Your Help! Rayburns, fuel and money, money, money!!!

[BQF]

hello

I have taken le plunge and bought a maison secondaire.  At the

moment, it has electric wall heaters and an immersion heater. 

Being a typical anglais, I look at central heating as a minimum. 

I'll be over at the house in winter lots (it's in Normandy), and so I

want it to be cosy.

I am very keen on a Rayburn - and I was thinking of oil, although I don't know if oil Rayburns are available in France.

My question is,

1 - whats the easiest way of buying a Rayburn usable in France

2 - which fuel?  Oil/gas?  I don't want solid fuel as I don't want to be stoking it

3 - how much for a new Rayburn and central heating with 4-5 rads?  Fitted?

Is this going to cost more than the house?

Ta

[Will]

Rayburns are brilliant - there is an Aga-Rayburn subsidiary in France. We had a solid fuel Rayburn at a previous French house which was absolutely brilliant for cooking but crap for heating. Had we stayed at that house we would have converted it to oil. The thing to be aware of is that English heating oil is kerosene (like aircraft fuel) but French heating oil is thicker (i.e. diesel). So if you can get a diesel fired Rayburn that will be brilliant, otherwise you really need a conversion kit. The guru for Rayburns, Agas etc in France is Barry Charman, www.tradcookers.co.uk - look at his web site - or alternatively consider a French-made version from somebody like Godin. 

[Steph]

Yep, Rayburns are superb ..had a solid fuel one when in the UK, but as you say right pain to keep it going. Oil would be good, the only downside is in the Summer ... you wont want it going during the hot months so will need alternative cooking provisions.

No problem heating our house in the UK ..

No idea about costs over here.

www.pwb53.com

[Debra]

My neighbour had a solid fuel Rayburn and she converted it to oil and really regretted it as it was very noisy.

[Will]

Yes, I agree, some conversions can be noisy - as are the factory ones with pressure jet burners. It is possible to get a completely silent oil-fired burner (which also has the benefit that it doesn't need an electrical supply so will work during power cuts), but as far as I know this isn't really suitable for the higher-power Rayburns that work several radiators, and neither does it work properly on French heating oil. You can also get LPG Rayburns, but I think the running costs in France would be prohibitive (Aga-Rayburn won't even sell gas Agas in France, so the same possibly applies to Rayburns).

Don't discount the French equivalents, made by companies like Godin. Most are substantially cheaper than a Rayburn, but far less robust.

[LesFlamands]

The vapourising or shell burners which are the quiet ones require kerosene (28 second) fuel which is not available as domestic heating oil in France. The pressure jet Rayburns are also set up for kerosene but will run on diesel (35 second) without too much problem. The factory PJ Rayburns are no longer available but there are some conversion kits (Ecoflam is one) which are designed for converting solid fuel Rayburns. All, including rhe factory PJ models, are very noisey when running. LPG fired Rayburns running central heating are very costly to run as the boiler  is really designed for a solid fuel heat source (wrap around rather than overhead) and just sticking a gas burner in the firebox makes a very inefficient boiler. Solid fuel is the way to go or use a gas fired Aga or Rayburn for cooking and warming the kitchen and conventional gas boiler for the rest.