Conservatory & Orangery Underfloor Heating

The problem with the British weather is that it seems that for 9 months of the year we get grey skies & rain, and if you want to live comfortably in your conservatory from October to April, for example, you may need some form of underfloor heating to make the room ‘liveable’ – but is this an unnecessary additional bill to add to the overall conservatory or orangery cost (How Much Would an Average Size Orangery Cost?).

If you think about it, during the winter, even the most energy efficient glass conservatories will get quite cold if there is no heating, you may even start to get problems with damp & condensation of you are keeping the room closed up & empty during the winter.

Free standing electric heaters may be a solution but the consume huge amounts of electricity if you run them for any length of time, adding a radiator run from your existing home heating system can be expensive and require some ‘holes’ to be made, so why not take a look at underfloor heating.

Underfloor heating is not a modern concept as it was actually used as far back as 5000 BC and also the Romans built floors with spaces underneath to circulate hot air from fires built in a separate area. (see Wikipedia)

Available in 2 versions, both of which can be installed during construction or fitted afterwards.

• “Wet” using hot water pumped around a set of piping
• “Dry” basically and electrical heating system.

Wet systems use more space than electrical ones (the pipes are thicker than wiring) so if you retro-fit a wet system be aware that you could lose a small amount of headroom.

With the very latest systems you will be getting one of the most energy efficient methods of heating your new conservatory and also the single best way to keep the temperature of the room even, without hot or ‘cold spots’ because the heat rises evenly across the entire floor area not just around a radiator.

Benefits of underfloor heating

• Potential to save between 10% – 30% on current heating cost
• Can be retro-fitted to exiting conservatory
• The room is heated evenly – no hot or cold spots
• Compatible with tiled, carpeted, wooden or vinyl flooring*
• No need for radiators so it allows more of the room to be used
• No “dust traps” – no cleaning (or painting) behind radiators

(*Some vinyl or synthetic wood floor coverings will have a limit on the maximum temperature that they can be exposed too – check with the manufacturer for suitability.)

Research suggests that people find the most comfortable range of temperature for an indoor floor is around 19-29°C with an air heat of 20-24°C – using radiators means that you get a big difference in air & floor temperature or in other words “hot head & cold feet”.

You can find out a ot more about Orangeries & Conservatories on this website: https://www.orangerycosts.co.uk/