Oil fired Rayburn vs Boiler & electric cooker? (house with no gas supply)

PrincessJR · 2 August 2016 at 4:08PM

Hi everyone,

We are buying a property in a rural area with no gas supply and so inevitably will have to get our heads around the whole oil fired heating process (as well as a septic tank but that's for another post!)

At the moment the house has a Worcester Bosch Greenstar boiler (only 2 years old) and an electric cooker in the kitchen. The boiler obviously heats the radiators and water. We are toying with the idea of replacing the boiler with an oil fired rayburn (second hand) which could do all 3 jobs (cook, heat water and CH) however we have no experience using a rayburn or aga and I am concerned that it may be a money pit!

I have read about the importance of good insulation and we plan to insulate the loft very well and see to the wall insulation also.

I HATE electric cookers so the rayburn appeals for that reason, plus the obvious aesthetic appeal compared to the ugly large floor standing boiler however if we'd be paying through the teeth for the pleasure then I'd sooner not bother.

Can anyone give me an idea of how much they spend on oil per year using a rayburn for cooking,CH and water please? The house is a detached 3 bed. I read somewhere that through taking sensible measures (turning thermostat down by 1 degree, properly insulating their home etc) someone got their oil bill down to just £300 for the year!? I can't quite believe that but we'd be happy enough with around £1200 as we'd expect that to be the cost using the boiler (plus the added electricity cost of using the cooker).

Any help, advice or experience appreciated!

Cardew · 2 August 2016 at 7:21PM

As this is a money saving website, the Rayburn/Aga should not even be considered - they are just a 'lifestyle choice'; loads of post on MSE about this subject.

My son has oil fired CH but a 'range cooker' i.e electric oven and gas hob fed from a bottled gas cylinder situated outside.

As for 'hating electric cookers', have you tried using induction hobs? absolutely brilliant.

PrincessJR · 3 August 2016 at 7:53AM

Cardew wrote: »

As this is a money saving website, the Rayburn/Aga should not even be considered - they are just a 'lifestyle choice'; loads of post on MSE about this subject.

My son has oil fired CH but a 'range cooker' i.e electric oven and gas hob fed from a bottled gas cylinder situated outside.

As for 'hating electric cookers', have you tried using induction hobs? absolutely brilliant.

Thank you for your thoughts. Overall I was wondering if having an appliance which can do all 3 tasks (cook, heat water and CH) might save money even if only fractionally, compared to using oil fired CH, water and cooking using electric. I have read a lot about ranges being a 'lifestyle choice' and I can understand that. They are incredibly overpriced in my opinion when buying new (£7k!?!) and so I would only consider one if we could get a decent second hand one.

I think given that the Greenstar boiler at the property is fairly new, we will see how we go with that for the first 12 months of living there before making any decisions. We need to fit a new kitchen and working around a large floor standing boiler however is not ideal

PrincessJR · 3 August 2016 at 7:59AM

Oh and yes I have used an induction hob... not a fan.
It's all personal preference again, in an ideal world we would have gas but as it's not possible at the property (not without forking out for gas cylinders which appear to be the most expensive way to run a house)

Cardew · 3 August 2016 at 9:26AM

PrincessJR wrote: »

Oh and yes I have used an induction hob... not a fan.
It's all personal preference again, in an ideal world we would have gas but as it's not possible at the property (not without forking out for gas cylinders which appear to be the most expensive way to run a house)

I meant gas cylinders just for the hob.

An oil Rayburn can also require a lot of expensive servicing.

J_B · 3 August 2016 at 11:39AM

PrincessJR wrote: »

We are toying with the idea of replacing the boiler with an oil fired rayburn (second hand) which could do all 3 jobs (cook, heat water and CH) however we have no experience using a rayburn or aga and I am concerned that it may be a money pit!

We used to have a gas rayburn - it did all three jobs, you are correct, BUT, if you have it hot enough to cook properly (best to give it a couple of hours notice) then the house (especially kitchen) is too hot.

They are notoriously badly insulated, but I'm sure you could pick up a 2nd hand one cheaply/easily.
Both us and our neighbours have taken gas ones out a few years ago and we still have them gathering dust in the shed, with no takers ......

Don't do it!

PrincessJR · 3 August 2016 at 3:26PM

J_B wrote: »

We used to have a gas rayburn - it did all three jobs, you are correct, BUT, if you have it hot enough to cook properly (best to give it a couple of hours notice) then the house (especially kitchen) is too hot.

They are notoriously badly insulated, but I'm sure you could pick up a 2nd hand one cheaply/easily.
Both us and our neighbours have taken gas ones out a few years ago and we still have them gathering dust in the shed, with no takers ......

Don't do it!

Interesting! Thanks for your thoughts. It seems they are more of a cosmetic thing for most people (most people who love cooking in them seem to talk mostly about baking and stews so I believe they are more of a slow cooker in that sense) so maybe not the way forward :cool:

G_M · 26 August 2016 at 11:06PM

So you heat up your fancy rayburn cooker in the summer, for cooking, at great expence, and the house is baking......

I'd always used a gas cooker before moving to the country, and installed a new kitchen + new electri induction hob. I now love it. The control is instant (heat up/switch off) just like gas and that had always been my concern with the old-fashioned elecric hobs.

You have a perfectly good, nearly new, boiler. Why change it?

saverbuyer · 29 August 2016 at 12:53PM

My in laws have a rayburn in the kitchen. Provides hot water and obviously heats the kitchen (separate oil boiler for the radiators).
When oil prices were high (60p a litre in NI) they were paying £300 a month to heat the house. That's for a 5 bed detached, old house.

The are seriously inefficient, an expensive lifestyle choice. £300 a year? Not a mission. Prices have dropped, I'm sure it's still costing £150 a month easy.

Ben84 · 7 September 2016 at 10:10PM

When I was off the mains gas I had an LPG cooker and used cylinders. Although it's an expensive way to buy LPG, cookers really don't use much fuel, so it was a relatively inexpensive way to cook how I wanted to. Took a long time to empty a 47kg cylinder, and I like to cook a lot, so it was pretty cheap per month at the prices I was paying.

missbiggles1 · 7 September 2016 at 10:17PM

I can't see any way in which getting rid of a perfectly good 2 year old boiler could be considered to be money saving.

Oil fired Rayburn vs Boiler & electric cooker? (house with no gas supply)

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