Aga/rayburn or standard cooker and boiler

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

we are just doing some renovation work on our house and are toying with either putting an aga/rayburn (with a back boiler) in or going with the conventional electric cooker and oil fired boiler for central heating. Does anyone know which is the more cost effective. We only have storage heaters now and a woodburner. We only use 2 of the storage heaters atm and the wood burner occasionally to keep the whole bungalow warm. We were just wondering if we had the aga/rayburn, would it save us long term by keeping the ambient heat in the house level rather than the heating up/cooling down you get with central heating? Also the fact that the cooker is available all the time without the heating up thing.

Thanks

Canucklehead

Good morning: A very expensive option i.e Aga/Rayburn in terms of initial and ongoing costs. My OH reconditioned an Aga for our previous home...the gas bill shot up, we had a lovely, warm kitchen and secured a buyer for the property who loved the Aga...personally I'd go with electric cooker/ condensing oil boiler. Best advice...lots of research before you take the plunge (as you are doing now;) )

HTH

Canucklehead

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

thanks for that. tbh we were thinking of buying second hand. a rayburn for instance will only cost about £200 second hand . cant afford new

Canucklehead

mrsleroyjethrogibbs wrote: »

thanks for that. tbh we were thinking of buying second hand. a rayburn for instance will only cost about £200 second hand . cant afford new

Hi.. £200 for a second hand rayburn...remarkably cheap...still have installation and refurbishment costs to consider i.e. the number of OFTEC engineers who could legally install and commission would be limited and flueing costs add considerable £££ to your outlay. Also the second hand Rayburn won't have a condensing boiler therefore increased fuel costs.

Canucklehead

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

of course you are correct. But having a FIL who is a plumbing and heating engineer is a distinct advantage :rotfl:

Canucklehead

mrsleroyjethrogibbs wrote: »

of course you are correct. But having a FIL who is a plumbing and heating engineer is a distinct advantage :rotfl:

As is a husband who is a qualified plumber/CORGI... he can't change the price of fuel though

Canucklehead

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

indeed it wont. tbh the best bet would be an electric aga but you need a second mortgage to buy one.

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

oh and I should mention there is no gas in our area, just oil and electricity

tightasagnats

Slightly off topic, but for renewable energy options such as woodburners, there is a great website I use a lot- and I'm sure they'll have info about AGAs:

www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk

Enter the site, click on categories and at the bottom you'll see renewable energy. The folks who hang out on that site are very knowledgable, look out for Sune in particular re: woodburners. You'll need a HETAS engineer rather than CORGI. Good luck!

Debt_Free_Chick

I think it's going to be very difficult to compare the two. You'd need to know the kWh for both oil and electricity ... and then factor in the efficiency of each option ....

I would imagine that your fuel consumption will go up anyway if you have full CH throughout the house rather than just 2 storage heaters, but you can "manage" your consumption to a certain extent by having radiators off in rooms where you don't need heating and keeping the thermostat low.

All I can say is that I have an AGA which provides hot water and cooking and a separate boiler (old Bosch .... about 20 years old!) for CH. For a four-bed detached house with no CH we use about 3000 litres a year, although I'm quite extravagant with the heating (work from home) - and I don't know how efficient the boiler is (or isn't!!).

You say an AGA/Rayburn "with a back boiler" ....? I've not come across this before, so can't comment. But a Rayburn supplies cooking, hot water and CH directly, without the need for a back boiler. But I guess your OH knows this

An AGA only supplies cooking, unless it's a specific model with a "hot water jacket", when it will supply hot water too. AGAs won't supply CH, though.

I've not found that the heat "permeates" throughout the house. The kitchen & (tiled) floor are warm, but it doesn't really heat the rest of the house. But then, my house is not double-glazed and the kitchen faces North ... so maybe the heat just disappears out the window

Have you cooked with an AGA/Rayburn before? Personally, I wouldn't have anything else but others have tried and simply couldn't get on with it. This has to be an important consideration if you've not cooked on a traditional range in the past.

HTH

mrsleroyjethrogibbs

thanks for that last post debt_free-Chick
We will have a 3 bed bungalow at the end of it. We never have the heat on in our bedroom and the childrens room is kept at approx 18deg c. The intention would be to keep the front room warm and poss one the dining room/kitchen. ATM we find that the wood burner keeps the whole house warm with no effort whatsoever, but then we chose the most effiecient stove we could find (Scan - incase any one else is intrested).
Our electricity bill is large atm because it does the two storage heaters which are on constantly in the winter, plus the cooking, plus all the hot water.

I have cooked on an aga before as my parents have one. I love it as I do a lot of cooking anyway.

It was just the thought of the aga/rayburn in the kitchen (which will be fairly open plan to the sitting room and the dining room) and the possiblilty of it running a radiator or two. We have already purchased a boiler which is going to be fitted anyway I think.

ETA we have double glazing all round too