UKC

We've got a conservatory on the back of the house which, due to the lack of a radiator, never gets used in the winter. I want to find out the feasibility of having a radiator installed but I'm not sure how to find out if the CH system has any spare capacity,

The boiler is rated at 10.5kW-27.5kW. There are currently eleven radiators throughout the house which has four bedrooms(not huge) but I don't what the output of the rads is.

Can anyone give me any guidance please?

Thanks.

In reply to mypyrex:

I think building regs do not allow a radiator in a conservatory which is part of a central heating system. You are meant to have a separate heater / radiator. This was from my architect when we had our extension & conservatory done. My builder's interpretation of the relevant building regs was to plumb in the pipework for a radiator but buried and plastered over for when the building inspector came to sign it off and then connected it later.

In reply to mypyrex:

Our conservatory has two radiators and is still absolutely freezing in winter. We put a small plug in heater in there, which warms it up in minutes and is far more effective than the radiators ever were. The added bonus is that you only put the heater on when you are in there, rather than wasting a load of energy trying to heat an inherently cold and often empty room.

I think most of the energy saving websites would advise you to do the same.

In reply to m0unt41n:


Not sure I agree with that. I've seen several references along the lines:
"Any radiator within the conservatory is controllable. (If fixed heating installations are proposed, they should have their own separate temperature and on/off controls)."

In reply to mypyrex:

Our conservatory has the boiler in it! anyhow, building regs are available here
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/

What was the outcome of your shower leak saga in the end?

In reply to mypyrex:

http://www.stelrad.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/stelrad_radiator_book.pdf

This will give you ballpark outputs for similarly sized radiators to yours. Usually CH systems are designed to be run a fair bit below full whack to provide the required target temps.

In reply to mypyrex:

I think we are both correct.

It was explained to me that if connected to a central heating system then the radiator needs its own timer and thermostat which presumably means it's own motorised valves connected to its own timer.

My architect said that my suggestion of a thermostatic valve to regulate temperature and me shutting it off or opening it up each day as a means of making it controllable would not be accepted. Instead we had to have fitted an electric panel radiator which had its own clock and a built in thermostat to meet the Building Regs. Damn thing is French, instructions are in French, the controlling logic is French, if the EU vote had not been in June but January!

In reply to mypyrex:

New building works (including extensions) have limits placed on the amount of glazing as a proportion of the floor area that can be installed. There is an exception to this, which when they are classed as a conservatory in which case the glazing limit isn't applied. However, for it to be classed as a conservatory a number of criteria must be met and one of these is that it must have a separately controllable heating system, which is why m0unt41n had to have a separately controlled system. Since this is an existing conservatory, you won't be having a building inspector coming round and you can just extend your heating system to a radiator in there if you want. But like has already been said, make sure you have a TRV on there so you can turn it on and off as you please to avoid wasting loads of heat when you're not in there.

Your boiler at 27.5kW should easily be big enough to cope with the extra load, and for most of the time you'll have the TRV closed anyway. To be on the safe side you could estimate your current load based on the stelrad catalogue attached., but you will be fine.

In reply to mypyrex:

I'm sure your boiler would cope just fine assuming you can keep the house warm as is.

An electric radiant heater giving instant heat would probably be cheaper all round and it'll still warm the air once it's been on for a while. You could also look at improving the passive solar gain by darkening the wall and floor.
jk

In reply to All:

Thanks for the informative replies. Mrs thought it was just a question of plumbing in any old rad into the existing system. I explained to her that, for one thing, it would probably need a bigger rad than in the rest of the house. She eventually realised that with the conservatory being predominantly glass it loses heat more rapidly etc. etc. Also she couldn't understand that CH systems lose their efficiency over a greater distance from the boiler.

In reply to mypyrex:


Ha! Blame it on 'the wife.'

In reply to mypyrex:

Looks like someone has gone through and disliked every post.

If they were trying to accumulate enough to match their IQ they can stop now since they have already arrived.

In reply to mypyrex:

Interesting, we're thinking of something similar. Any issues in routing the plumbing into the room.

The previous owners of our place built a very nice sun room with no heating but its where to route the plumbing and how much disruption this may cause thats the issue.

In reply to Mike-W-99:




That could be our problem. The nearest rad is in the dining room on the opposite wall to that on to which the conservatory is built so we're looking at a run of about 12-15 feet.