Getting rid of a Rayburn

[ThingOne]

I've seen a house I really like but it has a Rayburn in the kitchen. Boring fart I may be but I want a normal, modern and easy to clean (and easy to keep closed from prying babes) kitchen.

I know nothing about Rayburns. Would it affect the central heating or could we just put a modern boiler in?

I am, of course, going to ask the vendors but I thought it a little cheeky to ring at 11pm at night .

It depends on what fuel is used for the rayburn and whether it is onnected to the central heating.

We have a coal fired rayburn in our kitchen - we fire it up from sept thru til march and it is lovely - clothes dry quickly, casseroles are fab, it makes the kitchen a wonderful place.

We have a fire guard to protect the boy from melting his hands.

If the only heating in the house is the Rayburn then you would need central heating too - unless you want your kitchen at 35 degrees all summer!!

do feel free to ask anything else - we'll help if we can

We had a coal fired Rayburn in the last house and got rid of it. It kept going out if we went away for more than 1 night, so coming home from relatives in freezing weather, the first thing we had to do was get the sodding thing going again, which took about 3 hours to warm through the house.

It was crap to cook on as well.

We ended up buying a Godin, running on bottled gas. Specially made for us in France so wasn't cheap and got a normal oil fired boiler for the heating.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

give it to me. I'll have it.

You must keep it. They are beautiful wonderful fantastic things. You will get used to cooking on it in no time.

I had to leave my last house with an Aga in.
I cried (I'm not kidding). Electric ovens are 2 a penny. A Rayburn is something of beauty.

Depends what kind it is - some run the central heating, some don't.

But it is indeed a thing of beauty - we've got one in our rented house and I love it and will miss it horribly when we move. It's easier to clean than a cooker, and much, much better to cook on.

But do you have another cooker as well? we've got a hob and oven as well, as the kitchen is too hot in the summer to keep the rayburn on - but I'd far rather cook on the rayburn.

Also worth thinking about is that they are a big asset when you sell - so you'd be taking value off the house by removing it...

Sell it on Ebay!

Seriously!

We had a solid fuel one, which looked fab, but wasn't actually in the kitchen anymore now the house was extended.

WE used it a couple of times, but it needed tending constantly to be kept at cooking temp.

It also heated our hot water and one radiator.

We got a plumber friend to drain it and separate it from the system and sold it on Ebay.

It was a 1950s model in cream - really lovely and had we £2000 to spend we could have converted it to oil. We sold it for £150 and the buyer collected. we gave him a big bacon butty and everyone was happy

And instead of having a Rayburn to heat the house - we're going to get a geothermal heat pump installed - much more sensible

our Rayburn is only a cooker, and I chose to have it, got rid of a hideous electric oven...

Ours runs on oil, which is delivered every three months or so (no gas around here). CH is oil as well, but separate boiler).

We have never deliberately turned ours off, even in Summer, as you still need something to take the chill off the kitchen when the heating's off, but we do have a small microwave/ multi oven which we use for quick jobs, such as defrosting frozen stuff, or a mini pizza for dd.

Dd has never burnt herself on the Rayburn, you just need to say HOT, HOT, HOT, any time children go near!

A rayburn is the same width and height as a conventional fire guard if you do decide to go for it.

Yes, neither of my 2 ever burnt themselves. It gives off a lovley radiant heat so even very small children are aware that its hot before they put their hands on it.