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?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen

Any conventional cooker is likely to be much much cheaper to run than a
Rayburn - mainly because you can switch it off when not in use.
S'obvious really! Also a normal cooker is much more practical and
versatile than Rayburn/Aga etc. If you really like the "Aga" style of
cooking then you can mimic it easily on a normal cooker - but without
having to buy special pans etc. Not sure why you'd bother however.
The good news is: you can probably sell it 2nd hand and get most/all of
the price of a proper cooker.

cheers

Jacob

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

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.

http://www.aga-web.co.uk/raytech/fuelconsum.htm might give you some
guidance, Aga/Rayburn and efficiency are generally mutually exclusive
words. From that data the Model 208G uses 88 kW/hr of gas to provide
just 2 hrs cooking and 100 gallons of hot water per day. Compared
with any normal oven/hob and boiler combination that figure is
abysmal. The Aga figures are at
http://www.aga-web.co.uk/agatech/gen1.htm and are similarly
depressing.

If the Rayburn goes it is likely to be replaced by something similar - does anyone know if the
newer models are more oil efficient?

Not really, all of this type of device lose about a kilowatt an hour
through the chimney when simply doing nothing. 24kW/hr a day for
cooking before you even start cooking isn't exactly efficient. The
whole concept is very 1920's with efficiencies to match.

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

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

On 12 Jan 2006 14:50:38 -0800, wrote:

Any conventional cooker is likely to be much much cheaper to run than a
Rayburn - mainly because you can switch it off when not in use.
S'obvious really!

Not necessarily. It depends on the pattern of use, and heat released
by a Rayburn or Aga is generally additive to the main heating system,
whereas with a conventional cooker/hob it is often necessary to open
windows during a cooking session if the kitchen is not large.


Also a normal cooker is much more practical and
versatile than Rayburn/Aga etc.

Nonsense. These are highly practical and versatile.

If you really like the "Aga" style of
cooking then you can mimic it easily on a normal cooker

No you can't.

- but without
having to buy special pans etc.

You don't need special pans - just reasonably decent ones.



--

..andy

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:47:05 +0000, Andy Hall wrote:

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.


I have to agree.

We are using a similar amount of oild in a very large house, insulated to
mdern standards.

The oil gauge hardly moves in sumer when the aga and HW is on, but the CH
is not. I reckon I probably saved about 500 liters by not suing te aga at
all in the summer months - june july and august.

It burns at about 800W average

The oil boiler runs at 12KW.
#
And 10KW is what the peopel who did the calcs reckon the house needs to
stay warm (let alone GET warm) at -5C average outside temps...and yes..in
cold snaps that boiler runs almost continuously..at something like 12 times
the aga consumption.

Get insulated. Your Rayburn is simply a VERY efficient space heater. Our
800W aga provides heat for most of the normally habitable parts of the
house in spring and autumn. A mere 800W!

Only in direst winter do we need to boost that with the boiler.

Insulation makes HUGE difference. I could not work out why I had cold feet
last might...down in the living room, till i remembered I had left a 3 sq
ft hatch open into the loft...despite going through three doors, that cold
air found its way down to my feet...




Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:50:21 +0000, Andy Hall wrote:

On 12 Jan 2006 14:50:38 -0800, wrote:

Any conventional cooker is likely to be much much cheaper to run than a
Rayburn - mainly because you can switch it off when not in use.
S'obvious really!

Not necessarily. It depends on the pattern of use, and heat released
by a Rayburn or Aga is generally additive to the main heating system,
whereas with a conventional cooker/hob it is often necessary to open
windows during a cooking session if the kitchen is not large.

Also a normal cooker is much more practical and
versatile than Rayburn/Aga etc.

Nonsense. These are highly practical and versatile.

If you really like the "Aga" style of
cooking then you can mimic it easily on a normal cooker

No you can't.

- but without
having to buy special pans etc.

You don't need special pans - just reasonably decent ones.

An aga is a nice space heater that you can also cook on, and in.

However, it works in a sufficientlty different manner fom other cookers to
mean that those who have barely learnt to boil an egg on a gas hob, will
never get to use its full potential.

I p[ersonally think that the exhaust gas temperature at teh flue pipe top
where it stips geating te rioom, is a LOT colder than the exhaust temp ogf
my oil boiler.

As a heater, its VERY efficient.

What it isn't though is regulable - given a constant kitchen temp its oil
usage tends also to be constant. Once the kitchen goes over about 23-25C we
turn it off altogether, and use the electric.

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:29:48 +0000, Peter Parry
wrote:



Not really, all of this type of device lose about a kilowatt an hour
through the chimney when simply doing nothing.

That depends on the flue arrangement. If it's a balanced flue,
possibly. If it's a conventional flue, a large proportion of the is
released inside the house and adds to the space heating.

24kW/hr a day for
cooking before you even start cooking isn't exactly efficient. The
whole concept is very 1920's with efficiencies to match.

Except that that isn't the complete picture of what is happening.


--

..andy

In article .com,
Helen wrote:

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?

We had an ancient coal-fired Rayburn (Before replacing it with a gas
Stanley). It was designed to run on "tick-over" ie. the oven temp was
"low" and it consumed a minimal amount of coal through the day. When
we wanted to cook on it, we opened it up, threw some more coal on it,
and half an hour later it was toasty and ready. (which gives you time
to get all the food prep. done in the mean-time)

Our Stanley works in the same way - there is a temp knob on the front,
it's set to cool or 1 or 2 (when it's really cold!) (equiv. to gas mark
numbers in the oven), but when we want to cook, we crank it up and it's
hot in about 10-15 minutes.

So I'd imagine that if your Rayburn has a similar control, then it might
be designed to work in the same way. Kept at low to keep the thing &
the kitchen warm (we have no other form of heating in the kitchen which
is an old stone barn on the side of the house!) then you crank it up
for cooking.

Agas, having more insulation work in a different manner, in that they
are always hot & ready, but the cooking techniques are the same, and as
Andy pointed out you don't need special pans, just good pans, and a good
set of pans will last a lifetime, so it's worthwhile spending on them -
just once, and looking after them, no matter what type of cooker you have.

Gordon

As you see many Rayburn owners turn them off in the summer and make do
with an ordinary cooker instead. They only need to take a small logical
step to understand that this makes the Rayburn redundant as a cooker.
Not to mention that most Aga owners also have a collection of toasters,
electric kettles, microwaves, baby belling hot plates etc etc to make
up for the deficiencies of the Agas.
Rayburns were an improvement on the open fired range which in turn was
better than a fire in the middle of the living room floor, but things
have really moved on over the last 80 years or so. So it takes half an
hour or so to get up to heat - lighting and cooking on open fires can
be faster than that!
Latest models have added gas burners and electric ovens etc. They are
evolving slowly and will eventually perform just as well as proper
modern conventional cookers - which is what they will be!

cheers

Jacob

Helen wrote:

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.

I can't advise on the heating/efficiency aspects of your query, but I
suggest that you don't use a real e-mail address in the "From" header
of your news client as it will be harvested for spam purposes.

You could use a munged address, by adding REMOVETHIS somewhere in it;
changing the .com to .invalid, or using (the owner
permits this use).

If your Service Provider demands a valid e-mail address be used, get
one from e.g. Lycos or Hotmail, and *never* use it for mail; the spam,
etc will be automatically deleted by the domain owner.

If you feel the need to have a real e-mail address, put one in your
sig file in the fashion....

albert (dot) einstein (at) timemachines (dot) com

.....which can't be harvested. HTH

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?


I won't repeat the good advice already given, but I will add this. We
have a 3 bed det. house in an exposed location. The walls are stone, and
between 18-24 inches thick. The loft is insulated with about 10" of
insulation. All the windows are double glazed and pretty draught-proof.
We use about 2200 litres of oil per year (just heating, cooking is
electric).


--
Grunff

On 13 Jan 2006 01:07:12 -0800, wrote:

As you see many Rayburn owners turn them off in the summer and make do
with an ordinary cooker instead. They only need to take a small logical
step to understand that this makes the Rayburn redundant as a cooker.
Not to mention that most Aga owners also have a collection of toasters,
electric kettles, microwaves, baby belling hot plates etc etc to make
up for the deficiencies of the Agas.

That's urban legend.

Rayburns were an improvement on the open fired range which in turn was
better than a fire in the middle of the living room floor, but things
have really moved on over the last 80 years or so. So it takes half an
hour or so to get up to heat - lighting and cooking on open fires can
be faster than that!

This of course misses the whole point. In the way that it (very
effectively) works, the storage cooker concept has been improved on by
the use of modulating burners for certain fuel types. The so-called
"modern" add-ons are not necessary or beneficial since the standard
appliance does cooking jobs in a far more effective and controllable
way than these can anyway.


Latest models have added gas burners and electric ovens etc. They are
evolving slowly and will eventually perform just as well as proper
modern conventional cookers - which is what they will be!


In fact they perform better, as originally designed than so called
"modern" cookers which dry out the food, cook it unevenly, have a "one
size fits all" control of temperature and overheat the room that they
are in.

--

..andy

"Helen" wrote in message
oups.com...
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?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen


As a first step and making the assumption you have alternative cooking means
try taking a tank level reading. turning off the Rayburn for a week or more
then take a second reading to estimate the oil usage over that period
without the Rayburn running. Then repeat with the Rayburn running and
provided there isn't an extreme change in weather conditions you should have
a reasonable basis to judge what your course of action should be. (Oil usage
meters are available but not usually worth the cost here.)
The rayburn (and Aga) uses a natural draught vapourising oil burner as
opposed to a pressure jet and such vapourising burneres are NOT efficient by
any stretch of the imagination.
As regards the actual central heating usage this depends vastly on the
efficiency of the boiler, size of and insulation/draught proofing of the
house, occupation/control patterns etc. The above tests will give you a
better handle on the problems. It may be that the actual usage by the
Rayburn is high but affordable whereas the heating may be the culprit (I
don't know your financial circumstances so I cannot give an opinion) so it
could be that your house is leaking heat all over the place.
Can you fill in some of the blanks for us?

NB vapourising oil burners NEED a high level of ventilation which introduces
a lot of cold air into the room/house.
They have a high risk of Carbon Monoxide production unlike most pressure jet
type

John wrote:
"Helen" wrote in message
oups.com...
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?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen


As a first step and making the assumption you have alternative cooking means
try taking a tank level reading. turning off the Rayburn for a week or more
then take a second reading to estimate the oil usage over that period
without the Rayburn running. Then repeat with the Rayburn running and
provided there isn't an extreme change in weather conditions you should have
a reasonable basis to judge what your course of action should be. (Oil usage
meters are available but not usually worth the cost here.)
The rayburn (and Aga) uses a natural draught vapourising oil burner as
opposed to a pressure jet and such vapourising burneres are NOT efficient by
any stretch of the imagination.
As regards the actual central heating usage this depends vastly on the
efficiency of the boiler, size of and insulation/draught proofing of the
house, occupation/control patterns etc. The above tests will give you a
better handle on the problems. It may be that the actual usage by the
Rayburn is high but affordable whereas the heating may be the culprit (I
don't know your financial circumstances so I cannot give an opinion) so it
could be that your house is leaking heat all over the place.
Can you fill in some of the blanks for us?

NB vapourising oil burners NEED a high level of ventilation which introduces
a lot of cold air into the room/house.
They have a high risk of Carbon Monoxide production unlike most pressure jet
type

Or quicker and simpler - go out and buy a proper cooker!

cheers

Jacob

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 12 Jan 2006 14:50:38 -0800, wrote:

Any conventional cooker is likely to be much much cheaper to run than a
Rayburn - mainly because you can switch it off when not in use.
S'obvious really!

Not necessarily. It depends on the pattern of use, and heat released
by a Rayburn or Aga is generally additive to the main heating system,
whereas with a conventional cooker/hob it is often necessary to open
windows during a cooking session if the kitchen is not large.


Also a normal cooker is much more practical and
versatile than Rayburn/Aga etc.

Nonsense. These are highly practical and versatile.

If you really like the "Aga" style of
cooking then you can mimic it easily on a normal cooker

No you can't.

- but without
having to buy special pans etc.

You don't need special pans - just reasonably decent ones.

I'm glad someone else said all that, Andy!

I wouldn't want an aga type for several reasons - but none of the ones
wrongly stated above.Many people seem to think that the look is what makes
an aga/rayburn/whatever. There's far more to it than that. The style of my
present dual fuel cooker looks like a chunky aga (it's made by a daughter
company) but it doesn't perform in the same way at all.

Mary



--

.andy

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:29:48 +0000, Peter Parry
wrote:



Not really, all of this type of device lose about a kilowatt an hour
through the chimney when simply doing nothing.

That depends on the flue arrangement. If it's a balanced flue,
possibly. If it's a conventional flue, a large proportion of the is
released inside the house and adds to the space heating.

24kW/hr a day for
cooking before you even start cooking isn't exactly efficient. The
whole concept is very 1920's with efficiencies to match.

Except that that isn't the complete picture of what is happening.

No. And if it were there might be some advantages ...

Mary


--

.andy

"Gordon Henderson" wrote in message
...

... as
Andy pointed out you don't need special pans, just good pans, and a good
set of pans will last a lifetime, so it's worthwhile spending on them -
just once, and looking after them, no matter what type of cooker you have.

That's absolutely true. Good pans will outperform poor pans on any device.
They're tools, the same applies to ALL tools.

Mary


Gordon

wrote in message
oups.com...
As you see many Rayburn owners turn them off in the summer and make do
with an ordinary cooker instead.

Evidence?

They only need to take a small logical
step to understand that this makes the Rayburn redundant as a cooker.
Not to mention that most Aga owners also have a collection of toasters,
electric kettles, microwaves, baby belling hot plates etc etc to make
up for the deficiencies of the Agas.

Evidence?

Mary

"Zaru Bezh Naya" wrote in message
...

Helen wrote:

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.

I can't advise on the heating/efficiency aspects of your query, but I
suggest that you don't use a real e-mail address in the "From" header
of your news client as it will be harvested for spam purposes.

snip preaching

Oh for goodness' sake!

Mary
real address above - because I WANT to be contacted and don't want people to
have to play word games.

"John" wrote in message
...


NB vapourising oil burners NEED a high level of ventilation which
introduces a lot of cold air into the room/house.
They have a high risk of Carbon Monoxide production unlike most pressure
jet type

That's why there are so many dead owners.

Mary

wrote in message
ups.com...


Or quicker and simpler - go out and buy a proper cooker!

What would you suggest?

I'm assuming that you're a cook and know what you're talking about ...

wrote:
As you see many Rayburn owners turn them off in the summer

That's what I do. I wouldn't want the thing sitting there eating
fuel up all the time.


and make do with an ordinary cooker instead.

Yup. I use an "ordinary" cooker in the winter too, when the range
isn't ready for the job.

They only need to take a small logical
step to understand that this makes the Rayburn redundant as a cooker.

This is so - however, some people actually like having them (some
people like to be seen to have them, it must be said!).


Not to mention that most Aga owners also have a collection of toasters,
electric kettles, microwaves, baby belling hot plates etc etc to make
up for the deficiencies of the Agas.

I've an electric kettle, and a microwave as well as a "normal"
cooker. I think that's it. Oh, no, I've a "breadmaker", too.


Rayburns were an improvement on the open fired range which in turn was
better than a fire in the middle of the living room floor, but things
have really moved on over the last 80 years or so. So it takes half an
hour or so to get up to heat - lighting and cooking on open fires can
be faster than that!
Latest models have added gas burners and electric ovens etc. They are
evolving slowly and will eventually perform just as well as proper
modern conventional cookers - which is what they will be!

I've been thinking about a nice range cooker and a gas boiler,
it must be said. There are considerable attractions to that!

Zaru Bezh Naya wrote:

Helen wrote:

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.

I can't advise on the heating/efficiency aspects of your query, but I
suggest that you don't use a real e-mail address in the "From" header
of your news client as it will be harvested for spam purposes.

Not very much it won't, I have one in my headers and it gets very
little junk mail indeed, less than one a day at the moment.

--
Chris Green

Its a gas New World Debut 500 - cost £25 second hand about 15 years
ago - perfectly adequate for all cooking requirements of a small
family. I'd suggest something similar.
Cook quite a lot. Am fan of Marcella Hazan's italian stuff, and E
David, Jane Grigson and the very wondeful Delia. Got Nigel Slaters
"Kitchen diaries" for christmas - looks good.
Do a lot of preserving and have just finished the last of the damsons.
Looking forward to marmalade making - I use Delia's simple process.
Have a microwave (bought between house moves) but don't use it much
except for reheating.
Gas bill about £9 per month (cooking only - rest of house electric or
solid fuel).

cheers

Jacob

wrote in message
oups.com...
Its a gas New World Debut 500 - cost £25 second hand about 15 years
ago - perfectly adequate for all cooking requirements of a small
family. I'd suggest something similar.
Cook quite a lot. Am fan of Marcella Hazan's italian stuff, and E
David, Jane Grigson and the very wondeful Delia. Got Nigel Slaters
"Kitchen diaries" for christmas - looks good.
Do a lot of preserving and have just finished the last of the damsons.
Looking forward to marmalade making - I use Delia's simple process.
Have a microwave (bought between house moves) but don't use it much
except for reheating.

All that says a lot.

Gas bill about £9 per month (cooking only - rest of house electric or
solid fuel).

Sounds high to me, for just cooking. Mine's not much more including hot
water, central heating and two fires. I cook ALL our meals and preserves of
all kinds. We don't have a microwave from choice, no electric kettle ...

Perhaps a 25 yo cooker needs replacing with a more fuel efficient one.

Mary

Ooops no its £9 per quarter - I just checked, last bill was £8.64.
Thats more like it!
What do you cook on Mary?

cheers

Jacob

owdman wrote:
Ooops no its £9 per quarter - I just checked, last bill was £8.64.
Thats more like it!
What do you cook on Mary?

Hot air, I should think, and lashings of it.

Rec.cooking, uk.f+d.m, etc. are elsewhere...

John wrote:

"Helen" wrote in message
oups.com...
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?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Helen


As a first step and making the assumption you have alternative cooking means
try taking a tank level reading. turning off the Rayburn for a week or more
then take a second reading to estimate the oil usage over that period
without the Rayburn running. Then repeat with the Rayburn running and
provided there isn't an extreme change in weather conditions you should have
a reasonable basis to judge what your course of action should be. (Oil usage
meters are available but not usually worth the cost here.)

Our tank doesn't have any form of reading on it - do you mean just
marking the tank, turn the Rayburn off and see how much has been used?
I thought of doing this and didn't think it was a particularly accurate
way of going about things (am more than likely wrong on this count) -
have looked into oil usage meters but they seem quite costly as we
don't want to monitor the usage long term

The rayburn (and Aga) uses a natural draught vapourising oil burner as
opposed to a pressure jet and such vapourising burneres are NOT efficient by
any stretch of the imagination.
As regards the actual central heating usage this depends vastly on the
efficiency of the boiler, size of and insulation/draught proofing of the
house, occupation/control patterns etc. The above tests will give you a
better handle on the problems. It may be that the actual usage by the
Rayburn is high but affordable whereas the heating may be the culprit (I
don't know your financial circumstances so I cannot give an opinion) so it
could be that your house is leaking heat all over the place.
Can you fill in some of the blanks for us?

Financially we can cope with the current costs - however we don't have
money to burn so would like to make what we have as efficient as
possible. Not sure what you mean about filling in the blanks - we have
double glazing in all bar two of our windows - the front of the house
has three largish windows (about 3ft x 6ft each) which are double
glazed. The loft is inaccessible - and is something we need to do
something about.

Useful tip for Aga owners: keep the ovens filled with kindling and
firewood to dry it out nicely. Then if you need a cup of tea in a
hurry, or a fry-up, you can whip out into the garden and light a
cooking fire between 2 stones, with lovely dry fuel. Much quicker than
waiting for the stove to warm up, and more fun! Toast is better this
way too.

cheers

Jacob

wrote in message
oups.com...
Ooops no its £9 per quarter - I just checked, last bill was £8.64.
Thats more like it!
What do you cook on Mary?



It depends where I am.

At home in the kitchen I cook on a 90cm Rangemaster, I think it's called.
Five gas hobs in four sizes (one fierce wok type), electric fan assisted
oven, electric slow oven, electric grill (which I don't use much). It's the
best cooker I've ever had. And believe me I've had a lot.

The best one I've USED was a solid fuel Stanley. That belongs to a daughter.

In the caravans I cook on two small bottled gas hobs and sometimes on a
charcoal firepot. In a tent I have three bottled gas hobs (two sizes) and
the charcoal firepot and sometimes I use a very small mediaeval clay
firepot. When in one of the caravans I also sometimes use a gas fired
barbecue - in which I make bread, meringues , cakes etc as well as the more
commonly barbecued foods. I have one of those at home too but don't use it
much because I have the indoor cooker. In another tent I have cooked for
both of us for eleven days in Iceland on a larger clay firepot. They're so
controllable and versatile ... and don't use as much fuel as an open hearth
fire butI have used those.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Useful tip for Aga owners: keep the ovens filled with kindling and
firewood to dry it out nicely. Then if you need a cup of tea in a
hurry, or a fry-up, you can whip out into the garden and light a
cooking fire between 2 stones, with lovely dry fuel. Much quicker than
waiting for the stove to warm up, and more fun! Toast is better this
way too.



Oh don't bedaft!


cheers

Jacob

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Ooops no its £9 per quarter - I just checked, last bill was £8.64.
Thats more like it!
What do you cook on Mary?



It depends where I am.

At home in the kitchen I cook on a 90cm Rangemaster, I think it's
called. Five gas hobs in four sizes (one fierce wok type), electric
fan assisted oven, electric slow oven, electric grill (which I don't
use much). It's the best cooker I've ever had. And believe me I've had
a lot.

Have you had your kitchen extended mary??? It was very small when I
visited

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:44:29 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message


You don't need special pans - just reasonably decent ones.

I'm glad someone else said all that, Andy!

I wouldn't want an aga type for several reasons - but none of the ones
wrongly stated above.Many people seem to think that the look is what makes
an aga/rayburn/whatever. There's far more to it than that. The style of my
present dual fuel cooker looks like a chunky aga (it's made by a daughter
company) but it doesn't perform in the same way at all.



Mary, I've always thought of you as an Aga type of person because of
all of the additional creative and inventive things that one can do
with one.


--

..andy

On 13 Jan 2006 05:34:11 -0800, "Helen" wrote:




Financially we can cope with the current costs - however we don't have
money to burn so would like to make what we have as efficient as
possible. Not sure what you mean about filling in the blanks - we have
double glazing in all bar two of our windows - the front of the house
has three largish windows (about 3ft x 6ft each) which are double
glazed. The loft is inaccessible - and is something we need to do
something about.

Helen, the main heat loss elements of a house are the loft and the
walls normally.

If the loft is inaccessible (has always been inaccessible?) then there
will be no insulation and that represents a fairly substantial heat
loss. It would be very sensible for you to fix that with some
insulation of 200-250mm thickness.

How about the walls? What material are they? Are they solid or with
a cavity? If there is a cavity, then putting in cavity insulation
would also make quite a difference.

If the house is in an exposed position, then this increases heat loss
further.

I would suggest focussing on these areas first because I think that
you can potetnially make a bigger difference there than with the
cooker.



--

..andy

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:44:29 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message


You don't need special pans - just reasonably decent ones.

I'm glad someone else said all that, Andy!

I wouldn't want an aga type for several reasons - but none of the ones
wrongly stated above.Many people seem to think that the look is what makes
an aga/rayburn/whatever. There's far more to it than that. The style of my
present dual fuel cooker looks like a chunky aga (it's made by a daughter
company) but it doesn't perform in the same way at all.



Mary, I've always thought of you as an Aga type of person because of
all of the additional creative and inventive things that one can do
with one.

There's no room in our tiny kitchen :-(

Mary


--

.andy

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 13 Jan 2006 05:34:11 -0800, "Helen" wrote:




Financially we can cope with the current costs - however we don't have
money to burn so would like to make what we have as efficient as
possible. Not sure what you mean about filling in the blanks - we have
double glazing in all bar two of our windows - the front of the house
has three largish windows (about 3ft x 6ft each) which are double
glazed. The loft is inaccessible - and is something we need to do
something about.

Helen, the main heat loss elements of a house are the loft and the
walls normally.

If the loft is inaccessible (has always been inaccessible?) then there
will be no insulation and that represents a fairly substantial heat
loss. It would be very sensible for you to fix that with some
insulation of 200-250mm thickness.

How about the walls? What material are they? Are they solid or with
a cavity? If there is a cavity, then putting in cavity insulation
would also make quite a difference.

It makes a huge difference.

If the house is in an exposed position, then this increases heat loss
further.

I would suggest focussing on these areas first because I think that
you can potetnially make a bigger difference there than with the
cooker.

Draught proofing is vital.

Mary



--

.andy

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

Mary, I've always thought of you as an Aga type of person because of
all of the additional creative and inventive things that one can do
with one.

There's no room in our tiny kitchen :-(

That was why I was so surprised when you mentioned what cooker you have
now. I was surprised it would fit

Approx 50% I understand.
Don

"Donwill" popple @diddle .dot wrote in message
...
Approx 50% I understand.
Don

What does that refer to?

Mary