Is Under-Floor Heating A Good Idea For Sunrooms And Conservatories?

This is a very common question and one I have first hand experience of. I installed under-floor heating in my last conservatory and it was an unqualified success however there is always a BUT and the BUT here is that it must be plumbed directly to the boiler with its own thermostat and isolating valve to isolate it from the rest of the heating system in the house. There is a simple reason for this; under-floor heating works by using the concrete floor as a giant radiator, heating up the concrete slab which then slowly releases the heat again. However it takes time for the slab to heat, several hours and similarly several hours to cool down. It is therefore necessary for the heating system to be able to switch on for the under-floor heating pipes in the conservatory several hours before any heat is supplied to the main heating system of the house, I had mine timed to start at 5.00 a.m. The second reason for separating the system is that it operates at a much lower temperature than the typical home central heating system using radiators, the water in the under-floor heating typically circulates at about 50 degrees while that of the radiators can be up to 70 degrees.

Is Under-Floor Heating A Good Idea For Sunrooms And Conservatories?

This was all very easy for me to organise as I was building the house but can be tricky enough when trying to retro-fit, the boiler may need to be up sized, there needs to a location for the manifold which basically links together all the loops of heating pipes and often this is not feasible or economic to heat just a sunroom or conservatory. But if you are building a new house I would definitely consider it. If you would like further advice on heating systems for sunrooms or conservatories please phone the office on 045 844002 or use the contact button on the home page.