Conservatories - how do you heat yours?!

[Misty9]

I've got a large-ish conservatory connected to the house with patio doors. No heating and it's freezing at night. I'm going to get a thermal curtain but what is the best and most economical way to heat it during the day? Convector heater or oil filled? Or something else?

Never mind the money wasted to heat it, it's a poor use of energy so very unfriendly to the climate.

If the main issue is that it makes your living room cold, then replace the doors to it with double-glazed, make sure they’re draught proof,and use a thick curtain if you need to. Then just don’t use it in cold winter weather...Pulling it down and replacing it would be phenomenally expensive if you really only use it as a playroom (and the manufacture of concrete for the foundations is also be frighteningly bad for greenhouse gas emissions!).

"2Kw column heater on full is approx 20p/hour, which 'll never get near the cost of a roof replacement"

2kW costs 28p to 32p an hour depending on your tariff

and will not keep a conservatory at 20C inside when outside is 0C

here is an example heat loss calculator.

It isn't very good because it doesn't say what assumptions they make (roof construction; temperature difference inside/outside)

at one time I had a renovation terraced house with no loft insulation. Heat loss through the uninsulated 4x4m bedroom ceiling exceeded 3kW on frosty nights (I had a 3kW fan heater running continually and it never got warm)

150mm of mineral wool quilt and the problem was solved.

Unfortunately you cannot do that with a glass roof!

The expense of new patio doors, curtains and ineffective heating just isn’t worth it for a playroom. Better to save the money and replace it. Open the room fully and get rid of the patio doors. They have only been kept as a cheap solution because the conservatory was an add on - just guaranteed to be cold! Concrete foundations are a fact of life and necessary. Wasting heat through glass is avoidable.

I'm feeling confused and stressed about this (and many other things!) - so my only options are to knock it down, or keep burning money heating it, or shut it off and pretend it's not there with a thick curtain? It's not the end of the world if it can't be a playroom but I don't have a spare 15k to do an extension either!

It's November, you're not meant to use a conservatory in the winter! So yes curtain it off.

We had a conservatory and it was freezing in the winter and too hot in summer, like most bog standard ones. I hated it with a passion. Just unusable most of the year. We replaced it earlier this year with an extension, best thing we ever did. I say save up if you can

Use a door and curtains at night.

If it's in a sunny spot it may be OK on sunny days.

If you don't close it off, it will suck heat out of your house.

I stuck a radiator in mine. Heats the room up perfectly.

You might as well put a radiator in your garden.

Well mine is more an orangery I think so brick and glass. Have used it every day so far this year .

We use an oiled filled plug in radiator. It heats the room up in 10 mins and keeps it really warm. Doesn't cost the earth and we just heat it when using it. I'm currently working from home in mine and it's fine temperature wise with the oil filled radiator. In fact it's actually better and faster than the central heating

I wouldn't knock it down it the heat at night is your issue

Ours is also a playroom , had a radiator put in there ( one side is a wall), heats it fine and doesn't seem to cost too much, well not enough that we have noticed