

Consider having internal insulation panels fitted, though they obviously cover the light, this was not an issue in most cases.
There are a number of companies offering this these days.

NOTHING ELSE WORKS,

But we are then into the grey area about the legality of such insulation. There is a school of thought saying this will make the conservatory no longer a conservatory, hence it is no longer exempt from Building Regulations. Thus the conservatory becomes illegal.

Johnandabby

Furts wrote: »

But we are then into the grey area about the legality of such insulation. There is a school of thought saying this will make the conservatory no longer a conservatory, hence it is no longer exempt from Building Regulations. Thus the conservatory becomes illegal.

But the definition of a conservatory (which was the key issue previously) has been omitted from the latest Approved Document L, which does make it even greyer than before. And less likely that, provided that the thermal and heating system separation is maintained from the rest of the property, that Building Control can object to internal insulation.