Conservatory fitted with radiators thta are too cold

A question about : Conservatory fitted with radiators thta are too cold

Hi we have had a conservatory fitted and the contractor fitted radiators as requetsed but has installed radiators that do not heat the room suffiently. Only reaching 12 degrees centigrade.

They want paying in full, I do not wish to pay as they have not installed us aproduct fit for purpose. I am happy (not) to pay the bulk of the money but to be compensated for the end product. We have had to source a secondary solution -(heat pump) as the only way to fix it seems is to retro fit allthe pipework and install large radiators whih thye shoudl have been able to calculate as the experts. Note the pipework is now hidden and was fitted with 10mm pipeowrk.

Should i stand firm and demand either the work be completed profesionally and to allow the room to be a usable temperature?

O rto seek compensation to the cost of putting the work right

all thoughts appreciated

We shoudl have been able to rely on their expertise shouldn't we?

Russell Jones

Best answers:

• you should have given the company the opportunity to rectify the work before taking it on yourself to make changes
• you will never be able to get a conservatory comfortably heated for all year living in the uk.I mean the bog standard ones we all think of as a conservatory ie of all glass and no insulation.
  Does it have a roof or glass/polymer one?If so cheerio heat rentention.
  Is it tiled.Its sucking the heat out of the place.But then you could underfloor electric heat.
  Was it dwarf walled and then the cavity filled?
  Was the floor poured or wooden joist?
  Do the rads run the whole footprint of the build under the windows , ie right along all the wall?
  Are the rads insulated by one inch ply behind them , and reflected coating?
  Quite frankly your throwing away money even thinking of it in the first place for being anything other than seasonal , you should have got an extension instead.By the time you have had it built to good insulating standards then it would have worked out cheaper for the extension instead.
  You might be able to fit a gas fire with direct wall flue , or a pellet fire.One of those cast iron jobs.
  I doubt you will get any comeback on the rads and money off.They are designed to work in a garunteed range in a specific enviroment , that envioroment is indoors.There is no heat retention and the rads are doing exactly what the manufacturers made them for.....your conservatory though is losing the heat , its not the rads are not working.
  The pipes used at 10m is the most effecient , the thicker they are the more heat lost on its way to the rads and back to the boiler in the dead space.You could also go the underfloor route if it is tiled and use that as the rad.
  Greenhouses dont get much above freezing even with heating , and thats what you essentially have.
• Yes, I agree with the above poster.
  The contractor has done and provided what you asked for. It is not his fault that radiators are not very effective in a conservatory.
  Look on the bright side....how cold would it be in there without them??
• I have a large conservatory with radiator, but also have a Dimplex wall hung electric convection heater which I find is MUCH more effective than the radiator. The problem with conservatories is that they are either too hot or too cold.
• If done correctly its possible to heat a conservatory using a standard radiator. Work out the heat loss and size the radiator correctly and it will be warm. Normally requires radiators on every wall to stop cold and hot areas.
  The real question is, should you heat it?
• My 5m x 3m has 5Kw of wet rads. That will just about cope to make it comfortable in winter but they will be working flat out. We keep one 600w on low to keep the temp at about 12 deg. To heat to a comfortable living temp all the time is almost impossible.
• Everyone is right ! I have a 4m x 4m conservatory with a dwarf wall and raised floor (on joists) I have a quite large radiator which is next to useless even at full blast in the winter. When i use it, i switch on a convector heater for the time i'm in there.
  Today i daren't open the patio doors into the house or we'll all melt before teatime ! Even with all the windows open ! It's melted a 12" pillar candle in the last few days ! You can't win really.
• I'd avoid sun-room.org as they appear to send people to write false positive reviews on the internet.
  Idiots.