Servicing The Oil-Fired Rayburn

[niall Y]

Just been sorting out our Rayburn so that we can have it on over the Christmas period. I certainly notice the difference now we don't run it for the majority of the year. No more easy drying of clothes on the rack; no more warm kitchen to come down to in the morning and no more additional oven and hotplates for cooking.
I think it was this latter point that persuaded us to crack and put it back on as cooking the Christmas dinner will be a lot nicer experience, with it up and running.

 

[RogerS]

Blimey...either you live in a PassivHaus or wear four layers of thermals throughout the year !

 

[Jacob]

Just been sorting out our Rayburn so that we can have it on over the Christmas period. I certainly notice the difference now we don't run it for the majority of the year. No more easy drying of clothes on the rack; no more warm kitchen to come down to in the morning and no more additional oven and hotplates for cooking.
I think it was this latter point that persuaded us to crack and put it back on as cooking the Christmas dinner will be a lot nicer experience, with it up and running.

And no more humongous fuel bills I guess.
If you miss the Rayburn effect you can just leave your central heating or cooker on, 24/7, all year round!

 

[HamsterJam]

Just been sorting out our Rayburn so that we can have it on over the Christmas period. I certainly notice the difference now we don't run it for the majority of the year.

We also have an oil Rayburn although it is our only cooker, heating and also hot water source when the solar panels aren’t generating sufficiently.
However it is a 400 series with pressure jet burners so can be programmed on/off as we need it.
I assume you have the oil wick burner?

 

[niall Y]

Blimey...either you live in a PassivHaus or wear four layers of thermals throughout the year !

Not that Spartan, I'm afraid. We had a heat pump, and solar panels installed earlier in the year and we are just missing that "cozy kitchen vibe".

 

[niall Y]

We also have an oil Rayburn although it is our only cooker, heating and also hot water source when the solar panels aren’t generating sufficiently.
However it is a 400 series with pressure jet burners so can be programmed on/off as we need it.
I assume you have the oil wick burner?

Yes, we do have the older wick version, which did cause a few problems when the composition of the fuel was changed a few years back. But at least these models are easy to service. It is mainly a case of getting rid of the carbon and changing the wicks.

 

[niall Y]

And no more humongous fuel bills I guess.
If you miss the Rayburn effect you can just leave your central heating or cooker on, 24/7, all year round!

It was a bit like burning money, at times, despite all it's other benefits. After all it did make the kitchen the warm central hub of the house, which we miss.
I was contemplating converting it to solid fuel if we are only going to run it over the coldest part of winter.
Also one has to bear in mind that living in the country one has to be wary of power cuts, which can happen at the worst possible moment. So , it pays to have both "belt and braces".

 

[MikeJhn]

We had a multi fuel Rayburn in France where coal was not an option, but plenty of seasoned Oak available, the problem was the size of the fire box, during the day had to be stocked every thirty mins or the back boiler just lost its heat and the CH started to cool, after the first year of using it we became more used to the five controls and how to balance them, improved immensely once we put the fire grate plates on but it was a steep learning curve.

 

[Cobbs]

We've got an old Rayburn 355s and burn any old wood we can lay hands on, though mostly hardwood logs - we stoke it maybe once every couple of hours and it heats the water and the house as well as giving us cooking for most things, though bread gets the electric. We light it for about 7 hours a day for about 9 months of the year and it costs about £400 a year to keep in fuel - wouldn't want to be without it!

 

[HamsterJam]

But at least these models are easy to service.

Yep - the 400s are not as complicated as the 600s but still pretty complex and totally useless without mains power.

Here’s some of the internal gubbins during the last service….