Heating is an important consideration if you intend to use your conservatory all year round.

But how can you achieve comfortable temperatures in your conservatory?

In terms of heating there are a myriad of options available, radiators, storage heaters and under floor heating, can all be viable depending on individual circumstance. In order for you to make an informed decision you need to look at your conservatory and decide what meets your requirements.

The first thing you need to do is calculate your heating requirements. This can be done using the following formula

Recommended power needed (watts) = Floor area x 200 e.g. 4m x 4m = 16 sq. m x 200 = 3200 or 3.2 KW

This gives you a rough idea of your heating requirements, although this can sometimes be reduced by as much as 25% dependent on the aspect of your conservatory, your location in the UK and whether you have any insulating products e.g Sun blinds.

Due to the amounts of glass within your conservatory you will find they cool down much faster than conventional brick or stone built buildings. This will be most evident at sunset. Due to this rapid heat lose you need to consider the speed at which your heating system can bring your conservatory to a comfortable temperature. Radiators and fan based electrical heaters all can heat rooms at quick rates but require a relatively large amount of energy to do so. storage heaters and underfloor heating tend to heat at a slower rate as they try to maintain a constant room temperature. Obviously if the room is going to be used frequently this may be the best option.

When considering a heating system you will also have to consider installation. Obviously if your glass panels are floor to ceiling you will be limited to what kind of heating system you can install due to your lack of mountable wall space. if your considering a radiator you will certainly have a sizeable amount of plumbing to contend with, and all electrical appliances require access to mains electricity.

This is probably the biggest factor to bare in mind when selecting you heating appliance. If it can't be installed correctly in your conservatory it's not suitable for your needs.

Don't scrimp when picking a heating system, you'll regret it. Decide on how frequently the conservatory is to be used, and base your initial requirement on that. There's no point in getting the best conservatory money can buy and then not being able to enjoy it because it's too cold.