Morning Folks

I’m looking for some advice on stoves.

We currently have a woodburning Rayburn in our kitchen which provides our means of cooking and also provides the hot water for the house and also the central heating.

This is a warm and toasty set up in the winter but is very labour intensive with a daily resupply of the log pile / coal buckets in the kitchen, de-ashing twice a day and letting the Rayburn go out once a month to give it a deep clean.

During the summer we let the Rayburn go out as the kitchen is hotter than the sun!

In short the Rayburn is a romantic notion installed by the previous owners but it is a royal pain in the ar$e!

This set up and is not sustainable so we are investigating other options such as LPG to fuel a combi boiler for the heating and hot water and a “normal” oven / hob which can be turned on and of as and when required. The new oven would not go in the space where the Rayburn is currently located.

Now, with the removal of the Rayburn the kitchen will need a heat source. There isn’t a radiator in there and it is quite a large room. As there is already a flue in place for the Rayburn it should simply be case of remove Rayburn and insert stove – but which one?

Ta in advance.

electric Rayburn?

+ fit a biomass boiler elsewhere?

My folks had a solid fuel AGA, total PITA due to refuel and cleaning as you describe.

We have an oil-fired AGA. Ain’t cheap and you need doors/windows open in summer – but keeps the house warm and cooks brilliant and only needs a yearly switch-off/service.

We also want to get away from the expense of operating a rayburn, be it solid fuel or oil.

Electric rayburn would a very expensive way (I imagine) of keeping the kitchen warm in the winter.

A stove would make use of the existing flue and would also heat other parts of the house, reducing the burden (and cost) of operating the conventional heating in the other parts of the house.

the suggestion was that by installing a Biomass boiler that could pickup the heating and hotwater for the house (possibly you could fit a packaged unit out side the kitchen adjacent to the flue conect back in to the house systems near the old rayburn) if you didnt have space for a radiator you could go for a plinth heater.

an electric rayburn would fit in the hole left behind… i hate to think about the cost of someone using an electric rayburn to heat a house…….

some friends have had a similar system for many years having swapped out from using LPG

“
My folks had a solid fuel AGA, total PITA due to refuel and cleaning as you describe.

We have an oil-fired AGA. Ain’t cheap and you need doors/windows open in summer – but keeps the house warm and cooks brilliant and only needs a yearly switch-off/service.

“

Our solid fuel AGA is maybe more than fifty years old. It small hole has appeared between the cast firebox and the shell to the vermiculite . We are thinking about a refurbished oil AGA as a replacement. We have no mains gas. What are the likely monthly running costs? Does yours heat your domestic water?

We (now that I have fitted the new kitchen) have a LPG/electric range cooker and a woodburner in our large-ish kitchen. We also have a double radiator run from the combi boiler.

The log burner is a bit too big and the kitchen gets really hot, the rest of the house doesn’t get that warm and soon cools off when the heating is off, but that is due to it being old stone and badly insulated. So I find the LPG heating expensive. Maybe a new boiler would help too. The house is an odd shape with no “flow” and no “centre”, the lounge is at the opposite end to the kitchen with other rooms in between, so we don’t drag warmth around with us, if you get what I mean.

We moved in in November so still getting used to it and working out what to do.

Will be fitting a small multi burner in the main lounge over the summer as that is the room lacking in warmth and the one where we spend most “sitting” time. We currently sit in jumpers and bodywarmers, and a blanket if it gets really cold in the evenings. Proper pair of old grannies :-). It has a lot of glass (6 windows and double external patio doors) so expecting roasting in the summer and it is not so warm in the winter.

I think I would like a log burner in the kitchen to heat some radiators for the winter, to supplement the to be fitted lounge fire, and then have the LPG central heating for the in between times, for when we are out too long to light/keep a fire in, and for hot water.

If there is a radiator in there the room must be poorly insulated to be cold.

How about a wood burner with a hot plate so you can still cook on it when it’s going. We have a Jotul in the kitchen to heat the whole house (to quote what we have in STW tradition) but there are others.

my sister has swapped an oil rayburn for an electric Aga (she already has one in another house) – quite controllable and helps heat the big kitchen. They do also have UFH as well though.

Our solid fuel AGA is maybe more than fifty years old. It small hole has appeared between the cast firebox and the shell to the vermiculite . We are thinking about a refurbished oil AGA as a replacement. We have no mains gas. What are the likely monthly running costs? Does yours heat your domestic water?

Yes, bought it s/h last year (£200, as no one wants them) – then add £500 to install.

Works out at 7-8 litres per day and heats the hot water (the bigger boiler version will do CH). We’ve an old mill and it keeps the house warm enough and we top up with a wood burner at the other end. No CH and no mains gas.

I’m contemplating getting one of these for my kitchen, biggest selling stove “in the world” can’t comment whether they are any good though.

We currently have a woodburning Rayburn in our kitchen which provides our means of cooking and also provides the hot water for the house and also the central heating.

Oh yes, we had that sort of thing. Best left in the 1930’s if possible.

As there is already a flue in place for the Rayburn it should simply be case of remove Rayburn and insert stove

We replaced ours with a Trianco TRG. Still a stove, uses the same flue, runs on anthracite, but an order of magnitude less hassle. It was lit in mid Sept, we will probably let it go out mid April. Pull the declinker lever twice a day, refuel once a day, de-ash every other day. At current coal prices, its about equivalent to oil at 50p/litre. It’s always warm so no need to mess about with an additional radiator. No complicated electronics or moving parts, plus massively easier to sweep out compared to an aga.

YMMV.