Keeping heat in a conservatory

[Taliz]

I've put underfloor heating in the conservaory so we can use it all year. I am looking at ways of retaining as much heat as possibe.

I know its not an easy thing to do and I'm probably going to get loads of people telling me to stick a proper roof on it, but thats outside my skills.

It has one full hight wall and three dwarf walls. Im considering dot n dabing thermal board to these and then skimming. Is this the a good idea?

Roof blinds cost way too much.
Ive looked at polycool strips but they seem kind of flimsy. Do they work? Has anyone used these?

Cheers

 

[mointainwalker]

This does not need much discussion.

There is no magic form of insulation: what is available for the rest of the house is what is availabe to to you in the conservatory.

What heat-loss did you calculate for when the UFH was insatlled and what is its output ?

How many m2 of total walls are glass and how many brick ( single or double-skinned, with/without cavity insulation if latter ) ?

I'll be interested in your answers but speculate that the loss through the windows is probably a multiple of the floor input.

Did you do any research on what would be needed to make it usable all year or just hope ?

 

[^woody^]

It has one full hight wall and three dwarf walls. Im considering dot n dabing thermal board to these and then skimming. Is this the a good idea?

Waste of time and money. The majority of the heat is going up and straight out of the roof, and secondly out of the windows and door.

The only real answer is to turn the heating up

 

[big-all]

you need planning permission and need to comply with buildings regs if you introduce some thing solid under the glass
you must be able to see through the glass from the inside and outside to remain a conservatory

what ever the output off your underfloor heating you will need to multiply the output by 5 to 10 times to make it usable on the coldest days

 

[^woody^]

There is no requirement to be able to see through or out of the glass - it can be opaque or frosted, or have blinds.

Likewise it is possible to install something beneath the glass roof (such as a plasterboard ceiling on its own joists and insulation) and the conservatory could still be exempt from b/regs and planning rules. Whether it is actually possible with typical low conservatory roofs is another matter

The requirements state that the external roof must be glazed, that's it, and there is scope for interpretation and "bending the rules"

 

[Taliz]

Thanks for the replies.

The underfloor heating works quite well but it does need to be on for about 30 - 40 mins in advance, the room is always cooler than the rest of the house at the moment, and the moment it turns off, its cold. It was one of those diy kits that hooks up to the central heating loop. I've been very impressed with it so far.

There is no isulation in the brick cavity so I guess thats the first job.

For the roof I've sent of for a quote for those polycool strips to fit in polcarbonate roof panals. I think they're mainly designed to keep the heat out in summer but they do have some thermal properties.
For the windows I think I'll just get some nice curtains with a thermal backing, not much use daytime but I don't think there's much more you can do..

Also wondering about putting a wood burner in the corner for use in winter. Its a good size conservatory and I could take the flue out of the back wall and up the side of the house.
That will probably be the topic of another thread at some point!!
My wife likes that idea so it will probably end up happening.

 

[big-all]

There is no requirement to be able to see through or out of the glass - it can be opaque or frosted, or have blinds.

Likewise it is possible to install something beneath the glass roof (such as a plasterboard ceiling on its own joists and insulation) and the conservatory could still be exempt from b/regs and planning rules. Whether it is actually possible with typical low conservatory roofs is another matter

The requirements state that the external roof must be glazed, that's it, and there is scope for interpretation and "bending the rules"

yep i fully agree reigate and banstead council interpretation is curtains blinds and other normal window coverings that are operated daily are permitted permanent /temporary structures with or with out insulation that restrict light for more than a short period are against the spirit off the regulations

 

[IJWS15]

It is a waste of time, our house takes a 5kw boiler to heat it, the conservatory on its own would take about 5kw to heat it if we chose to. The only way to improve it means it ceases to be a conservatory and you lose the benefit of it being a conservatory.

We don't often use it in winter but when we do we accept that we will need 3 2kw electric heaters on ALL THE TIME.

Yorkshire!!! - was 6.5 below freezing when we left Barnsley yesterday morning - add another couple of KW!

 

[Richard C]

As the others have said, you’re pretty much wasting your time trying to insulate your conservatory for year round use. Even with under floor heating, no matter what you do in an effort to improve insulation, it will only remain marginally more heat efficient that your average garden shed unless you change it considerably & then it will no longer be a conservatory. We have 4Kw UFH & it will run flat out to keep it comfortable in normal winter temperatures but with temperatures we are currently experiencing, forget it; we shut ours down November through March. If you want to use a room all year round, build an extension but that would require full compliance with Building Regs & possibly planning permission.

 

[mointainwalker]

Richard C

How big is your conservatory ?

 

[Richard C]

Richard C

How big is your conservatory ?

22 sq/m

 

[chapeau]

If you have a ceiling fan then use that to circulate the air. That way there is less of a heat gradient with all the heat at the top which will just escape out the roof before you get to enjoy it. You want the heat low down for as long as you can because that's where you will be sitting. But you are on a hiding to nothing as it isn't going to stay around long whatever you do.

We looked at insulating our conservatory so we could use it in the winter. After running the numbers, it was cheaper over a period of many years to buy an extra electric heater, switch it on, and watch the heat disappear. Cheaper than insulating it and still watch the heat disappear, just a lttle bit slower.

 

[mointainwalker]

@chapeau

There shouldn't be that type of gradient with UFH. Mftrs claim - and show nice graphs - that the heat gradient decreases and is around 20 C at head-height if floor at 30 C.

 

[chapeau]

Morning Mointainwalker,

Would love to see the graphs and, more importantly, the conditions when the measurements were taken. One suspects that was in a well insulated room which had reached a reasonably steady state. One also suspects that the manufacturer would not produce a graph which didn't show what the marketing department wanted to prove.

I doubt an UFH system could produce enough heat output to maintain a steady state in a conservatory in the winter, or 20C at head height either. The floor would get very cold very quickly and the pipes would not be able to 'keep up'.

The logical conclusion to the manufacturer's claim is that if you stay near the floor you will not feel cold, which in a conservatory in winter I suspect is unrealistic... or better described in Anglo Saxon

A very effective way to keep a room warmer in a cold environment is to bring the hotter air at the ceiling down to the floor - especially before it leaks out via a conservatory roof.

 

[mointainwalker]

chapeau

These graphs I mentioned were not "scientific" ones, just simple pictorial indications of how heat gradient (supposedly) varied between 1) Ideal circs. 2) rads 3) UFH , so no detail about room conditions etc.

I tried to post one, but it wouldn't stick for some reason.