best heating for conservatory

Ordered 4m x 4m conservatory.

Have spent hours on internet to see which heating is best and am still undecided. Air con also comes into consideration. Can anyone tell me if air con with a heat pump (and sufficient power) is adequate for reasonable use of the conservatory.

I am realistic to know that during mid day summer sun/freezing temperatures means conservatory is a no go area.

Cheers
David

Consider underfloor heating

why ?? you didn't

Nice one kev

do u need planning permission for underfloor heating? Central heating u do.

diybot said:

do u need planning permission for underfloor heating? Central heating u do.

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New one on me

Bahco-dont u need planning when u add a radiator to a conservatory or is it just building regs? -we have no heating in the conservatory ourselves-underfloor is a definate consideration

The problem I have with underfloor heating is that, by all accounts ,it takes a long time to heat up.

My idea of using the conservatory in the winter is on the spur of the moment having an hour or two in the afternoon doing a spot of reading there. By the time UFH is up to scratch its time to time to vacate.

With other kinds of heating it is probably much quicker.

problem is with a conservatory if you were to do a heat calc you would not have enough wall space for a rad. You will only ever take the chill off in winter.

diybot said:

Bahco-dont u need planning when u add a radiator to a conservatory or is it just building regs? -we have no heating in the conservatory ourselves-underfloor is a definate consideration

Click to expand...

To add a wet form of heating to the room will change it from being a temporary structure(more than 60% glass) to an extension requiring planning permission.
Same if you remove the connecting door.

Thanks Icgs-yeah I thougt it was something on those lines-what do u think if we just use a mobile oil filled rad? Is there anything else we could use?

I was under the understanding that part L prohibits radiators in conservs now.

I would suggest a nice LG aircon system which will do heating and cooling.

Due to the way they work you will get 3 times more heat out for the power you put in to run it during the winter making them pretty efficient.

I had one put in, but went for a 'dual split' type which gave me another unit in the bedroom.

Has been great this summer while everbody else was having sleepless nights with the heat

I had the same dilemma with a new conservatory. Here are the results of my deliberations

I was going to use underfloor heating, but asked people who had it and they said it was slow to heat up, taking hours not minutes.

I considered adding a radiator from the central heating, in fact I got as far as having the pipes run, but I don't use the conservatory in the dark winter nights so don't really need to heat it permanently. In the late summer/autumn like now whilst it's still light until 7:00pm we will be using it so some extra heat is nice but as the weather's still fairly warm so is the rest of the house my central heating isn't on so a central heating radiator would be of no use.

In the winter if I turned on the radiator when I got in from work, it probably wouldn't be on much as the main central heating thermostat is in the house which would be warm by the evening and so all of the rads would be off.

I think that there is also a building regs issue due to new energy saving laws (Part L?). As I understand it from a brief chat with my LABC, conservatories are exempt from building regs because they cannot meet the requirements of energy efficiency as they have lots of glass. Therefore the main building has to be insulated from the conservatory as if the conservatory wasn't there. ie wall insulation and double glazed doors and windows between the conservatory and the main house. Effectively the conservatory is treated as being outdoors. Therefore it cannot be connected to the central heating system. To do so would make it part of the building so it would have to conform to the regs, which of course it doesn't. The conservatory has to have a separate heating system not controlled with the main house to remain exempt.

With my conservatory being south facing I considered aircon, but a friend has aircon in a conservatory, and I didn't like sitting in it with all of the doors & windows closed, plus the noise and it's usually too cold if you're in the line of the cold airflow (which unless your conservatory is the size of the one at Kew gardens is, you most likely will be). I also like the doors open to be at one with my garden. It's probably just me, but it seems wrong sitting in a shut up conservatory on a nice day.

In the end I went for a 3kw electric convector (silent type) with built in timer and thermostat for a fast heat up. Roof vents and solar reflective roof to keep cool.

Perfect for us, as we only heat the conservatory when it's needed and when we do it heats up fast. I don't use it much in the winter when it's dark so it's not too expensive to run. (If its sunny in the winter that heats it enough anyway)

The deciding factors really depend on is how much and when you want to use the conservatory and how much it will cost to install & run the heating.

Hope this helps.

Good post from stem but I believe you can add a rad in the conservatory on to the main heating if it is capable of being isolated from the house. Isolating valves would suffice.

I don't believe that central heated underfloor heating would take hours to heat up. In theory it should heat up as quickly as your other rads in the house, that is if your boiler is adequate!

I ended up fittineg a double 1200 rad in my con and have yet to see if it will be sufficient to do the job in its first winter.

Probably the electric heater would be the most practical in saving energy as well as your pocket.

Good blinds, a big fan and open windows/doors are the best approach and work well for me in a south-facing conservatory.

In the winter I only have a 2Kw fan assisted convector heater which is enough to maintain the daytime temp. for an extra couple of hours in the evening. As someone else said, it does not take much sun to warm it up even in the middle of winter but when it gets dark the temp can plummit. Mind you I only have single glazing and a glass roof. (nice for watching the stars ) 5 x 4 metres