Replacing a Rayburn with a dedicated boiler – much efficiency saving?

We have an oil Rayburn (a 480K, FWIW) that does the heating and hot water. We could, of course, also cook in/on it but don’t, as we have a separate hob and oven.

We’re thinking about getting rid of it in favour of a ‘normal’ oil boiler. Would we see much of an improvement efficiency wise and, if so, anyone care to put a number on it in %age terms? It’s not the main driver (the main driver is that getting rid of the Rayburn would allow us to rearrange the kitchen a bit), but it’d be useful to know.

My other half’s parents looked into this. They spent the money (as it was a lot) on solar panels instead, and kept the Rayburn but shortened the season they light it.

Yeah, we already have solar that’ll do the hot water in the summer, so the Rayburn/boiler wouldn’t be lit then anyway.

What’s your quote for fitting a new oil boiler? £4K? How old is the Rayburn? Is it central in the house? Boiler will be more efficient, for sure, but how much, and whether it will help justify the boiler outlay, depends on lots of things.

the 480K started life at ~84-85% efficient, assuming a good flue and commissioning. https://www.ncm-pcdb.org.uk/sap/pcdbdetails.jsp?pid=26&id=800016&type=131&mid=000066

as it gets older it will lose efficiency depending on how well/often it is serviced – difficult to estimate what it ‘could’ be right now.

A new condensing oil boiler with the right setup could egt to 92-95% efficient so you would see a reduction in consumption for the same usage.

My MIL had one, her kitchen was alwys too hot even though it was only on for CH/HW not cooking.

the 480K started life at ~84-85% efficient, assuming a good flue and commissioning. https://www.ncm-pcdb.org.uk/sap/pcdbdetails.jsp?pid=26&id=800016&type=131&mid=000066

as it gets older it will lose efficiency depending on how well/often it is serviced – difficult to estimate what it ‘could’ be right now.

A new condensing oil boiler with the right setup could egt to 92-95% efficient so you would see a reduction in consumption for the same usage.

So, given the current one is probably 15yrs old, a ballpark efficiency saving of 10% would seem reasonable, no?

What’s your quote for fitting a new oil boiler?

No quotes yet, still at the vaguely idly musing stage.

At least you should be able to sell the Rayburn for a decent amount to offset the cost.

If it makes any difference my parents paid a lot of money for a Rayburn to be installed in a previous house, after a few years they switched to an oil boiler instead and were much happier with it.

We could, of course, also cook in/on it but don’t, as we have a separate hob and oven.

It’s like these houses in the ‘living’ magazines that have AGA’s and one of the lids is up with a kettle on the hotplate – it means it’s off.

Why don’t you use it to cook?

FWIW we’ve an oil AGA and use it for everything – cooking, heating, hot water, drying 5:10’s etc. They’re not particularly cheap to run, but we’ve no mains gas, so better than electric. It’s on 24x7x365.

Was at a wife’s friends new house at the weekend. She was axing lyrical about how good her new Rayburn (came with house) was.

He was shaking his head in the back ground later confessing that it was costing them a sodding fortune.

Grand parents got a boiler installed to replace theirs . They got a grant to do it so it cost them very little.

Couldn’t sell the Rayburn – tried had absolutely zero interest…..you’d have thought green would have been popular.

It’s little to do with the efficiency of the appliance it’s the 24/7 nature of the appliance. Even in its *standby* ​state it’s sucking diesel- it’s a giant heatsink but not particularly insulated.

We removed a Rayburn last year. It was a problem that the whole kitchen was arranged around a big thing we mostly didn’t use. They’re not as good as a normal cooker but in our case ours was also in need of expensive repair – it fundamentally didn’t work as a cooker. We further complicated the issue by revamping a lot more of the house and replacing with a heat pump. I refused to fit an oil boiler on environmental grounds.

So not perhaps terribly relevant to your case but the onward sale of the Rayburn is. All we managed to do was get someone to take it out and take it away for nothing. I don’t think the second hand market is what it once was.

A good combi oil combi + install is going to be well north of 4k, a lot depends on the house, our aga runs 24x7x365 but we have a very big kitchen.

The aga keeps the kitchen and bedrooms/bathrooms above it very warm in the winter and we dont run central heating during the day in the winter.

However 4k is about 10 tanks of oil so over three years worth of oil, at a 10% saving it would take a very long time to turn a profit.

10 tanks over 3 years you live in a mansion?

Also note oil prices on way up. Could actually only be 5 tanks of oil pretty soon.

If you already have solar….

Solar immersion controller for hot water- get used to showering at night and a small not 4k boiler install ?

-my other grand parents just moved into a new build which has solar PV feeding an immersion with a system boiler about the size of a microwave on the wall.

Thanks all. To come back on some of the points raised:

Why don’t you use it to cook?

Because there is also a standard electric oven and induction hob (I guess the previous owners also couldn’t be bothered cooking on the Rayburn)

All we managed to do was get someone to take it out and take it away for nothing. I don’t think the second hand market is what it once was.

Hmm, that’s disappointing to hear

If you already have solar….

Solar immersion controller for hot water

Got one. The Rayburn is now off, has been for about a month and won’t be on again until we need heating, so hopefully late September. The Rayburn does heating and hot water in the winter only, and we’ve not done a full year yet but I reckon we’ll use about 1500 litres of oil, tops.

It was a problem that the whole kitchen was arranged around a big thing we mostly didn’t use.

This is the main driver for us too, any efficiency savings of a dedicated boiler would be a bonus but not the be-all and end-all. The installation costs may be, obviously.

Plus, I’m not entirely sure we’ll actually get the thing out, the only door it can get to without removing some kitchen cupboards is up a small flight of steps, and the thing weighs something like 350kg

Yep a Mansion we all have one up North don’t you know…

Actually its a big lump…. and 17th/18th century more farmhouse and converted farm buildings than Mansion.

I use about 3000 litres of oil a year, but thats all heating, cooking and hot water for a 3 bath/7 bed place and had a family of six in until recently.

Yep a Mansion we all have one up North down south don’t you know…

But yeah you’ll need a sizable boiler no matter what you do.

Just had a case in the papers today(or yesterday) where the owner of an aga tried to manhandle it out, it fell over and crushed them to death.
Get someone in/dismantle in situ/break apart with hammer, but dont try to slide it out and walk it across the kitchen floor.