Comments on: Love your Aga? Revel in your Rayburn?

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:52:31 +0000

Hi Sam,
Boilers really should be taken out, partly because of the problem you have experienced but also (and much more importantly) because if the existing boiler cracks (as it probably will with solid fuel burning on cast iron and no water) in the future you have toxic fumes with carbon monoxide filling your kitchen. DO! DO! get a carbon monoxide alarm immediately. The boiler should be taken out and replaced with firebricks – not a cheap option, but for your health I would seriously consider it.

By: mark properjob

mark properjob — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:46:17 +0000

hi, I am renovating an old oil fired rayburn royal for our 17c cottage, and plan to use the rayburn as a cooker only.
As i am in the trade as an oil fired service engineer, i have checked about not using the boiler.
it is possible, but you must NOT block up the holes in the boiler!!!
i have been told by another engineer to drill holes in the rear of the boiler to ensure no expansion can ever occur.
i am in process of gathering more information…
the smell you had would have been the old remnants inside the boiler burning off, and should stop shortly.
mark

By: john of carmarthen

john of carmarthen — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:31:17 +0000

hi all . I have a rayburn supreme which i have had for many years. run on coal plus 11 rads .to cut my running cost down ,I invested in 6 SMITH ECO VECTORS , the best thing i have ever done. house temp constant 22 degrees ,coal usage reduced and well recommed ,they work on coal ,gas or OIL

By: john

john — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:59:36 +0000

Feeling really sad today: I have finally decided to give up on my Rayburn oil fired 460KB Mark II. This was fitted and commissioned by an established supplier some eleven years ago. Within ten days of commissioning the thing went wrong and it has continued in that fashion throughout the entire eleven years. When it was working it was fantastic and gave a wonderful warmth to my 400 year old cottage. But it never lasted more than a month or two. I don’t want to think about the amount of money I have thrown at this cooker over the past eleven years; on top of the original cost of purchase. As it became older it became increasingly difficult to get an engineer to come and try to sort the Rayburn out; some just laughed when I told them the saga. Seemingly they had heard it all before. The final knee in the groin came when the company taking the Rayburn away charged me £100.00. Most of the other companies I attempted to sell/give it to were not interested.
I am left feeling that I was sold a cooker which was not fit for purpose in the first place.
There is now a gap in my kitchen, looking like a missing front tooth, which is to be filled by an lpg range. I don’t have the same feeling of excitement as when the Rayburn was due to be fitted, but I’m assured that it will become a good and reliable friend over the next few years. Reliable sounds good to me.

John

By: SammyString

SammyString — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:44:27 +0000

HELP !!!
Hi we have just installed an old Rayburn Royal that is in very good condition. I am just using it to heat one end of the house as there is no heating in the kitchen and to cook on. We are not using the boiler and had intended to take the boiler out and brick up the back of the firebox. I found it difficult to take the boiler out so I thought sod it just leave the boiler in, if it burns out and I ever want to use it I will buy a new boiler, simple.
Nothing is ever that easy and we have just fired up the rayburn for the first time only to have really toxic smelling smoke pouring out of the boiler pipes and filling the house. I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
Has anyone had this problem before ?
Do we need to take the boiler out or will the smoke go away eventually ?
Can I block the pipes up at all ? With fire cement for example ? I can’t imagine that this is a good idea as I wouldn’t want a sealed box of air inside my rayburn as I imagine that this would expand and explode, is this correct ?
Anyway any advice would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Sam.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:45:18 +0000

Hi I have a Rayburn 208k with a single wick burner with 2 wicks. Heats the water but was wondering it the a pump I can fit to heat radiators also. Would b handy as wud cut out using the central heatin also. Any help on this would be great thxs

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:07:17 +0000

Dear Mark,

I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with your aga since using their products. (I have had to remove the supplier name for legal reasons)

I have checked with Dr Bob, our own expert in the field and unfortunately because it’s not a product supplier by BoilerJuice we would be unable to offer support with this issue. Our advice is to ask the heating oil supplier that provided the oil to put you in contact with their customer complaints department and to explain their customer complaints process, as you are not satisfied with the product delivered.

Kind regards
Adam

By: mark smith

mark smith — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:36:32 +0000

I have a 1988 camry oil boiler and it has never missed a beat it is serviced every year and the egineer tell me how good it is, i recently bought some of the new heating oil from [supplier name removed] and since then have had massive problems wwith sooting andd miss firing, any one got any advice, i have contacted [supplier name removed] but they dont seeem to care. At the moment i have a secondary tank filled with normal kero next to the [supplier produce name removed] filled one, [supplier name removed] wont empty my tank as thay say there is nothing wrong with their fuel.

Please note: The supplier that provided this product was not BoilerJuice.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:28:35 +0000

quite right too! the whole point of aga’s/reaburns is the simplicity of the technology. There should be nothing to go wrong. It’s a big mistake of the modern aga’s to add things like printed circuit boards which fail. It’s not what they should be about. And they wont be successful if they go this way.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:37:26 +0000

I don’t love mine!I bought a Rayburn Cookmaster 400K in 2003, and it is let down by its electrics, which appear to have been obtained from the cheapest and most unreliable source possible. Firstly, we had a problem with the fan for the power flue (it goes to a balanced flue, rather than a chimney). Whilst this would not operate, we could not use the oven. This required a new part, as the part originally supplied was incorrect. Secondly, we have had problems with the Rayburn starting itself whilst we have been out, so wasting oil.
Last week, the Rayburn refused to start. Our engineer replaced the fuses in the plug, and also a fuse internal to the oven. The work was done on Friday, only for the same problem to recur the following day. We have now been told that the printed circuit board needs replacing again. The board will cost £300 plus VAT, and with fitting I estimate the bill to be about £500. To cap it all, the part will not be available for 2 weeks, as we are told that they need to obtain a part before it can be supplied. As we have no other oven, and look to the Rayburn also to heat the kitchen, this is very bad news for us.
We bought the Rayburn thinking that it was a tried and tested piece of equipment, and that whilst it was very expensive, it would live up to its reputation. For an oven that is seven years old, and cost £5500, I think that it is a very poor performer.