Heating a conservatory in winter

[Gza66 10]

We recently moved house and have a conservatory. Now the winter is here, the conservatory is freezing. Can anybody with a conservatory advise how they keep it warm through the winter. We would like to use it all year round but can't at the moment. We don't have any form of heating in there currently. It's around 4.5 x 4.5M. Have spoken to a few people who have radiators and underfloor heating in theirs but these don't keep it warm. Thanks

[martok 10]

We recently moved house and have a conservatory. Now the winter is here, the conservatory is freezing. Can anybody with a conservatory advise how they keep it warm through the winter. We would like to use it all year round but can't at the moment. We don't have any form of heating in there currently. It's around 4.5 x 4.5M. Have spoken to a few people who have radiators and underfloor heating in theirs but these don't keep it warm. Thanks

 

For it to be defined as a conservatory and be exempt from building regulations it cannot have permanent heating system, I find the best why to keep ours warm is to keep the internal doors open and allow the warmth from the house to circulate into the conservatory, and anything you can do to insulate it is worth doing.

[tzijlstra 11]

Simple answer, don't bother. A conservatory is a sun-room, not an extension. If you want to keep it warm you will have to rebuild it. I hope/assume there is a good solid door between the conservatory and the rest of the house.

 

---------- Post added 30-11-2014 at 19:54 ----------

 

For it to be defined as a conservatory and be exempt from building regulations it cannot have permanent heating system, I find the best why to keep it ours warm is to keep the internal doors open and allow the warmth from the house to circulate into the conservatory, and anything you can do to insulate it is worth doing.

 

This is a great way to lose money on heating bills.

[nikita 10]

we used to use an oil heater in ours which worked very well and was cheap to run, until we had new heating then we had a radiator installed .

Edited December 1, 2014 by nikita

[Gza66 10]

Unfortunately taking it down and rebuilding it isn't really an option for us any time soon. I'm really only looking for an efficient way of heating what we currently have. I did wonder about getting a calor gas stove but i think this would be quite costly. We don't have curtains up at the moment or blinds but do plan to do this soon. carpet isn't an option for us either due to the dog being in and out.

[Jomie 30]

Posted by Martok: For it to be defined as a conservatory and be exempt from building regulations it cannot have permanent heating system,

Can you let us know which section of Part L Building Regulations you refer to? AFAIK it doesn't prohibit the heating of a conservatory via the main central heating system. The requirement is for independent temperature and on/off controls plus a door providing thermal separation.

 

As for the heating problem, a De Longhi oil filled radiator should do the trick. Just measure the conservatory and then go to the website or give them a call and they will be able to advise on the correct size. They have a timer and some have remote control. Whatever method you choose it could prove a bit expensive though because conservatories tend to be poorly insulated and the heat goes straight out of the roof, particularly if it is polycarbonate.

[spider1 11]

For it to be defined as a conservatory and be exempt from building regulations it cannot have permanent heating system, I find the best why to keep ours warm is to keep the internal doors open and allow the warmth from the house to circulate into the conservatory, and anything you can do to insulate it is worth doing.

 

Load of rubbish . Ignore You want a wireless room statt and a fixed rad of C.H systymn and delonghi oil filled rad . Sorted / Well worth having a C.H.engineer to have a look at it / We use ours all the year round no prob

Edited December 1, 2014 by spider1

[L00b 441]

I did wonder about getting a calor gas stove but i think this would be quite costly.

Never mind costs, is there an exhaust vent for a calor gas stove in there already, or would you have to put one in?

 

(you've heard of carbon monoxide, right? )

Load of rubbish . Ignore

Seconded.

 

We use ours all year-round, including in winter, as our lounge.

 

6 meters by 5 approx, with the north wall bricked bottom-to-roof.

 

After a lot of homework and several sources of advice, we replaced the electric 'fake fire' heater (what was installed in there when we bought the house) with electric underfloor heating (under laminate), with a programmable thermostat.

 

Keeps the room plenty warm enough (incl. 4 years ago in 2010 when there was all that snow), and is economical enough.

Edited December 1, 2014 by L00b

[tzijlstra 11]

Never mind costs, is there an exhaust vent for a calor gas stove in there already, or would you have to put one in?

 

(you've heard of carbon monoxide, right? )

Seconded.

 

We use ours all year-round, including in winter, as our lounge.

 

6 meters by 5 approx, with the north wall bricked bottom-to-roof.

 

After a lot of homework and several sources of advice, we replaced the electric 'fake fire' heater (what was installed in there when we bought the house) with electric underfloor heating (under laminate), with a programmable thermostat.

 

Keeps the room plenty warm enough (incl. 4 years ago in 2010 when there was all that snow), and is economical enough.

 

Carbon Monoxide should indeed be an important consideration, having nearly lost my life to it I can't stress that enough.

 

Every conservatory is different, Loobs suggestion might be feasible, but a cousin who has a conservatory that is three sides glass (I assume Loob's is 2 sides?) can't heat it no matter what he tries, he has now got two radiators in there but it still doesn't do enough to retain the heat. At some point he even installed a temporary ceiling (negating the effect of the conservatory really...) and that didn't keep it warm either.

 

I believe the latest plan is for a wood-burning stove to be installed with the flue going through the low stone wall the conservatory sits on. The amount of money he has spent on it so far would have covered half the rebuild cost so he is getting increasingly frustrated!

[L00b 441]

I assume Loob's is 2 sides?

Correct.

 

House (rear) outside wall is east side of conservatory,

north side of conservatory is all brick (with cavity),

south side of conservatory is half-glass (wide French doors) and half-house (outside wall of kitchen),

west side upper half is glass, lower half is brick (with cavity).

roof is polycarb.

can't heat it no matter what he tries

Is he nesh, though?

 

FWIW, what I call "plenty warm" is around 22ºC. I know a few people who heat their houses to sub-tropical levels, and who would consider 22ºC as 'fairly fresh'. We don't heat it overnight (switch off at 23:00), just leave the anti-frost prevention, it only takes about 15-20 mins to heat the whole volume from an ambient sub-10ºC to approx. 20ºC.

 

We've got our 18 year old hibiscus in there, and it likes it lots (it's currently overtaking the room a bit, we need to trim that bad boy down before we get the xmas tree in there this year or it's going to look daft )

 

We're looking at wood-burning stoves as well, as it happens, but that'd be more for the looks and the fire glow than anything.

Edited December 1, 2014 by L00b

[Grahamfff 10]

We also moved into a house with a conservatoty. Unfortuantely, there was no dividing wall between it and the kitchen; conseqently, the kitchen was freezing cold. We have replaced all the glass with he most modern insualting kind and built a door so we can seal off the conservatory. It does have underfloor heating but it's expensive and not very effective.

 

But we can now keep the kitchen warm and we do heat and use the conservatory just for a few days over Christmas (with an electric covector) but otherwise just use it as a storeroom in the winter.

[Lindseyw 10]

We have underfloor heating & a glass roof, ours is really warm all year round.