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[CatieB]

Hello does anyone use a Rayburn Royal fuelled by solid fuel? Any tios please greatfully received.

 

We inherited one in the house we bought and have taught ourselves how to use it but not too successfully. What fuel do you use? Can you manage to control it and operate it at your choice of temperature?

 

We have problems with keeping ours under control - the temperature just wants to race off. We put this down to living in such an exposed windy area. The best control we have obtained is by using taybrite which doesn't burn too hot. But now we need a whole new chimney (ours has rotted away and has holes in) and we are told this is a lot to do with taybrite as its such an aggressive fuel.

 

It is going to cost us thousands to replace the whole chimeny and would like to do things better this time and learn how to use it properly. We love having it and can't go without it or the wonderful jacket potatoes!!! If it makes a difference ours only heats our water not heating too.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[WarrensWorld]

We use ecobrite in our waterford, it burns clean and doesn't leave a lot of ash. We also burn wood and turf (peat) we've an acre of bog but peat clags up the chimney. Ecobrite is made for closed appliances.

[SJChick]

Hi

 

We had a solid fuel Rayburn for 20 years. It heated our water and our central heating. We had the same problem as you and never really mastered it. You were either freezing because you couldn't get it to light because the wind was coming from the wrong direction or if you did get it going it was absolutely roasting to the point where you couldn't touch it!! We had an electric cooker as well so we used that for cooking really because the Rayburn was so uncontrollable. Sorry I can't offer any more advice but here's some alternative uses.

 

Drying socks and other small items of laundry that you couldn't get out on the line because the weather was so bad.

Heating your gloves and hat before you go out in the cold, especially at 6am (we live on a farm!) - lovely!

Heating soup, beans, water for tea or other canned foods when there was a power cut.

Sometimes the cat would sit on the corner to heat her paws if it was moderately warm

and Yes, I agree about the jacket potatoes.

[Madchook]

I do! We are completely solid fuel. We moved here 3 yrs ago and well, the Rayburn was a baptism of fire for sure, lots of cold evenings

I buy house coal, Taybrite is not hot enough, I cannot for the life of me manage to get hot water if I try and burn it alone. Funny as I was told by the coal merchant repeatedly that it burns hotter than coal- not how it works for me and it is difficult to light. Taybrite is more caustic as I have been told to burn it once in a while to clear the chimney, whereas real coal deposits can 'fill up holes' in an old chimney I think. I take it you will be having your chimney lined when it is rebuilt? If so I think you pretty much have to use smokeless? I have a lined chimney in the sitting room and was told to just use smokless (I don't though and it seems fine).

I LOVE my Rayburn, my neighbour gave us 6 months before we switched to oil, but I haven't even wanted to. I wouldn't cook with it though, keeping the oven hot enough is hard work, although not so bad for slow cooking an old chook in a coq au vin Only thing that bugs me is coal dust being trodden in from the bunker all the time!

[CatieB]

Gosh Madchook its amazing you have the exact opposite to my experience.

 

We have SO much hot water, I guess as our Rayburn burns so hot most of the time, it is rarely below 180 degrees and that is with everything fully closed. On the odd occassion we have been desperate and used coal it has just burnt too quickly and wouldn't slumber overnight so the fire would go out.

 

My only explanation is that we live in such an open area the draw from the wind is massive and causes the fire to almost run away with itself. We don't actually have a chimney so it is the flue / liner going up through the house if that makes sense and yes we have to use smokeless.

 

One of the quotes we obtained specified that we must not use taybrite on our new equipment and that if we do the warranty will be void as its so damaging. So now we need to find an alternative.

 

I do love it though and wouldn't consider the conversion to oil. And that is despite the endless ash mess and need to hump heavy bags of fuel plus the annoyance of needing to be so organised as to remember to fill it up before bed and going out for the day. To me it makes our house a home, everyone comments on the feeling of it... something quite different

[newcountrygirl]

Hi we moved to the wilds of Lincolnshire nearly one year ago. We bought a reconditioned Rayburn Royal solid fuel. We are still having trouble with it. We can get it plenty hot enough to heat the water and radiators - but cooking is a different matter altogether. I can get it up to about 200c but after that it is a real battle and I can't seem to keep it at a hot enough temperature to cook a meal. Definately can't get it hot enough to bake bread which is a real disappointment .

 

Also if I do get the oven nearly hot enough as soon as I lift the lids to cook on top the heat goes down really quickly and I end up moving them onto the electric cooker hob to finish cooking. help please.

[CatieB]

Hello we now seem to have a "normal" Rayburn after having the chimeny/flue replaced and the whole thing serviced including a new set of fire bricks. It no longer takes off and we regularly need to riddle it and open some controls to make it hotter which is such a great contrast to before. Although I have to say its a bit of a shock not to have the constant heat generator in the corner particularly in this weather.

 

To Newcountrygirl you have the same model as us. I think you have to think of it like a maths equation or a set of scales i.e you'll only get out what goes in and because the firepit isn't that huge its not going to generate enough to heat water, radiators and cook at the same time. I pretty sure that its commonly said that the model isn't meant to heat lots of radiators and cook - if you have a surf around the internet you'll see similar posts. It is relatively small compared to an Aga.

 

That said you can use a unique way to cook to preserve heat which involves using the hotplates as little as possible The Aga Bible by Amy Willcock tells you how, so for example rather than boiling/simmering things you bring them to boiling point then leave in the warming oven to finish off. It just means being a bit more planned. I think if you want a very hot oven you'd have to have the radiators off. The book seems to have alternatives for a lot of things.

 

I hope that helps- sorry if you know all that and it doesn't help. Best wishes

[Chicken Licken]

I have a rayburn regent that I run on Taybrite. I had it rebuilt when I moved in 4 years ago to make it serviceable and the man who did the work recommended Taybrite. I have tried Anthracite but it burns much quicker (and hotter) and I am scared that I will set light to the chimney!! My one is not plumbed into the radiators, but it does provide a lovely back up to my slightly erratic central heating, not to mention when we get the inevitable winter power cuts. I downloaded the original instruction manual for mine off the internet and printed it off, but basically the main trick is to close down all the vents to get it to burble away once it is going, otherwise as you say it races away. I had never heard that the Taybrite is more caustic. I will give some house coal a try, but the Rayburn man did say this would soot up the chimney and increase the risk of fire.

 

Here is the link for the instruction manual thingy

http://www.rayburnweb.co.uk/Prodin/Rayburn%20obsolete%20cookers/Rayburn%20Royal%20solid%20fuel/Rayburn%20Royal%20solid%20fuel.pdf

[newcountrygirl]

Thanks CaitieB We are just gonna soldier on. I think it is just trial and error (mostly error on my part) Here's hoping!!

[elhamilton]

We can get it plenty hot enough to heat the water and radiators - but cooking is a different matter altogether. I can get it up to about 200c but after that it is a real battle and I can't seem to keep it at a hot enough temperature to cook a meal

 

We have the opposite problem and wondered if anyone had any tips. We have a Rayburn 355SFW and have no problem getting the oven up to temperature but can barely get our hot water and central heating to luke warm - I'm getting a bit desperate in this weather! We are burning a mixture of seasoned logs and compressed straw logs, and we definitely have the boiler/cooker k"Ooops, word censored!" turned to H and the thermostat at 8. We really don't want to burn coal as we have a good supply of wood and one of the main reasons for getting the rayburn was to cut our costs.

 

Any ideas anyone?

[Chicken Licken]

I think you probably need to burn some coal or anthracite/ taybrite etc. The wood and straw don't give off sufficient heat (probably). I'm sure one of the others will have some advice in a mo. I've run out of fuel and my house is now getting chilly - first job tomorrow morning - get fuel and light the rayburn

[CatieB]

Chicken licken is correct, the calorific value of wood and straw is far less i.e the amount of energy they throw out is less and i suspect will not be enough to heat everything

[elhamilton]

Thanks for your replies - I think you may be right regards coal (or similar). It seems daft that AgaRayburn sell these on the basis that you can have it all by burning wood. I'm just glad we went for the solid fuel model rather than just the woodburner so at least we have the option. I think we will burn solid fuel in the coldest months and wood when we don't need the heating so much. Any recommendations for the best fuel to burn? I had also heard that taybrite (although recommended) could be a bit harmful to the chimney.

[Chicken Licken]

Well I currently have the Rayburn burning on house coal!! It flames alarmingly compared to the taybrite I am used to, but I got given some sacks of it and it seems daft not to use it!! Am I being a bit harsh on my Rayburn - the Rayburn man estimated that it is a 1958 model - so truly vintage!! Also if people don't burn taybrite - what do you use instead?

[CatieB]

Hi Chicken licken, yes I think that coal is too harsh for your Rayburn as you are right that it burns very fiercly and also so quickly.

 

If you want to use it I'd at the very least mix it. You also need to be careful with real coal if you have a relatively small flue or chimney as it will cause much more sooting and build up - even with a larger chimney you would need it cleaned sooner.

 

With regards to fuel I have found that some suppliers have different names / fuels unique to them. I am particularly keen to avoid the big supplier (found on line) as they are buying up all the independant small coal merchants and the price then goes up- I wonder why??? They also don't care too much about terrible service. However it is hard to find small independant suppliers anymore. I am in Cambs too -where abouts are you and if near me I'll tell you what the new man I've found brings me. I am currently trying it and have taybrite too so I can compare

[rodney2010]

Hi ehamilton

we also have a Rayburn 355sfw and bought it new last year. Like many of the other posts we also had many cold evenings last year and lots of visits to takeaways because the oven wouldn't heat up. The wife was not pleased with me because I chose the range This year we bought a small work surface standing electric oven with two hobs on top. This has worked really well because we let the range go out for the summer and cooked using the electric oven - didn't need any hot water because we had an electric shower and the dishwasher and washing machine looked after everything else.

This winter I have been a lot better organised - EVERYTHING is about the quality of the fuel you use - last year I bought rubbish wood from local shops and petrol stations and got stuff that was damp and was hard to light and when it did get going just smoked with little heat. We also tried coal and found that the stuff in the yellow bags was best and that the larger brickettes were better than the small ones. However I have stayed away from coal as we have quite a few trees that have been felled recently ad I intend to cut them up and dry them for next year. Best results so far have come from burning a mixture of barn dried logs from a supplier near Spalding and Heat logs supplied by Woody wood products. Probably teaching people to suck eggs (no pun) but when burning wood there are plates to lay across the grate bars to help retain the hot ash and you should not riddle but just give the fuel a poke in the mornings after opening the slider, moving the Cooker/Heating control to Cooker/opening the spin wheel and putting the thermostat control back to number 8. Coal does not need the plates and does need regular riddling.

The other important lesson I have learned is to make sure you keep the internal flue ways clear. On our range at the back of the fire box is where the heat rises through the vertical flueways to heat water for the central heating and hot water. These can clag up and it stops the heating working properly. The instruction book says clean these from the access plate on top behind the hot plate covers but I found it difficult to get in this way. Instead I got my hands in from inside the fire box and also used both ends of the flue brush - brush and long metal handle to clear all the clag - amazing how much comes out. We run 7 radiators and hot water (just changed the shower from electric to gravity feed hot water - our intention is to get solar panels for the hot water for summer but in the meantime will use the immersion heater when the range is out) and find heating is hot and copious amounts of hot water. The oven always goes over 200 temperature - its just technique fiddling with all the other controls to try to keep it stable - the hotplate is fine.

Final tip that we have learnt the hard way - always have plenty of matches, firelighters, newspapers and kindling wood handy.

Nice to find this forum on Rayburns cos there was nothing for us last year when we were starting out and many cold evenings were spent with our coats on.

 

regards

 

Pete