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Cold conservatory - What to do

  • 19-12-2024 09:03PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5


    Hi there,

    We recently moved in a new house which has a conservatory that gets very cold in low temperatures.

    It is a functional room of the house that we have put our dining table in, which means that it needs to be used on a daily basis, therefore, adding a door between the rest of the house and isolate it, does not work.

    There is a radiator which heats the room quite fast when it's on but the problem is that it doesn't retain the heat.

    We are trying to find a solution that will actually help and we are in between putting a roof with insulation or replacing the windows with argon gas filled ones.

    Did anyone have the same problem and what did you do or does anyone have any advice to give please?



Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Hi, how is the existing roof formed? Is it glass throughout or pitched with tiles and a sloped internal ceiling? Or is the internal ceiling flat?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 Peekaboo24


    Thanks for the reply. The roof is all glass :(
    It's all glass besides a short wall around it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    In that case it's unlikely that moving to an Argon or triple-glazed solution will provide much additional retention of heat as the overall losses are just to high to overcome. Consider moving to a design where the roof is replaced by a solid pitched roof which includes good insulation and air-tightness. That's going to make the room the most functional and also cut-down on overheating during the Summer months.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 Peekaboo24


    Thank you. Have you done something similar by any chance?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 46,876 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    You should look at doing something like this. I have no connection and merely selected them from a Google search to demonstrate the improvements you can carry out.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Not I, but relations have. It was a massive improvement over a polycarbonate roof. It's now usable as a functional room where it was only possible to use it on select days when it wasn't too sunny and wasn't too cold.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Exactly that.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭10-10-20




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 Peekaboo24


    Yes I've looked at this company and also another one. Thank you. I just thought to ask here and see if someone has any personal experience replacing windows or putting up a roof as I need to make a good choice specially when I'm gonna spend such a big amount of money



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,953 ✭✭✭MicktheMan


    OP, you have several types of heat loss happening in this relatively small space and unless all of the following are dealt with well then this space will always suffer.

    1. Conduction heat loss: Because of the relative small volume to large external element area (effectively all 6 sides are heat loss elements) and a lot of these elements are glazing there is massive conductive heat loss happening.
    2. Thermal bridging: Generally these conservatories are built on to an existing external wall there is a large linear thermal bridge at the junction of the conservatory wall/roof to the external wall.
    3. Convection heat loss: Typically these glass roofed conservatories are not made air tight especially at the glass wall to roof junction, so again a lot of heat loss by air leakage.
    4. Last but not at all least is radiation losses due to being surrounded by relatively very cold glass and our skin is very sensitive to this for of heat transfer. Even if you get the above 3 items under control you will never feel comfortable even if the thermostat says it's 21 degC in there. If there are blinds or curtains, use them to help with this. Ultimately though replacing the glazing with superior glazing (u-value ⇐ 0.8W/m2k) is best.

    If it was me and I was in my forever home and I needed this space for daily use, I would seriously consider replacing the current structure completely and building a proper structure in its place.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,041 ✭✭✭Dr Turk Turkelton


    Done this exact job 2 years ago op.

    Went from this:

    Screenshot_20241221_123509_Gallery.jpg Screenshot_20241221_123618_Gallery.jpg

    To this:

    Screenshot_20241221_123536_Gallery.jpg Screenshot_20241221_123555_Gallery.jpg

    Like you we couldn't use the room due to being too cold or too warm. Now it's in everyday use and have even took the interior doors into it down to leave it as sort of open plan.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 Peekaboo24


    Interesting, that seems like a big job.

    Can I ask how much it cost you and which company did you use?

    To be honest, we would like to keep the windows as we want this to be bright and let as much sunlight as possible in.



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