Oil rayburn

[p.penn]

I feel EXTREMELY worried about our heating. We had an oil rayburn fitted 5 years ago instead of a fitted kitchen. It was a HUGE decision. It is slightly old fashioned in that it reverts to drip feed in a power cut but its benefit is it still works during them - we get rather a lot. Also, it is on tickover all the time giving a gentle ambient heat. It does all the cooking, hot water and dries the washing. A second burner heats the rads in the winter. We don't have the heating bit on until dec & finish mar-april, not long as the heat from the cooker side helps.

We WERE doing just about ok. Until the oil crisis. I have just had the annual statement for oil. 10 months ago it cost £320 to fill our tank. That was already outrageous as at one point it was £90.

In the summer, with cooking, hot water, clothes drying, ambient heat and comfort blanket a tank lasts app 15- 16 weeks. I dont cook sunday roasts in the summer. In the winter, with BOTH burners going - heating on a timer, it lasts 8 - 10 weeks. So we were JUST about managing. I have recently filled the tank - £620!

I am SO worried. We are TOTALLY reliant on the rayburn and its' functions. Our house is pretty damp between seasons and now it's no problem. Washing dries in the summer, cooking is a breeze,my grandchildren are warm enough.....

What AM I going to do if oil continues to increase in price? :cry:

[Teasal]

I can sympathise because we had a similar problem, but with a gas mains Rayburn. Fortunately, we have now moved and the house is up for sale, so the gas is turned off.

We had that fitted about 12 years ago, and it was a wonderful feeling to have central heating, hot water, and a cosy kitchen, especially as we lived in an exposed part of Derbyshire, known for its cold and snow!! Obviously over the last 12 years prices of gas have rised dramatically, and like you we were faced with increasing bills, but as it was our only source of cooking, hot water and heat, we had to leave it turned on. The problem is, gas Rayburns are supposed to run continuously, so no turning off even in summer.

We have moved to a farm with no heating except coal fires and back boiler for hot water. We are now trying to decide what to have fuel wise and cooker wise. I would like another Rayburn, but seeing as oil is so expensive, I am a little reluctant.

[p.penn]

The newer rayburns that do hot water & heating are different - they have 2 pressure burners in them and are not on all the time. That's why I chose the old model. Not sure how energy efficient these would be either.

[spudley]

this is the reason we went for a solid fuel model, we would have had to have had an oil tank fitted, which we decided would have cost too much. The solid fuel range was cheaper and costs us hardly anything to run (although it is hard work).

The fitting cost us more as we had to have wide bore copper pipes. However the plumber told us that if in the future we wanted to these pipes would enable us to have the oil range with out changing the plumbing (something to do with pressure in the pipes) so you could consider changing your range to solid fuel (more cost to start with but savings in the future)

OR

On the news a couple of weeks ago there was an article about people clubbing together and ordering fuel on mass. It turns out that the more that you order the cheaper the oil can be. To fill only one tank companies apparently charge more to make it more cost effective for them (transport and staff) However if say 10 households were to order together, and had it delivered at the same time, buying under one name, the price of the oil was cheaper as it was being bought in bulk.
I am sorry but I cant remember the name of the program it was on. It might be worth having a chat with neighbours to see if they would be interested and then contacting oil suppliers to find out who will do the cheapest price per litre and the minimum asmount they would sell as a bulk pruchase.