Heating and Cooling fan?

Skeeter · 7 May 2016 at 13:40

The house were buying has a conservatory that will probably require heating in the winter and Cooling in he summer.

I like the idea of the Dyson Hot + Cold fans, but they are ludicrously expensive. I'd get a flat electric heater and a seperate fan for less.

Is there anything like the Dyson fan that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (or are they genuinely worth that), or shall I look at sepert heating and cooling devices?

Adam_151 · 7 May 2016 at 14:40

Skeeter said:
I like the idea of the Dyson Hot + Cold fans, but they are ludicrously expensive.

Do you mean they are just ludicrously expensive in terms of your budget, or that they are ludicrously expensive for what they actually do / are ? (I'd agree with the later!)

Is there anything like the Dyson fan that doesn't cost an arm and a leg

Probably not

(or are they genuinely worth that)

Most unlikely

, or shall I look at sepert heating and cooling devices?

You could do, but depending on what your actual budget is, you could consider an air con heat pump system (it'll cost many times more than the Dyson fan, but will be many times better, and will actually cool rather than just move air around, will be a lot more efficient at heating as well). If your budget won't stretch to that, then still don't buy the dyson fan lol

Skeeter · 7 May 2016 at 16:22

I can get a pretty decent, not offensive looking electric wall heater for about £50, and spend another £50 on some sort of fan. The Dysons are £400+.

Unless the Dysons are some kind of super uber epic machine from God, that just makes them stupid expensive.

Adam_151 · 7 May 2016 at 16:47

Skeeter said:
Unless the Dysons are some kind of super uber epic machine from God, that just makes them stupid expensive.

No to the former and yes to the later!

When the original air blade hand driers first came out they were quite radically different to other hand dryers and quite a lot more expensive. They only ever got fitted to build projects when they were part of the spec. There is quite a bit of stuff out there, which is a little bit better than the closest competitor, but priced at a lot more, they sell plenty because their name persists from one spec to the next, in some cases the quality isn't what it was 20 years ago!

EDIT: I've gone off on a bit of a tangent there!!

thezappa · 7 May 2016 at 18:40

Have you considered blinds and a heater? My parents have blinds, albeit made for the shape of the windows and its very pleasant in there in the summer.

Skeeter · 9 May 2016 at 01:06

The conservatory has blinds which the current owners have fitted and they said it helps massively. They were telling us that before then they went away once and came back to pools of wax where there were once candles!

I've decided we will have 2 seperate devices as I want a cooling fan now too (we aren't moving until August at the earliest). Can anyone suggest a decent cooling fan? Probably an upright, and as quiet as possible? Thanks

Abyss · 9 May 2016 at 11:00

For the same budget as that Dyson fan you can buy a split unit:
http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p...IJRSPmGiO3SkHWiwoMWKQ5bWxAopRpYM14xoCi5nw_wcB

You may need to factor in the installation cost

Skeeter · 9 May 2016 at 15:42

Lol. I'm after something the size of the Dyson fan that can also be moved about

.

Scottland · 9 May 2016 at 16:14

My conservatory hits over 50°C in the Summer, a fan will do diddly squat with that!

You said it had blinds, do they extend to the ceiling as well?

Rroff · 9 May 2016 at 16:17

You can also get film stuff you can put on the glass that can be more effective than blinds at blocking UV, etc. though the more effective stuff can tint the windows a lot which may be an issue.

#Chri5# · 9 May 2016 at 16:44

Scottland said:
My conservatory hits over 50°C in the Summer, a fan will do diddly squat with that!

+1

You might as well through your money out into the garden, trying to heat or cool what is effectively a greenhouse is going to be a waste of time.

Skeeter · 9 May 2016 at 19:41

There's full length blinds on the windows and full length blinds across the roof too.

thezappa · 9 May 2016 at 20:01

Skeeter said:
The conservatory has blinds which the current owners have fitted and they said it helps massively. They were telling us that before then they went away once and came back to pools of wax where there were once candles!

I've decided we will have 2 seperate devices as I want a cooling fan now too (we aren't moving until August at the earliest). Can anyone suggest a decent cooling fan? Probably an upright, and as quiet as possible? Thanks

Sorry I meant roof blinds but didn't say that. They are extremely effective (as you'd expect) but appreciate they are an expensive solution

Skeeter · 10 May 2016 at 20:47

Roof blinds have been fitted

smr · 11 Sep 2016 at 17:03

how are you getting on with your conservatory Skeeter?

I have not long moved into a house with a conservatory and have the same dilemma.

Its south facing and really hot in there on days like this where the sun is out... too hot to be in really but I need to make it work... its fine if I have the double doors open and all the windows but I would rather have the doors closed and some form of cooling...

I just dont know whats good and what isnt. I was looking at the Dyson Hot and Cool fan last night and as cool as it looks and sounds it is ridiculously expensive.

I have been looking at those electric conservatory heaters too, some on the rainforest are really well reviewed but theres ones for 130 quid or ones just as well reviewed for 50 quid... so again its a case of wondering why the 50 quid one is much cheaper but apparantly just as good.. and these manufacturers are all companies i havent heard of so its even more confusing as to what to get.

So basically i am wondering if I should get the Dyson which does both or seperate and if so which.

The conservatory has one full side wall and two dwarf walls but obviously the heat escapes through the roof which I cant do anything about.

BigBoy · 11 Sep 2016 at 18:23

I have a three meter square conservatory and use a small panel heater in the winter to keep the temp above due point, unless you intend using it as a fully integrated part of the house there is not much point of heating it more than that.

Amp34 · 11 Sep 2016 at 20:04

Skeeter said:
The conservatory has blinds which the current owners have fitted and they said it helps massively. They were telling us that before then they went away once and came back to pools of wax where there were once candles!

I've decided we will have 2 seperate devices as I want a cooling fan now too (we aren't moving until August at the earliest). Can anyone suggest a decent cooling fan? Probably an upright, and as quiet as possible? Thanks

I think that's pretty standard in conservatories if they are on the southern/western side of a house. Our old one did that. it had (roof and window) blinds which were always closed in the warmer months but didn't help much.

Ours had a nice wall heater (installed below the windows). It got nice and toasty in there, and the heater itself was only a few cm thick (but about 30x60cm in size - was only a small conservatory ~6x10ft). Definitely a good investment. No idea what the brand was unfortunately. Alternatively if it's a bigger conservatory that you'll be using a lot maybe an oil filled radiator? My parents use one of those when it's cold and a ceiling fan for summer to cool their conservatory down (much larger at 20x20ish ft). Both ceiling fans and oil filled radiators are pretty cheap, if you already have the electrical fitments.

Amp34 · 11 Sep 2016 at 20:08

Scottland said:
My conservatory hits over 50°C in the Summer, a fan will do diddly squat with that!

You said it had blinds, do they extend to the ceiling as well?

Open the windows and turn the fan and it should cool down fairly quickly, and be reasonable. It's probably the best option if the OP doesn't want/can't afford the cost of a proper air con unit. Just make sure you have a powerful enough fan for the space.

EDIT: sir - Delonghi are a well known brand of oil filled radiators (and other things) - I assume they are the £130 ones you're talking about? They have been around for years (were sold in Argos 14 years ago when I worked there) and are available all over the place. No idea how good they are compared to the cheap ones however.

smr · 11 Sep 2016 at 20:18

I've just had a look at the rather large ceiling fan in my conservatory and wondered why I couldn't feel any air flow... after googling it I discovered I could flick a switch on it to change the direction of it, so all this time having it on and wondering why it wasn't working it was just because it was spinning the wrong way! duh! Should hopefully make a nice difference, I can feel a nice cool breeze now but whether it'll suffice when it's really hot I'll have to wait - that said it looks like we're in for a bit of a heatwave tomorrow and Tues so I'll see then.

If it works I'll be very happy! Just need to sort out a decent wall mounted heater then for the colder months. The Conservatory isn't the largest but not the smallest, probably 12x10ft.