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Conservatory heater
Greenie - 13/9/15 at 06:49 PM

Can anyone recommend a heater for my new conservatory, 10sq meters?


sdh2903 - 13/9/15 at 07:08 PM

No matter what you use. The cold will always win!!

Ours is around 20 sqm and we have electric underfloor heating and supplemented with a huge column radiator plumbed in to the central heating. It still feels cold come the winter months and costs a fortune in electric when the floor is cranked up.


SteveWalker - 13/9/15 at 08:00 PM

Do you have gas central heating and could it be extended to the conservatory? Gas is much cheaper than electricity for the same amount of power.

[Edited on 13/9/15 by SteveWalker]


perksy - 13/9/15 at 08:49 PM

What type of roof does the conservatory have ?

The heat will just go through the roof if its a polycarb one...


Greenie - 14/9/15 at 06:21 AM

The roof is the very latest self cleaning glass roof, the build is just a week old.


geoff shep - 14/9/15 at 02:13 PM

It may depend on how you built it - ie with or without the need for building regs approval. If done without, I think it would have to have separate heating from the rest of the house.


sdh2903 - 14/9/15 at 02:32 PM

Yep that's correct hence why ours has the electric underfloor. Has to be a completely separate heating system. We have put in a radiator but If we move it may have to be removed if the surveyor picks up on it.

We inherited the conservatory when we moved In and are actually considering getting rid and building a proper extension to get a proper year round use able space.


Irony - 14/9/15 at 03:19 PM

I would just park your kit car in there with a pipe for the exhaust to the outside. Then run the car for ten minutes. My V8 heats my garage up in about 10 minutes............


There is no easy way to heat a conservatory. I am going to build one come the spring and I think a small log burner is probably the best answer.


perksy - 14/9/15 at 08:30 PM

Most economical way would be an extension to the current heating circuit, but as said above this brings it under the reg's.

When I used to work in the double glazing game a lot of folks went for Air conditioning units that could provide cool air in the summer and heat in the winter.
Only problem with this is the running costs and some of the units can be very noisy.

If you've gone for a glass roof it will definitely be more thermally efficient than poly carb that's for sure.
Some folks are having solid lagged roofs installed now for better all year around use.


SteveWalker - 14/9/15 at 10:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Yep that's correct hence why ours has the electric underfloor. Has to be a completely separate heating system. We have put in a radiator but If we move it may have to be removed if the surveyor picks up on it.


There is no requirement for it to be totally separate, only for it to be separately controlled. So in our case, we have wet underfloor heating, which has its own circulating pump, blending valve, motorised valve and timer/thermostat. The operation of the conservatory is entirely independent of the rest of the heating system's operation, but it still shares the same boiler, main pump, tanks, etc.

In the case of your radiator, motorised valves and a timer/thermostat to allow independent operation of the conservatory heating is all that is required to meet the regulations.