How to Heat A Sunroom Near Havertown, PA

Sure, that sunroom is great in the warm weather. There’s plenty of light and a touch of the outdoors. And, when you add heating, it becomes a little oasis you can enjoy year-round rather than for just a few months at a time.

Now, sunrooms come in a variety of styles and sizes. The simplest ones are simply glass enclosures around a patio. From there, you can add more features and make them sturdier until they’re pretty much just another room in the house.

When you’re deciding on the best options, you’ll have to consider more than just your budget. There’s also the question of how much space you need to treat. And, how well the room is insulated, so heat doesn’t escape.

So, this week we’re looking at the different ways you can keep this space warm in the colder months.

We’ll start with how you can insulate the room and then move into ways you can add heating.

This way, you can find the options that are right for you. And, when you’re ready, or when you have more questions, give Cipollone a call.

For more than 60 years, we’ve been helping people from Havertown to Paoli to Berwyn to Bala Cynwyd get the home comfort they want. When it comes to heating your sunroom, we’ll help you find out what you need and the best way to get it.

Best Ways to Heat a Sunroom Near Havertown, PA

The best way to heat your sunroom depends on how cold it gets. If there’s enough airflow from the house, for instance, you can try just retaining that heat. Or, choose from permanent installations or appliances you plug in when you need them. Your options are:

• Insulating the room to trap the heat
• Using a space heater or portable unit
• Tapping existing ductwork
• Adding ductless heating

Ways to Insulate the Room

We’ll start off with some ways to retain heat without spending a lot of money. Most of these options will make sure the room stays warm, rather than making generating heat on their own. You can use:

• Thick Rugs
• Thermal Curtains
• Heating Mats

Thick rugs

Laying down heavy or thick rugs to your enclosed patio help insulate the floor. Odds are, you’re on a concrete slab that cools quickly. A rug will make sure it doesn’t absorb the heat from the room.

You also have the option of using throw rugs instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. This way, you don’t need to use them for the summer if you don’t want to.

Another bonus: the floor won’t feel nearly as cold through the rug than it will if you put down a thin carpet or leave the concrete.

Thermal Curtains

Now that you’ve got the floor covered, it’s on to the windows. If your enclosed patio makes use of huge windows to let in as much sun as possible, then you also lack insulation.

Prevent heat from leaving the room by hanging thermal curtains. Like throw rugs, you can put them up just for the winter if you’d like.

These curtains are specially made to prevent heat from escaping through the glass. And, you don’t necessarily have to lose a lot of sunlight for them to work.

When you leave them open during the day, the sunlight coming through the glass helps keep the room warm.

Then, close the curtains when it gets dark. When it’s colder and windier, you want to keep that heat in the house.

Heated Floor Mats

In this case, heated floor mats are the portable version of radiant floor heating. They won’t generate as much heat as the systems we install in place of central heat. Instead, these add a touch of extra warmth.

If you’re planning out the room, you can opt to have one installed under floorboards. Or, get a portable model you can put under a rug and put in storage when it gets warm.

Space Heaters, Electric Fireplaces and Other Portable Devices

Next, we’ll look at portable devices, including electric fireplaces and space heaters. These are appliances you can buy off-the-shelf and simply plug in and turn on. They offer some benefits for an enclosed patio — but also a few drawbacks.

The first advantage is a low upfront cost. You’ll spend way less on one of these than any permanent HVAC installation.

But, you’ll see your energy bills go up when it’s cold out. These are inexpensive but also inefficient. They use more energy than more expensive equipment.

However, if you only need a little extra heat sometimes, these could do the trick. And, you can use a fancier model like an electric fireplace to add to the room’s decor.

Just remember to turn the device off when you leave the room. Space heaters, in particular, aren’t meant to be left unattended.

Tap Your Home’s Ductwork

A home with a furnace and central forced-air heat can use that same method to warm up a Florida room and turn that three-season area into a year-round living space.

You won’t need to buy a new heater. Instead, an HVAC installer will run more ductwork out to the addition and add a vent. Now, you’ve got heating just as powerful as in the rest of your home.

You will, however, have to buy ductwork. And, you’ll pay someone to design the route and install it. That adds up quickly. Depending on how much ductwork you need, it can go over a thousand dollars.

Finally, you may not get all the heat you want in this case. That’s because the thermostat is still in the main part of the house. Since it’s better insulated there, it stays warmer.

That means the heater will turn off when the living room is at the right temperature, not necessarily the enclosed patio.

Benefits of Ductless Heating for a Sunroom

With ductless heating in a sunroom, you can get the heat and efficiency your furnace with the customization of a portable heater. There’s more of an upfront cost, but also ways to reduce the sticker price.

You’ll also hear ductless heating and cooling systems called mini splits. That’s because they come with indoor and outdoor components.

Outside is the heat pump, which handles the heat transfer process. Inside is a wall-mounted air handler that circulates the air. We install the air handler permanently. It’s powerful enough that a few of these can warm your entire house.

And, each one has a built-in thermostat. So, in this case, it will regulate the temperature of your enclosed patio separately from the rest of the house.

Meanwhile, there’s no ductwork or anything. We connect the mini split with a line set that’s a few inches thick. That means we can install them pretty much anywhere without worrying about changing the look and feel of the room.

Now, the cost is worth mentioning. It’s easily over a thousand dollars. But, these are high-efficiency units. So, you can apply for a rebate from PECO as part of the electric company’s clean energy initiatives.

Depending on the model, you can get a few hundred dollars back on your investment. And, it will have a smaller impact on your bills than the other options.

Still, it’s a big decision to make. So is adding ductwork. And, you’d want to make sure adding a few items like rugs or curtains would do the trick.

So, before you make any decisions, call Cipollone for a free consultation. We’ll come out to your home in Delaware County or Montgomery County and give you an idea of how much heating you’ll need and what would be the best options.