Rayburn advice

[kaz6862]

I want to get a rayburn that burns solid fuel. I live in a 20 year old house and have no chimney. I am looking at getting a reconditioned one that has a back boiler and can run radiators as well as for cooking.

I currently have gas (which I hate) boiler, and want to have it taken out.

Any advice will be great!

[thehenhouse]

hi- great idea. Rayburns were my previous obsession- before the chickens came.

You would be best getting a plumber who fuits them to talk to you.

But , we bought one off ebay quite reasonably, and had a local plumber fit it.

It dioesnt have a chimney but the flue goes thro a flat roof where the kitchen is.

We have it doing hot water and heats 3-4 radiators.

i do love mine, Its time consuming, like riddling and refueling twice a day. but great fun, playing with it.
We burn anthracite and wood or anything else burnable, not plastic etc.

The aga man came out to the house initially and he said we couldnt get one.. so take advice from a few ppl.

Google it for oyur area. Good luck, you will lov eit, it really warms th ekitchen and makes a heart to the home. i think so anyhow.

Maggi any questions im happy to answer. But am no expert.

[kaz6862]

thanks! if buying off ebay did u get it delivered? and how long did it take for them to fit it?

from a fellow reiki master

Karen

[spudley]

we got ours from the plumber who fitted it, get someone who delivers wherever you get it from, They are very very heavy and our fromt door got knoked off its frame to get it in.

They are hard though, our Stnley heats the hot water and 10 rads and i do all the cooking on it. It is noce, but we dont keep ours in all the time, so have to wait for it to heat up to do the cooking and for the rads to get warm in the night. The water stays hot in the tank though-we have it well lagged.

It wasnt cheap to have it fitted although we had to have a complete system in the house as there was no heating at all, so had copper pipes and rads, plus there was a lot of hole knocking and all that malarky.

It is cheap to run and so when you work out what we would have had to have paid for an oil or gas tank, plus then the fitting and the running costs it is paying for itself. Infact judging by what peoples oil/gas bills are, the moey that we save by not having those bills mean that the cooker itself will actually havepaid for itself by the end of next year.

[p.penn]

Yes spudley you are right about the cost of oil.

I have an oil rayburn that I keep lit all year. It has 2 burners - one for cooking, which gives all our hot water as a by product, and one for the 10 rads which I have just, reluctantly, switched on.

In summer a 1000 litre tank of oil lasts almost 4 months. In winter, with the heating burner on too, only 2. I have just ordered oil and it is about £450 for the tank.(down from £610 last time)

But it does everything, cook, hot water, clothes dryer (which is especially great on wet summer days) comforter......! And I love it!

Don't know that I could manage a wood one well - I would have to keep it in all the time and no room to store that many logs!

[thehenhouse]

Hi Kaz,

Reiki rocks too

Ours is solid fuel so it does take up a bit of time- but noyt too expensive to run. Anthracite is around £10.50 a bag and one bag lasts about a week. But we get free wood from local joiners and buy logs as well as foraging for free logs!!

I f i was doing it again i would get it delivered on a pallet much cheaper.

They are heavy but working out rolling it in on a couple of ex scaffolding poles short ones, wasnt too difficuilt and i am surer we could have managed that, once we had seen it done. We did get it deleiverd by a guy on ebay a wee bit expensive but the easy option. I guess. No damage getting in it the house.

twas expensive to get it plumbed in- but worth it i feel.

We also have a wood burner in the living room so it all had to be worked out for heat out put etc and if they are both on the water does sometimes boil!! in the pipes. So no shortage of hot water.

There are also guides to read on ebay about buying and fitting rayburns which are very useful.


Overall our heating is cheaper than before and all the electric storage stuff and more controlable and more eco friendly??? if we burn wood.


They have gone up on ebay since we got ours, esp . the solid fuel ones. There are also ppl on the net who do reconditioned ones. That might be an option too, less stress and worrying if its going to work!

on ebay theres a guy called tradcookers and i think cheshire cookers did reconditioned ones too. But depends where you are.. there do seem a lot more down south then up here. Scotland!

good luck.

We also have a wee electric cooker for the summer months.

Maggi xx

PS it would be cheaper too if it was jsut a cooker and room heater not doing hot water etc.

[thehenhouse]

and whooops took months to get it all plumbed in etc but we were getting other work done here and had to fit in with those trades as well plus the plumber was how shall we say- idiosyncatic! lol

[Richard]

My rusty but trusty Rayburn c.1950.

It has the pipes to plumb in, but the cost would be too much, plus it's rented accomodation, so not worth it long term.

There's nothing to beat the smell. The secret is exactly when to close the chimney to get maximum heat. Close it too soon and it can be a bit smutty around the shelves etc., but it's worth it.

The neighbours had one and could sell it, but no one knew how to transport it being so heavy.
In the end a Rag and Bone Man took it away for them - bet he made a bob or two !

Obviously they're harder work, no more flick of a switch stuff, but you save pounds and pounds if you collect wood for it.