When conservatories first became popular in the 1960’s, they were viewed as an occasional room to be used in better weather conditions. Nowadays with better designs and materials, conservatories are a place that people are tending to use more often, and all year round. The main reason for this is the advances made in heating systems to make the conservatory the temperature you wish no matter the outside conditions. In this blog we are going to look at the different forms of heating which includes cost, practicality, safety, and different floor types.

Firstly lets look at underfloor heating which in my opinion is the most efficient, practical, and safe method. There are two types of underfloor heating, either by hot water, or electric heat mats. Using the hot water method needs to be considered during the planning of your conservatory as the pipes needed to distribute the hot water, have to be laid within the concrete screed (floor). Heat mats can be applied after the conservatory is built. The initial cost of the hot water system can be quite high, but the costs over time will be cheaper than using an electrical system, as gas is the cheapest form of domestic energy. If your boiler is quite new, and has excess output to the size of the house, expanding it into the conservatory should be no problem. If this is the case costs will be quite low, and should be considered as your main option. If your current boiler would not be able to cope with the extra demand, and a new boiler would be needed, then the costs are quite high and might not be a feasible option. The long term costs can easily be controlled by having a separate thermostat in the conservatory so you can control the temperature. Electric underfloor heating is the other option, and has a cheaper instillation cost. It can be installed either during the conservatory build, or before laying your selected floor choice. The long term costs will be more expensive depending on the size of the conservatory. The heating is connected directly to the consumer unit (fuse box), and can be easily controlled with a separate switch and thermostat so you can keep a constant temperature. Below is a guide to the running costs depending on the size:-

             Size        Power          Cost/Day*        Cost/Week
            9sqM      1kw                 £1.12                £7.82
          18sqM      2kw                £2.24               £15.65
          30sqM      3kw                £3.35               £23.47

*based on 8 hrs a day at the National Average rate of 13.97p/kWh (Dec 2009 tariff) for a unit of electricity.

Both methods emit radiant heat which gently warms up objects in its path, eg tables, chairs ,sofa’s, and then radiates the heat to the rest of the room. Other forms of conventional heating use convection currents which circulates rising warm air, and sinking cooler air, which is not very practical in a tall glass structure. Underfloor heating also creates many other advantages, for example the floor is always warm, there are no unsightly pipes or wires, furniture can be positioned without any hindrance, and it creates more room allowing you to fully utilize your space. An insulating barrier would need to be put between the heating unit and the concrete floor, wether it would be through water or electric. This would stop the heat being absorbed by the floor. Laminate flooring for the conservatory would be more efficient rather than tiling. Tiles will absorb the heat more, and a significant upgrade in the power of electric underfloor heating would be needed if tiling was your choice.

There are many other options for heating your conservatory, from wall mounted convection heaters, storage heaters, oil filled radiators, and radiant heaters. Most of these types of heaters can also be bought as portable units so they are not only confined to the conservatory. Probably the safest and most efficient of these are the oil filled radiators, whether it is wall mounted or portable. Advances in technology have made these units much more appealing with many now coming with safety cut off switches if they get too hot or are knocked over. It is also worth spending the extra money on purchasing a model with a timer, and its own thermostat so you can switch it on, and the room will be kept at a constant temperature. Convection heaters are not that efficient, and as we talked about earlier heating using convection currents is not practical in a conservatory. The advantages of these types of heaters are that many companies are selling them in sizes specially designed for dwarf walls like you would find in your conservatory. Radiant heaters work by emitting an infrared beam that creates heat on contact with objects. The disadvantages of these heaters are that they can cause a possibility of fire if objects too close get too hot, and they are designed more for targeting heat to a specific place rather than heating an entire conservatory. Last of all is the storage heaters, but to me these are outdated, and terribly inefficient. They work by storing heat at night while electricity is cheaper, and then slowly releasing it during the day. You will find that the heaters will emit a lot of heat in the early part of the day, and then will get cooler as the day goes on. As most people will tend to use the conservatory in the early evening, this type of heating is not well suited for conservatories. All in all I think that underfloor heating is they way forward in conservatories, and if you need any further information please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at Firths.