Right, I have relented and a conservatory is going up.

Keeping it warm ? I was thinking flue less gas fire but there not cheap and the flue less bit worries me a bit.
Electric ? how does running costs compare too gas ? It will be 100% south facing so will get all the sun available but its gonna need something in there, Ive just always thought electric was expensive too run, did i think right ?

Advice welcome.

Either under floor or radiators, flueless gas will give you the mother of all condensation problems and you are right lecy will cost a lot even if you go with a storage heater and overnight tariff,

nighthawk

quote:

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Originally posted by snoopy
under floor heating from existing boiler ?
easy and hidden

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Hot!!!!!

The gezzer guy tried too sell me an air conditioning unit, whats the point in that, you would have too keep all the windows n doors closed would you not ?

Underfloor heating ? must look into that.

We've got a radiator in ours, plumbed into the central heating system. This does the job for all but a couple of the coldest days each year.

Ours is South facing and as Chris says it does get really hot in the summer. You need as many opening windows as you can get. One of those big ceiling fans is also good as it keeps the air moving in the summer and pulls down the warm air in the winter.

David

Air condition it, without a doubt.

Did my front room, domestic air con is getting more popular especially conservatories.

Iv just had one put on the back of mine 4.5x3m. Purely south facing. It gets soo hot its unbearable sometimes. Ive got opening fan lights all the way round and a fan in the roof. Have a vent put in the top if u get the choice. I didnt take them up on it and wish i did. Different roof types make a difference to the heat too.

As for the winter. Underfloor heating is quite expensive unless u do it yourself. Screwfix sell the bits to do it.
I use a leccy convecto heater for the coldest days. Once its warm its stays there for a bit. Costs a fortune though even though the blurb for them say 10p a day or some bollox. Im going to get a radiator plumbed in there later on this year. If u can keep the chill of it it wont take much to heat.

You do have to have planning to have a rad in it mind you as it takes heat from the house. Might just be my local council but its All a load of bollox really.
Rescued attachment conservatory.jpg

BTW air con units arnt bad price in BnQ etc..

The air con is a viable option as they now do both Cooling in the Summer and Heating in the Winter.
Not sure what it would be like cost wise when running in Heating mode but would be v.useful in the summer.

I've only ever fitted one underfloor system that was fed from the boiler and I was very impressed there much better than the electric versions and not too difficult to fit, although they possibly limit your flooring options or make them a bit more awquard and could be a nightmare if they spring a leak!

Hi, mine is north facing, and if the sun is evident, and I don't mean a cloudless sky, we have to have the doors and windows open. For winter we have a radiator plumbed into the house system, and apart from the odd freezing day its fine. atb Chippy

I have a 3 kw oil filled electric heater in mine and in the winter it cost me nearly £150 for 3 months running

Get the job done properly and have it plummed in to the main system.

I wish i did!!!

We have a tile floor for the summer and when winter sets in we have a carpet to go over the top, cold tiles are not nice in winter.

We have a little rad which with the help of a oil filled electric heater does the job nicely.

I'm not the biggest fan of water underfloor heating, I have seen them leak and they are a pain in the ass to repair. You might even need a frost stat in there as if the temp goes right down it could (and I mean could) cause the pipes to freeze.

Devi mat electric underfloor heating is very good!

With the way electric and gas prices are going up we will all be sitting in the conservatories with 10 jumpers on as heating them will cost a small fortune

regards

Mark

ive got a glass roofed 5m x5m and have to say cooling is the prob not heating underfloor wont work as it takes much longer to heat the room and unless the conservatory is on its own zone the house will get warm miles before the conservatory andthen shut off, ive gone for air con which was £200 off ebay and came out of a shop which does the whole ground floor if the conservatory doors are open. on a really hot day we bang the ac on and open the doors and the ac does the biz keeping the whole house at a mild temp, by the way if your not overlooked glass is around 20% more than plastic for roofing and a whole lot quieter when it rains

a little bit more than just heating but
having worked for the 8 years largest hardwood conservatory company (before they went bust) and also 2 years Ultraframe (roof supplier).
here is my 2 penny worth

heating,
Electric wall mounted - limited to style due to wall heights.
Electric under floor heating - can be installed direct under tiles (some can go under laminate flooring) on concrete slab.
Wet radiators- more choice make sure they have thermostat controls.
Wet under floor heating- needs to be installed on top of insulation within a concrete screed so your slab needs to be cast at right height, typical 60mm insulation, 70mm screed.
Air con / chiller units. think that b&Q sell a suitable one, can be expensive to run, but if with chiller can be great in summer.

Conservatories do get very very hot and as people have said the more opening windows the better, roof vents if south facing these can be electric opening with rain sensors and fan are very good.

Polycarb roofs are noisey they make a cracking noise in the morning and rain sounds. avaliable in green,bronze, clear. and white (very milky looking) if using this try and get 25mm thick.

glass roof more expensive do look better, should be available in green,bronze, clear. you can also get activ glass (self cleaning still not sure on this).

argon filling and k glass can be used, make sure glass is toughened if using dwarf wall.

Building regulations are normally not required for conservatories if less than 30 sq m as long as you keep external quality doors between the house and conservatory, if you take the doors off you could have problems when you come to sell the house as a conservatory will not meet building regulations thermal requirements.

Planning could be required and should be checked with local planning office.

brickwork should not be built on soil ( i have seen it) , the foundations should be a least 50mm past the bickwork.

never pay upfront unless a minimal deposit, try and hold money back, and get plenty of quotes.

Avoid B&Q air con units at all costs. We refuse to install them once people have bought them, most other contractors are doing the same as well.

Heat pump splits can provide a COP of 3:1, some inverters provide even more.

In english it means for every 1.00kw you put in you get 3.00kw out. They'll also heat when its down to -10.

Dude, i work in research and development for a company that makes gas and electric fires.

Under no circumstances fit a flueless system, would you sit in the garage with the car running? Not to mention the amount of moisture put into the house!!

No, neither would we, no-one here would feel happy about putting their name to a project like that.

Aboardman -
You missed a couple, Wet underfloor heating with overlay panels running from existing central heating system.
As above running from 2kw electric boiler.

try
http://overlayheating.co.uk

Guess who I work for, and who was responsible for developing the above products


Marcus

I'd go for electric underfloor on the grounds that it's out of the way, shouldn't go wrong, easy to install with no real special requirements, fairly cheap to install and the only major downside is the running cost, which isn't really an issue as you won't use it very much anyway.

A bit different but a mate of mine built his own garage /stable block on a budget and put insulation on the hardcore and cast some heavy duty pipes into the concrete base running off a gas boiler, its really nice working out there in your socks/slippers with toasty feet

I am in the middle of putting a conservatory on my house. i got an underfloor kit off ebay for £365 inc postage (buy it now). It came with everything needed apart from pipes to go from the conservatory to the boiler.
It will run stand alone to the existing heating and be run from its own timer with its own thermostat.

this is the auction i won
heating link he may have others.

Not all underfloor wet heating needs to be screeded over, the one I did had a floating wooden chipboard floor over it which I presume was later tiled or carpeted over, not quite as final as screeding over and a bit more accessabe should the worst happen.

Like somebody has said tho, they take a while to get warm so sould really need to be on low all the time or switched on well in advance.

(maybe an electric fan heater may be better to boost the temperature if its not going to be used often?)

The heating up time was the reason we developed 'Overlay'.
Basically an 18mm fibre board with 12mm grooves routed in. Lay in 12mm pipe and cover with the floor surface of your choice. Tiles work really well (ask our cat!).
Heats the room up in about the same time as a radiator.

Marcus