Conservatory Air Conditioning - is it the best solution to overheating?

If you are considering installing air conditioning to your conservatory then quite simply the design has failed. The homeowner who had commissioned the scheme failed to ask the right questions to ensure the correct conservatory materials were used or the conservatory supplier failed to assess the site conditions correctly and failed to be proactive on the design advice for the benefit of the homeowner.

Installing conservatory air conditioning will work but it is yet another quick fix solution to a very common conservatory problem that keeps re-occurring. Air conditioning units for the conservatory are likely to be floor standing mobile units that will look awkward and require venting of the hot air exhaust to the outside via a pipe - not very pretty at all.

Another solution would be to install fixed units such as the compressor and heat exchanger on the internal and external walls for a more robust built in solution but again they are usually very highly visual and use mains power so not very eco-friendly especially for here in the UK when we really should not be having any of these machines. Spain and further south maybe but not here in the UK.

If your conservatory is experiencing overheating then I would also bet that it is also very cold in the winter. Therefore if you do install air conditioning plant you might also want to select the air-conditioning units that can go into reverse to provide heating in the winter.

An alternative to air conditioning for a conservatory house extension is to try and resolve the design problem that is causing the overheating to begin with. What not consider installing an automatic ridge ventilator or opening roof panel. What not try some external shading by planting trees or forming a ‘sail shade’ over the conservatory itself. Installing reflective glass film is another option to installing air conditioning into the conservatory. Internal blinds will do a similar job but do use white colours to reflect the heat as well. Any dark colour for internal conservatory shading will simply act like radiators and add to the problem of conservatory overheating.