Oil Rayburn

sophannef

Hi,

We have just put in an application for a rental that we really love but it has a Rayburn that I know nothing about so would like some information before we put down a deposit.

So far we know that it is definitely a Rayburn and not another brand, it is oil fired and heats the house and a hot water tank, we’re not sure how old it is though.

I’m wondering the following:

How efficient are these cookers?
How much do they cost to run?
Do we have to keep it on all the time?
If we don’t want the heating on, say in summer, does that mean we have no hot water?

Any help or extra info would be greatly appreciated

QrizB

Welcome to the forum!

My experience is with a wood-fired Rayburn, but I'll offer some suggested answers.

sophannef said:

I’m wondering the following:

• How efficient are these cookers?
• How much do they cost to run?
• Do we have to keep it on all the time?
• If we don’t want the heating on, say in summer, does that mean we have no hot water?

Efficency? Not great, probably 70-80% whereas a condensing boiler will manage 90% or more.

Costs? Heating oil prices vary but the latest price quoted in this thread is about 70p/litre. There are 10kWh in a litre of oil, so that's 7p/kWh. A similar fuel price to mains gas.

Always on? No, you can let it go out in summer months when you don't want the space heating.

Hot water?  You'll have a hot water tank and that should have an immersion heater that you can use instead.

Netexporter

Efficiency will also depend on whether it is a purpose made oil Rayburn, or a converted solid-fuel one. I'd avoid the latter. I once  had a house with an oil converted Aga and it was a lot of bother to maintain.

dunstonh

So far we know that it is definitely a Rayburn and not another brand, it is oil fired and heats the house and a hot water tank, we’re not sure how old it is though.

With a few caveats, generally AGAs did cooking only and Rayburns did everything.    (caveats being custom modifications or rare short lived models which also tend to be very inefficient which is why they didnt take off)

Our burner has been gone for nearly a decade but it would run from around October to April with the immersion heater used the remainder of the time.      Many houses with oil/coal based heating also have woodburners as secondary heating which can be cheaper in Spring/Autumn compared to firing up the burner.  Have you checked for secondary heating options as well as an immersion heater?