DIY Installation of a Rayburn Royal

[growingthings]

So its been stripped down cleaned, and now its in the kitchen waiting to be fitted.

Now that we are ready to go all offers of help have vanished into the ether (are they trying to tell us something?)

We are a very capable couple and could manage a DIY installation but its just knowing what to do first and in which order. We have the installation instructions but they are more to do with numbers than a step by step guide. We want to run water and rads from it as it has a back boiler, but we are short on other peoples knowledge to share with us. With two young children I don't want to much distruction for too long, and the benefit of other peoples experiences always seems to help in circumstances like this.

Does anyone out the in the land of Ish have any tales of joy (or woe) that they would like to share with us.

We're dsesparate to get going but don't know where to start.

Cheers

Lorna x

[contadino]

So what's the scope of the job? Do you already have the tank in? The pipe runs to the Rayburn? Do you know how the plumbing is meant to hang together?

And the flue? Is the chimney/flue prepped and ready to accept the new stove?

[prison break fan]

This post bought back lots of memories, some good, most very frustrating! I bought a sixty year old Rayburn Royal for £50 several years ago. It sat in my kitchen for about a year, with me lovingly cleaning it regularly and fantasising about the wonderful meals I would cook if it was ever plumbed in! Eventually I found a plumber who swore he knew exactly what to do, did he heck!! He was weeks and weeks messing about, and the bill!!! Finally it was working and I enjoyed it for a few months, only for the water tank to start leaking! I am now in the lucky position of having a brand new one, a mainly free supply of wood, and a lovely warm house! Good luck!! pbf

[growingthings]

I take it all back, the chap that had convinced my husband that he was coming turned up later that morning.

It's in place now, and another chap is coming to look to see what stainless pieces he has to fabricate as we will be breaking into the chimney breast with it in the next room.

The first guy really knows his stuff and is incredibly knowledgable (if a little intense - Tallest (3) was unimpressed that there was such a 'loud man' in her house!)

So all I've got to do is finish tilling around it so they can get on, and I have an expensive list of copper piping and a new indirect cylinder to buy, but if it means we will be converted to wood, then thats fine by me.

Lorna x

[prison break fan]

Glad to hear it's going well! pbf

[theabsinthefairy]

We have a Rayburn providing our hot water and radiators to the bedrooms that we bought with us out to France.

I bought it on ebay for 99p - the sides had rusted out - so we replaced them with stainless panels and rockwool, and also replaced the broken fire bricks in it, luckily the boiler was in good condition so just needed a flush through. The complete rebuild including fire black paint and new fire rope for the hot plate cost us just short of £200.

I have had it as the main feature in my farmhouse kitchen here since we moved in December 2006. And I love it!!!!!

I cannot imagine life without it now - the heat it provides, the hot water and the cooking facilities are all excellent. I know its BTUs are not huge but sufficient for bedroom rads overnight, and tanks and tanks of hot water.

Luckily my other half is a bit of a swotty know it all - and has got to grips with our complicated plumbing that sees the Rayburn provide heating and hot water to a tank that is also plumbed with a solar panel for the hot water when the Rayburn is not lit. We use wood primarily and keep the stove in overnight with coal. My washing machine is also plumbed directly to the Rayburn hot water flow so that I do not use any electric to heat water for the wash.

I have learnt to cook on it almost exclusively and now understand its temperamental oven temperatures and the point of the cool plate.

Enjoy the Rayburn - a design that old that works so perfectly - you have to love it.

PS - My hubby and I did all the installations and plumbings including the renovation of the Rayburn ourselves so if there is anything you want to ask - feel free to do so.

Monika

[JulieSherris]

..............................PS - My hubby and I did all the installations and plumbings including the renovation of the Rayburn ourselves so if there is anything you want to ask - feel free to do so.

Monika

Hi Monika,

I have a question.....
We inherited a Stanley SuperStar Range when we bought the house. The immersion tank was disconnected from the electric (not sure why, but we've not reconnected it yet) Now, this Stanley has certainly seen better days, but I've bought new sealing ropes, a new fire grate, and found the user manuals - after 11 weeks, I cook on it exclusively, & it bubbles & boils away, providing the rads & hot water around the house - all is well.
Apart from installing new efficient radiators next summer & hopefully getting double glazing put in, the Stanley will definitely be staying until we have enough funds to buy a new version - but I certainly wouldn't be without one now!

Anyways.... Stanley is actually sited in our 'dining room'... I am guessing it was originally the kitchen, but an extension was put on the house in the '70's - the kitchen & bathroom, both directly off the dining room.
There is a radiator in the bathroom, but not in the kitchen - both rooms have a flat roof & probably no insulation. There's also no radiator in the dining room, as the Stanley is there.
So, even when I'm not cooking, I still have the damper closed so the oven gets hot - the oven door is then left open & both hob covers are up. This helps to directly heat the 3 back rooms - but is it ok to do this?
It seems to work like this just fine & I can't see the point of opening the damper to the boiler to heat the rads even more when they're not actually radiating heat efficiently. The rads are always extremely hot, they're just really old & have been painted many times with emulsion, it seems Also, we spend 90% of our time in this room & it's here that we want the heat, especially this last couple of weeks!

In fact, if I get Stan really blazing, the oven temperature goes off the stat - the oven door gets opened, & all room doors get opened, to let the heat circulate around the houe - it works ok for us!
I'm just a bit concerned that I shouldn't be using it in this way - do you think it'll be ok?
Julie - Range Novice.....

[theabsinthefairy]

Hi Julie

Most ranges will work quite happily with the doors and hobs wide open once up to temperature, but doing so will drain the heat out of a stove very quickly - it is up to you to direct the heat, therefore if your rads are full and your water tank is full and the temperature of the range itself is such that it is throwing heat into the oven when you don't actually need to cook in it - throw the doors open and enjoy the warmth. It won't hurt your stove - it will just cool it down.

We find that by leaving the hob top open we get more heat into the kitchen when we are sat around playing a game or something and then close it down and let the oven heat back up again to cook.

Your Stan sounds most efficient and a lovely addition to your home.

[devonblacksmith]

Hi I have fitted and run a few of these one tip I found usefull is a way of keeping the fire in over night without coal was to use wet potato peelings.

[johnnyh]

Hello to all and bonjour to Absinthefairy,

I am the owner of a rayburn royal solid fuel stove which has sat out on the terrace since we moved over to france last year. Just this week we moved it into position in to the kitchen which has been designed around it really. Anyway, it's only now that i'm noticing that it probably needs a fair bit of TLC and don't really know where to start. I'm planning something similar to your set up with the solar panels doing the hot water in the summer when the rayburn's not running so i would much appreciate some tips and instructions on how to seal up the hotplate and things like that and also a bit of a decription of how your hot water system is piped up.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

John.