Rayburn for heating - novice user! Stupid questions!

[OldSpeclkledHen]

Recently moved into my lovely new home in the countryside, it has an oil fired Rayburn that does the hot water, heating and cooking.

As only moved in June, so far I've only used it to heat the water, which it does.

Am worried though about turning it on to start the heating. This is all new to me! There is a pressure gauge in the hot water tank and one near the stopcock in the kitchen. I had a plumber out not long after I moved in and he said the gauge needs to be about 1-2 (which it isn't always)

The hot water pressure varies (although its supposed to mains water pressure?)

So, the main question is I guess, if the heating doesn't work - who do I need to call? A plumber or the Rayburn engineer? Sorry its stupid, but we all have to start somewhere :)

And if it's a plumber - should I get one that also understands the Rayburn set up ? And how can you find someone to trust? I'm green as grass!

I had the Rayburn serviced not long after I moved in, and apart from the oven protection plate being knackered (so told not to use the oven part, which isn't an issue) he said it was all ok.

TIA :)

We had one. It hadn’t been maintained well by the previous owners of the house, so we replaced it with a standalone boiler.
Whilst we had the Rayburn though, we called out a Rayburn service company several times, firstly to service it and subsequently to do repairs and trouble shoot problems.
In short, if you have problems with the heating get in touch with the company that serviced it.

We have a Sandyford which works in the same way. You need to call out a Rayburn engineer if you have any issues for starting it up. This time of year it is incredibly difficult to get any slots because everyone has their range serviced before it kicks in for winter.

A plumber is only needed if the issue is not related to the Rayburn. Some companies are plumbing and heating-

I'm buying a house with a Rayburn that runs off LPG. It provides cooking/hot water/heating. Never owned one before.
Few questions

1. Are they expensive to run compared to combi boiler?
2. Do you turn them off in summer months to save energy? If so I will need to buy a small oven to cook with.
3. It is 18 years old so whilst I'm not sure of longevity when the time comes should I look to replace it with an electric oven and install a condensing boiler for hot water /heating

Any advice welcome!

@MRonson789

The oven and hot water/heating run independently of each other, so it's flexible in that regard. You can use the oven part as a normal oven (switch on/off) It doesn't have to be running 24/7 like an Aga does.

So my experience after living with it for almost a year!

Turns out the Oven Protection plate in my Rayburn is knackered (a common, but v expensive fault) so I only use mine to do hot water /heating.... I don't cook with it.

For cooking I have a microwave combi oven and a ninja foodi (and single convection plate) - sounds like a faff but I live alone, have the space and it works for me. I don't starve!

In the winter, the heating is on 5hours (?) a day... in the summer the hot water is on 2 hours a day. I've used approx 1000litres of oil (bought 1000 when I moved in - and it now needs filling up) again this is just for heating and water - it would be more if using the oven I guess?

Oil is v expensive (suprise) at the moment, but am currently budget £80 a month into my oil account.

Find out if there's an Oil co-op local to you (BoilerJuice, The Oil Club)

I've never used a combi boiler so can't comment on costs v Rayburn sorry.

Do you know the model? Mines 460k I think, it's older, but it's just been serviced and the guy said it's normally quite a reliable model ( famous last words 😂)

Hope this helps?