On 12 Jan 2006 13:55:59 -0800, "Helen"
wrote:

Hello
6 years ago we bought a house with a oil Rayburn Royal OF7 fitted in it
- this provided all our heating,hot water and cooking. As we wanted to
put in more radiators we discovered that the Rayburn didn't have
sufficient capacity and we were advised to buy a new oil central
heating boiler for our heating and hot water and use the Rayburn just
for cooking. We now only have the cooker section lit. The Rayburn is
on a cooker setting of 2 all day everyday which gives a temperature
reading of 190 deg. We also use a LPG hob.

We have a 3 bedroomed detached house in an exposed area. We are using
between 5000 and 6000 litres of oil a year - this seems a rather large
amount and we are looking at trying to lower this. The obvious answer
seems to be to get rid of the Rayburn. Before we do can anyone give me
an idea how much oil the Rayburn is likely to be using? Should we be
turning the Rayburn down when it's not being used? I've contacted
Rayburn but haven't had a reply from them. If the Rayburn goes it is
likely to be replaced by something similar - does anyone know if the
newer models are more oil efficient?

If you go to www.aga-rayburn.com and navigate to the Rayburn site and
technical section, there are details on patterns of use.

Some models are designed to have the cooking section turned up and
down, while on others it is intended to be left on a constant setting.

The issue of total oil use is likely to be much more related to the
insulation of the house. Normally, most of the heat will be
released into the envelope of the house anyway if you have a
conventional flue going through 2 floors.

We have a gas run Aga with a conventional flue which runs through the
corner of an upstairs room and enters the loft, finally exiting on a
special ridge tile. The flue is barely warm to the touch at the top
of the run in the upstairs room. Usage is around 700W or so on a
continuous basis.

An oil model would run somewhat warmer and more heat is lost outside,
but the point is that most is released inside the house. Therefore,
before rushing into changes, I would check into the overall insulation
of the house. It may be that that is the amount of oil needed to
heat it regardless of the contribution by the cooker.

If you were looking for a cooking-only appliance, the Aga is an
excellent choice.







Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen

--

..andy