Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Jul 12, 2008 5:28 pm Given the ever-increasing price of electricity, I'm thinking of installing a Rayburn (similar to an Aga). They handle cooking, run the hot water system, and with optional extra can also run multiple water-based radiators for heating. With luck I should be able to cut my power bill by about 75%.
Of course they run on wood. Does anyone have any experience with them, or tales to tell ? Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 2Jul 14, 2008 7:06 pm Not for many years, and that was an Aga, but these things are terrific once you get used to them. So flexible. If you bake a lot there's nothing to touch them.
Having said that, don't think I'd ever have another one. Too old to cut the wood for one thing! But mostly because they're really expensive and I'm not sure, even with the price of electricity rising, that the economics stack up. I don't know that we ever cut the power bills by as much as 75%. But it was a long time ago. I think you can get gas versions these days. Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 3Jul 15, 2008 6:20 pm That is my dream stove... a wood-fired one anyways.... but I also love the falcon brand too, thats electric/or gas.
We had an old wood one (not rayburn though) in an old house years and years ago, it made great eclairs and bread, thats the only thing I remember being cooked with it, and it kept the kitchen nice and warm. Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 4Jul 15, 2008 7:02 pm I was talking to a friend recently about these and she said her understanding was they had become mega expensive lately as they have become "trendy" drats! Have you checked into prices yet?
I lived in a transportable house on a farm in the wheatbelt as a little kid. We had one of them in our house. I have fond memories of the aga in our kitchen. Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 5Jul 15, 2008 11:17 pm The Agas are incredibly expensive, something like $25,000 from memory. When they started rattling off the figures my mind clouded over so I can't recall the exact amount
The Rayburns are a bit more sane at around $12,000. But since we spend about $5000 a year just on power, primarily for heating and hot water, having that burden taken up by wood-power seems to make sense. Even allowing for the cost of wood I figure it'd pay for itself in about 4 or 5 years. If electricity prices keep going up then the break-even point will be sooner. I also have an old fireplace in the kitchen which looks like it once had an Aga/Rayburn in it, so installation shouldn't be too hard (I hope). I really like the idea of the wood-burning cooker / heater / hotwater system. To me fire is one of those ancient race-memory elements like wind in the trees, the sound of rain on the roof, a freeze breeze on a hilltop. A cooking fire has been imprinted in our brains for hundreds of generations. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 6Jul 16, 2008 11:03 pm Cabinfever I really like the idea of the wood-burning cooker / heater / hotwater system. To me fire is one of those ancient race-memory elements like wind in the trees, the sound of rain on the roof, a freeze breeze on a hilltop. A cooking fire has been imprinted in our brains for hundreds of generations. I know what you mean. Been there, done that, and got the splinters ...I reckon you get over it pretty quick when you're cutting a few cubic metres of firewood on a hot summer day. But hey, go for it. Everyone should do it ...once. Re: Anyone use a Rayburn ? 7Jul 16, 2008 11:36 pm I see you're in Queensland AM I lived there for a few years. I recall that anything that had even a slither of potential to raise the ambient temperature was to be avoided at all costs. I still maintain Brisbane only has two temperatures: Bloody hot and humid, and stinking god-awful bloody hot and humid. Can't imagine having a wood-burner there...
As for wood chopping, since I sit behind computers all day I'm looking for useful ways to expend energy. Of course these are just convenient excuses to support my wish for a Rayburn Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie That sucks! Hope it all works out. Good to move away from steel anyway for all your reasons, but it's also thermally poor. 16 17774 If what you describe is correct then the brick wall has been dry lined with villa board. That basically means that the villa board is glued to the brick wall with… 3 8300 I'm putting a new floor in my kitchen, slate flagging on a standard concrete slab. I have allowed for a bed thickness of up to 20mm to accommodate the different… 0 17537 |