Best ways to heat an Orangery.

When choosing to add an orangery to your property, how you are going to keep it heated is an important factor to consider. All modern designs include double or triple glazed glass roofs which act as the main insulator. The air or gas filled space between the sheets of glass gives much better thermal performance and means the overall  glazed space has a steady flow of heat in and out. This means during the summer it will not get overly hot and during the winter too cold.

But as with a regular house in the UK, there are times when extra heat will be required. These can come from two main sources; radiotors and under floor heating.

Used as standard in all types of homes, radiators are the most common source of heating in orangeries. Using this method by extending the heating system from the house into the orangery is often less expensive than under floor heating and when needed, will heat up the room in a much shorter amount of time than other methods. There are a huge amount of designs available which means that whatever your chosen interior style, you will find one that fits in with its surrounding environment. A new option integrates the radiators into the skirting boards round the room, so they do not interfere with the wall surfaces.

The drawbacks for radiators are the general need for large amounts of wall space, something that is lacking in most orangeries due to the high use of glass. If the existing wall space is used for radiators this then limits the positioning of furniture. A lot of items are placed against the wall, book shelves or sofas for example. Also piping from the water boiler may have to be routed through existing rooms creating more work in other areas of the house.

Under floor heating is often considered the best heating solution for orangeries. The hidden system means there is no loss of wall space and allows you to use the space more efficiently. Allowing you to benefit from the original reason you are going to have one installed. They are a very efficient way of heating and ideal for stone or ceramic floors which do not get warm with the use of radiators. They are also easy to install during the initial building of an orangery without really affecting other parts of the house.

The negative points of under floor heating are the high installation costs, as it is a special process that should be undertaken by professions (the last thing you want is to have to dig up the floor because it is not working!) It also takes a while before you start to feel the benefits of the heat. If it is extremely cold for example it is best to switch on the heating ahead of time, which requires not only planning, but can result in not using the space as much as you intended.

Which ever choice you make, both work types work and both have their flaws. Two of the main deciding factors are usually cost and the disruption it will cause to other parts of the house.

Author Bio

Jess Collins has a passion for interior design and for home improvements, among other roles Jess is resident blogger for EasyOrangeryQuoteswhere she can be found holding forth on all things orangery related!