Using an Aga/Rayburn for hot water and heating

[Slugsie]

OK, question for all you Aga/Rayburn experts.

We have a barn in the middle of nowhere that is used infrequently throughout the year as a living space for shorts periods (usually weekends). We'd like to fit an Aga/Rayburn type stove to provide cooking facilities and also hot water (and warmth, though probably not via radiators). The barn has no services (electricity, water, gas etc), so that is a consideration - water is currently provided by filling jerry cans at another location.

Questions:

1. Is this even slightly feasible?
2. Which would be better, an Aga or a Rayburn (or other?), and which model would be best suited?
3. Best fuel? Propane, butane, or solid fuel?
4. What would be the best way of designing such a system?
5. Any websites that may be of any help?

TIA for any help you can provide.

[Paul]

Yes, assuming you have a chimney or some other way of removing the exhaust (obviously).

If you want HW, then it must be a Rayburn (and there are other makes). See

for options. Aga is cooking only.

Well, solid fuel means the stove will cost is less, but needs much tighter control to prevent hot water boiling (although some of the big ones do have a kind of thermostat that restricts air flow). Butane is more expensive to install (and it will be propane in winter - butane doesn't work at close to 0C). But at least with Calor gas you can just forget it - it will work just like a domestic system with a timer and a thermostat.

Well, other than the fact it's a cooker, it's effectively a CH boiler, so same rules apply. But note my comments re solid fuel. Regards,

Paul.

[Gordon Henderson]

Can't see why not ...

Rayburn.

Solid fuel - wood or coal.

The aga-rayburn web site would be a good start, but round here (Dartmoor) there are plenty of shops who sell refurbished ones, and give you advice.

I used to own a coal-fired Rayburn - heated the water up a treat, although it wasn't used for CH. It did boil the water on occasion, but it didn't seem to do it much harm. It was all unvented. It was reasonably easy to control, but these solid fuel ones did need someone at home for the 2-4 times a day you need to load it up with fuel. (And are messy to clean every morning)

We got rid of it as it was 55 years old and we weren't at home at predictable times, so coming in at 9pm to a cool cooker, then spending an hour getting it back up to heat wasn't fun. We now have a (mains) gas-fired Stanley range cooker.

With some clever design (but it's not rocket science) you can build a gravity-fed HW and CH system, so no electrickery required...

Of-course you'll now get the anti heat store cooker brigade down your throats, telling you how innefficient it will be and how worse stuff tastes when you cook with it!!! :)

Gordon

[Stefek Zaba]

Slugsie wrote, wanting cooking and heating for an intermittently-occupied barn.

Have you thought about a woodburning stove instead? Plenty of places will sell (and install, if you want) ones which put out a goodly amount of heat, and have room for a pan (mayhap two) atop; some can be fitted with water-heating derangements too, I believe. Fuel shouldn't be an issue - chop-it-yourself or get loads delivered, and it looks prettier while burning than an all-enclosed Rayburn lump.

But you may find the Guardian-reading, muesli-knitting, road-protesting connotations more than you can stomach. Me, I'll be putting one in just as soon as tuits accumulate. Possibly during this century...

[sylva]

My worry would be the problem with freezing whilst the property is unoccupied, can corrosion inhibitor prevent this. It would be ok if the system could be drained down but refilling is a problem here.

For convenience of carrying fuel in I would think a paraffin/kerosene range would suit best (propane containers being heavy) but have no idea if modern ones are available in UK. If the property is seldom occupied I'd avoid room vented propane.

If wood is available and cooking simple then why not a Jocular?

make and import wood burning ranges for use in houseboats if 6.5kW(t) is big enough, one of my colleagues has worked with this guy but other than that I have no connection.

AJH

[sylva]

Spill chucked ^^^^^^^^^

I meant Jotul

AJH

[Mark]

If wood is available that is what I would suggest, and cheaper then the arga hype. When we first bought our house it resembled an empty barn inside, in one of the outbuilding we found still boxed a German Krupbrennholz woodburner stove. It was our only cocking/heating for the next 5 years.

-- Mark

[Andy Hall]

You can do water heating as well with an Aga, but it is really meant for continuous rather than intermittent operation so a Rayburn is a better choice anyway....

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes...ish.

pays tyer money.

Oil.

Ask the manufacturers.

[Aidan]

"My worry would be the problem with freezing whilst the prope=ADrty is unoccupied, can corrosion inhibitor prevent this."

No, it just inhibits corrosion.

You'd need an antifreeze. Fernox do one. Don't use car antifreeze. Ethylene glycol (cheap, usual car/industrial type antifreeze ) is very toxic & it's not a good idea to use it in an indirect water heater. I don't know what's in the Fernox stuff, probably propylene glycol (non-toxic).

You should buy a testing kit to monitor it's condition. It turns more acidic in use and once the reserve alkalinity is used up, it starts severe corrosion.

[sylva]

To my mind this puts a wet system out of court so the solid or liquid fuel, flued, convection heaters with cooking surfaces I suggested look a better bet.

AJH

[Slugsie]

Thanks all for some useful advice.

To answer a couple points:

Oil isn't an option for various reasons, which I'm not going to go into. We currently have a wood/coal burning stove at one end of the barn. It does a great job of heating that end of the barn, and is fine for putting a kettle on for small amounts of hot water, but wouldn't want to cook on it. On occasion there is the need to cook for 25+ people, so the idea of a large Aga/Rayburn just seems to fit.

Like I said, thanks for the ideas and advice, some thinking to do. :)

[Aidan]

It's much the same technology as car cooling systems, which most of us use routinely without any difficulty. I wouldn't think it's too complex, but it's your choice.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If you have plenty of time and wood, a woodburner is not bad, but they are the highest labour input heating devices known to man.

We

Your choice, They are good cookers - even the solid fuelled ones, but I would not want to rely on one for heating totally in the winter.

With decent insulation ours (aga) heats a fairly big space adequately for spring/autumn.

Gravity fed hot water should be OK, but realistically I wouldn't expect much in the way of central heating out of one - hot towel rail maybe. In your place I'd try and find a wood burning range, or if coal is a option an old coal burning aga - should be OK secondhand - an hook up gravity fed water to that, and then install extra wood burning or coal buring stoves to get rooms warm on an as-needed basis.

If you can insulate to the hilt you will be cosy even in winter. I've run with similar systems in the past. A lot of hassle feeding the aga and you need to coal up well in advance of a big cook, as heaping coal into them drops the temperature.

The little wood and coal burning stoves are magic too, and some may take back boilers as well. With insuilated flues you can stick em anywhere - don't need chimneys.

[S Viemeister]

My Rayburn handles cooking, hot water, and central heating. It was a multifuel, but it's been converted to oil. A cousin of mine had hers converted to gas - it had no trouble handling the central heating and hot water, and her place is nearly twice the size of mine.

Sheila

[Andy Hall]

Yes it is, plus an inhibitor.

Definitely