Options For Heating Your Conservatory

Conservatory heating is a necessary expense ifdamage plants, pipes and other items.
you wish to use your conservatory in the winterPro's
months or Autumn/Spring on overcast days or in- Frost protection kits available.
the evenings. The are many different ways to- Designed to operate in damper conditions e.g.
heat your conservatory and we will look at someglass house or garden shed.
of them here, investigating the relative pro's and- Splash proof if conservatory used for lots of
con's of each method including purchase prices,plants that need watering.
installation costs and running costs where possible.- Cost ~ £20-40 including frost thermostat
Below is a summary of some of the methods ofCon's
heating your conservatory along with approximate- Low power only really usable for frost
costings on the assumption of a 10m2 area.protection
Assumes 2kW heating requirement and averageFree standing gas fire
electricity tariff of 12p. Running cost is when onA calor gas heater is an example but an be either
and not annual average.butane or propane depending on design.
Conservatory Heating MethodPro's
Fan heater- No installation costs
- Cost - £10- Portable
- Running costs - 24p- Cost ~ £125
Oil Filled RadiatorCon's
- Cost - £30- Can be bulky
- Running cost - 24p- Heavy to move
Electric panel heater- Sometimes smell
- Cost - £150- Cause condensation
- Running Cost - 24pHeat Pump
Night storage heater - economy 7Heat pumps come in two varieties air source and
- Cost - £175ground source. This defines where they extract
- Running Cost - 9pthe heat from. Heat pumps are commonly used
Connect to existing home central heating systemas the source for a under floor heating system
- Cost - £250due to the low temperature water they produce.
- Running Cost - 9pAir source heat pumps also use systems with a
Split unit air conditioning system as heaterfan on the interior heat exchanger to blow warm
- Cost - £500+air in. They operate using the refrigeration cycle.
- Running Cost - 24pThe inside of a fridge is cold and the back heat
Air source heat pump + under tile heatingexchanger is warm. In a heat pump the outside
- Cost - £2150world is cooled down and the heat is pumped into
- Running Cost - 6pthe inside. The advantage is that typically for
Reasons to heat your conservatory?every 1 unit of electricity 4 units of heat can be
- Maybe you use your conservatory as abrought inside.
breakfast room in which case it needs to bePro's
warm in morning all year round.- Can also be used as a cooling means
- If you conservatory is used throughout the day- Can be wall or floor mounted.
during Winter it is a good idea to have a heating- Low running costs ~ 6p per hour for 2kW of
solution that either has a very constantheating assuming 4 to 1 heat gain.
temperature or can be topped up during the dayCon's
if required.- Generally expensive
- Perhaps you keep sub-tropical or tropical plantsGround source heat pump Pro's
in it which could not withstand the freezing- Able to better extract heat in very cold
temperatures we get in the winter here. Then itweather from the environment than air source
must not drop below a certain temperature.Con's
Types of heater fall in to 2 main categories- Almost certainly too expensive for
Electric conservatory heating Pro'sconservatory cooling unless considered as part of
- No ventilation neededa larger change in central heating system or in a
- Quickly adjust the temperaturenew build construction.
- Easy to adjustAir source heat pump Pro's
- Clean- Not as expensive as ground source ~
Con's£1500
- Running costs can be highCon's
Gas conservatory heating Pro's- Still expensive
- Low running costsConservatory under floor heating
Con'sPipes are run either underneath the tiles or within
- Ventilation required Below are some specificthe floor screed. These pipes carry a working fluid
ways of heating your conservatorythat can be heated thus heating the floor surface.
Domestic central heating systemPro's
You could simply connect a new radiator to an- Comfortable way of heating a room
existing central heating system. Check with your- Invisible
conservatory supplier or local building officers to- Doesn't take up any space
make sure this is allowed. If you have an efficient- Can be powered off central heating, heat pump,
boiler already then this method will have a verygas or electric source
low running cost. It is a requirement that the- Low running cost even with electric as usually
radiator you place in the conservatory has itsfind ambient temperature can be lower and still
own thermostatic control and can be turned off.comfortable.
For optimum heat circulation it is suggested toCon's
install the radiator near the dwarf wall though this- Installation cost ~ £350 for install in 10m2
is not always possible nor indeed convenient.- Cost ~ £250-300 for 10m2 kit under tile
Pro's- Cost ~ £200-250 for 10m2 kit in screed
- Cheap to run - estimated 9p per hour for 2kWAir conditioning
of heating assuming high efficiency boiler and heatEither a portable unit with vent to outside world
transfer system in house.or a split system professionally installed and wall
Con'smounted. Air conditioning units are usually selected
- Cost of installation ~ £250 including labouron their cooling capacity rather than their heating
for a single radiatorscapabilities. Therefore running costs are tricky to
- Heating during the nightcalculate.
- Many people turn their central heating off duringPro's
the night and so this will not help frost protect- Obviously is good for cooling as well
and plants you have in there.Con's
Control of temperature may be an issue- Noise
depending on how the thermostatic control of- Cost ~ £500+ for split system
heat in the rest of the house is set-up. Your- Cost ~ £250+ for portable system
house and conservatory will heat up and coolHow much heating do I need?
down at different rates.The amount of heating required depends on
Fan heater- Size of conservatory
Go out to Argos or whoever and buy a fan- Insulation properties of the glass/frame - U
heatervalue
Pro's- Required temperature differential - temperature
- Cost ~ £10-20 for a 2kW unitinside to outside To complicate matters the shape
- Portableof the conservatory and weather conditions such
Con'sa wind speed will effect the heat loss but they
- Noisyare not considered here.
- Air flow can be irritatingHeat loss is modelled using the following equation
- High running costs ~ 24p per hour for 2kW ofHeating required (watts) equals U value * Area *
heating.temperature difference
Electric panel heaterArea is the glass area of the conservatory plus 1
Buy and install a simple low profile electric panel3rd of the area of the connecting wall. It gets
heater.more complicated if the conservatory is
Pro'sconstructed using different glazing options (e.g.
- Easy to install- plug it inroof) or is angled. So for a conservatory with a
- Fairly low cost ~ £15010m2 floor area and 2.4m high walls and slightly
- Plenty of heat available - up to 3kW per unitsloping roof one would have an area of 37.3m2.
- Quick to heat upSingle glazing has a U value of around 5 or more.
- Slim lineOld style double glazing is about 3. Newer low-e
Con'scoatings are closer to 2 with triple glazed argon
- Running costs can be high ~ 24p per hour forfilled (read expensive) units as low as 0.4!
2kW of heating.Assuming you wish to have a minimum
Oil filled radiatortemperature of 18C in the daytime (with say an
These are also available from 'most good retailers'outside temperature of zero) we can then
Pro'scalculate the required best case heating
- Very cheap ~ £30 for 2kW unitrequirement at about 2kW. With low-e glass it
Conswould be about 1.3kW.
- Not slim lineNote: A dealer of conservatories or heating unit
- Heavy to movewill be able to input more realistic figures but this
- High running costs ~ 24p per hour for 2kW ofis just ballpark. It allows us to compare different
heating.methods of heating the conservatory for price on
a very typical size conservatory.
Night storage heaterIt's clear that a good way of heating your
Although not as vogue as they once were theyconservatory is to stop any heat within the
are still available widely and now they are muchstructure escaping in the first place. However,
more slim line than the huge brick filled blocksextremely high performance glass (such as tripled
they used to be.glazed argon filled low-e variety) can be very
Pro'sexpensive and depending on your conservatory
- Can operate of economy 7 ~ 9p per hour forusage you may never recover the investment in
2kW of heating during the night.reduced heating bills.
- Fairly low cost ~ £175 for 2kW unitConservatory Heating Conclusions
Con'sThere are a few different ways of heating your
- Can be expensive to installconservatory. Typically the lower upfront cost the
- Not easy to regulatehigher the running cost. Ultimately its a hard call as
- Expensive to 'boost' ~ 24p per hour for 2kW ofto how much to spend on well insulated glass and
heating.how much to spend on efficient heating systems.
Tubular HeatingHopefully this breakdown of methods and costings
This is commonly used in outside rooms, shedshas given you the information to make a better
and greenhouses where the desire is to preventinformed decision.
the room from going below zero which could