Selfsufficientish.com

Sorry if this isn't "alternative" energy but it is ...ish.

We have a big Kitchen in which we live through the day - heated fully by a wood burner (a WONDERFUL Clearview Pioneer with a back boiler). Attached to it is a fully built conservatory (block low walls - big double glazed (quality big gap swedish) windows all round - tiled roof etc.

Now we (with the kids) like to move between the Conservatory (play room) and the Kitchen through the day so would like to keep it at a reasonable temperature (it was 4 degrees this morning - outside was at least -6 in the highlands last night). The Conservatory has a big radiator - it is on the North side and only gets solar gain from mid afternoon.

The Problem:
We have reduced our central heating (oil - as in much of the Highlands) usage to an hour and half in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening - and would like to heat the conservatory through the day without using the C heating (a waste as it heats other rooms in the house not being used in the daytime).

We have an old fan heater (1kw whilst running - but needs to be on a lot to keep the room warm) and would like to use a more efficient heating source - can anyone advise on the relative efficiencies of other electric/oil radiators or any other suggestions you may have.

Happy to listen

We have an oil filled radiator in the conservatory. It goes on at night when we go to watch TV. I put it on the first notch at about 1/4 setting. After about 2 hours the room is warm enough to switch it down a bit

Thanks, we are looking at Oil Radiators - trying to compare KW consumption )kw/h with existing fan heater is not straightforward. Any idea what yours consumes??

I assume it stays pretty warm for a while?

We bought a three bar halogen heater from Argos a couple of weeks ago it heats VERY well but it is a tad like turning the sun on at night so much so we don't bother turning our main lighting on when the fire is on...

It uses: .37 kwh in one hour PER bar but really, you only need it on the three bars for an hour or so then keep it topped up with the one bar all day (as we do in our living room!)

For around £25 I don't think you'd get better.

It also had the unique feature of an tip switch which means if it falls over it turns itself off (or if you pick it up to move it) you can get an oscillating one with 4 bars for a bit more but 3 bars is enough for us.

I personally think heating a conservatory is a bit wasteful and think you could heat and insulate another room more effectively - IF you have another room -

I think it's best to insulate yourself and wear more clothes - like the chinese who don't have heating as such. I have moved into the smallest room with the telly and lap top, have an oil filled rad and work in there. I take a flask of coffee and other than that don't have any heating. However, I am wearing - leggings, long sock, two pairs of short socks over that, jeans, vest, tee shirt, roll neck jumper, body warmer, fleece jacket, a scarf and fingerless gloves! I have two duvets on my bed (two small dogs by my feet!) and one yummy other half to keep me warm! I will walk to the shops and back today and will arrive home hot from walking! and try to retain that heat for as long as possible -

so the tightwad version of heating is insulate yourself and try not to heat a room with a glass roof which will provide as much insulation as cardboard.

We've just put a 450W panel heater (we bought it on fleabay but it's from Argos) in my mother's room so she can keep it on 24/7. Not ideal but with coal-fired central heating we need to make sure she keeps warm enough. Anyway we stuck the meter thingy on the plug and at current Hydro rates it cost 46p/day to run.

I have one of those halogen heaters that SPS was talking about, I too think they are great as I have a prepaid electric meter left over from the people that owned my house before me (haven't changed it as it would cost me £75 to do so ) and they are cheap to run, you just need sunglasses

Do you have any blinds in the conservatory? Mine faces south so I installed them to keep the sun out in the summer but they are also quite effective at keeping the heat in during the winter. Mine are just thin voiles from Ikey but you could put lined curtains up and thick blinds that you can draw across the roof. If you close them as soon as it starts to get dark it would help to keep any heat in overnight.

Zoe

We have a conservatory too. I tend to agree that trying to heat a conservatory in winter is a bit of a waste of time and money. I have switched off the radiator and we use it just for storage to keep things cool - like beer :-)

It might be possible to properly insulate a conservatory with super-insulators such as aerogel, but they just aint available. And if they were they would cost a fortune. Cheaper to use an instant heater as and when needed. We have curtains fitted and they don't make a lot of difference in cold weather.

When the sun is out though the solar gain can be huge, but not so much in the winter as the sun is too low in the sky.. hence the use as a large fridge.