Rayburn advice

[ReineDeSaba]

We have just bought a house with an existing Rayburn cooker which is connected to the heating system/hotwater. Apparently the previous owners had a separate 50s cooker (now gone) which they cooked on and used the range cooker solely for hot water and radiators. Our is a Nouvelle and I have to cook with it currently. I keep switching it on and off like a normal cooker. I can't figure out if it should be on low constantly and if it is will that provide sufficient central heating/hotwater (or do we need to switch that on separately with the timer) I know our bills will be eye watering but is there a way of running things most economically (ripping out and putting a modern cooker in not an option at the moment plus I have not very secretly already fallen a bit in love with it's bum warming potential!)

Hi Reine,
I grew up with a Rayburn (still going strong in my parents' house!) and we installed a second hand one about 4 yrs ago in our 80s bungalow :)

My parents use theirs for radiators and hot water, so it's on as low as it can be, but all the time. They keep two kettles on top so there's always a cuppa ready to go, and then use the oven for slow cooking stuff - jacket pots, stews, cheap cuts of meat etc.

We use ours for central heating but have a combi boiler for water (no room for a hot water storage tank in the attic or anywhere), so I also have a gas hob for cooking. We don't get mains gas so there's a big bottle of LPG outside. Could you rig up a ring on your worktop somewhere? I also use the microwave lots! Maybe you could get one of those combi oven/grill/microwaves cheap on preloved/gumtree/facebook?

Hope that helps x

Thank you rhihaf, that's very helpful advice. I think come Summer we will have to have something else along side as we will melt/be tired of stew! :)

My sister's Rayburn has controls which switch it from heating/hot water mode to cook mode. It takes about 30 mins to get it up to full temperature, but the rest of the time it is on low, in the sense that it is a boiler! In the summer obviously it heats only hot water into a hot water tank, so not especially hot, and at that point she just turns it on and off like a normal cooker, but with that time delay of about 30 mins I mentioned. Why not google an instruction leaftlet on the net, for an existing Rayburn and that might give you the info you need.

My sister has a separate two ring gas hob and a microwave too. She says even in the summer it is nice to have a warm stove in the kitchen. She certainly uses it all year round.

I have an old fashioned Stanley superstar range

it's on for the hot water all the time, and the hall and bathroom radiators are heat leak...basically never off...as that's the way it works

I have a separate set of controls for the oven so in the summer when it's not got itself up to temperature I can boost it up and control the oven, within the exacting range of cool, hot or very hot :o It usually settles itself at cool during the summer

In the winter it tends to sit at hot, so there is less oven control required.

We also have a gas hob which is great for hurrying up the kettle in the summer...it sits on the range the whole time

As far as actually cooking on the range goes, try and do as much as possible IN the oven, get pans that can be used on and in the oven, they are most efficient with the hob lids down, so thing like sausages will cook nicely on a tray (or in the pan IN the oven) rather than in a frying pan on the hotplate.

If it is anything like mine it's like an old fashioned oven with a range of temperatures from bottom shelf to top, random hot spots (mine is hotter on the left and back so you will need to get to know its habits!

My warming oven is pretty useless in the summer, but gets used for long long slow cooking in the winter.

I also air the washing off on it....I have two very big wire cake trays that sit perfectly over the hob covers and folding everything and piling it up means it is beautifully dry overnight. In the summer I do not bother with the wire racks but in the winter it gets MUCH hotter and I worry about things singeing!

I love my Stanley too!! He is noisy and could be a bit more efficient, but he just sits there, making hot water, rumbling away, making hot dinners and being warm.....when the children are home I am forever having to chase them away from the range so I can look in the ovens.

thank you knittingwithneedles. I was having some issues identifying the model. I have spoken to the company who service it and it requires a service so I will pick the engineer's brains a bit when he comes!

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia I am happily drying washing (no more damp tea towels anymore :) ) I definitely think the rayburn has a personality! I would never have put up with this sort of nonsense (hotspots, slow heating up etc) from my old modern oven but there is something about these range cookers! I will definitely try to oven cook more. We were definitely using the hob a lot in our previous kitchen so if/when we finally remodel I will probably add a gas hob somewhere.

my eldest was a bit sad when he moved out....to his flat with a proper oven, he felt there was no skill or challenge to putting something in the oven and having it come out perfectly brown all over 25 minutes later.

No pondering if the oven was actually HOT (or if the dial was about to point to the T of VERY HOT as soon as you turned your back) No tray turning to ensure all the oven chips were not as black as Hades all down one side. No shelf shifting to make sure stuff cooked all the way through!!

haha love it TondelayaDellaVentamiglia!