DIY Si
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 posted on 19/8/07 at 05:16 PM |
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Aga and rayburn cookers
Right following on from my church conversion stuff, I have another odd question. 
I've been looking into heating the place, as this could be either a bit tricky, or just expensive. I've noticed that Agas and Rayburns can
be used to provide hot water for both domestic use and for central heating. Could the water also be used for under floor heating, or would it be the
wrong temperature?
Now then, does anyone know how this would stack up next to having a more normal central heating boiler and/or under floor heating? Is not having a hot
water boiler/tank much of an advantage? I know these type of cookers/heaters are expensive, but it would be seen as a useful luxury in a period style
kitchen, so initial expensive isn't too much of an issue. But just how high are the running costs for these, especially when compared to having
a separate cooker and water heater?
“Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
My new blog: http://spritecave.blogspot.co.uk/
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tegwin
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| posted on 19/8/07 at 05:22 PM |
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As I understand it things get complicated if you want to run underfloor heating with an AGA...
Underfloor heating wants a flow temp of 45 degrees..Im guessing the AGA is going to be chucking out somewhere around 60 degrees...
I guess you could run the AGA through a heat storage buffer tank and then draw off the water from that through a thermostatic mixing valve to the
underfloor heating...
Something you should note is that, if you have an AGA heating water, it will be perminantly heating the water...you cant just stop it heating the
water (apparently)....
And also, running an AGA to heat the water is proberably less efficiant then having a modern condensing boiler...
We have an AGA to cook on, but it doesnt heat the water...its such a nice thing to have keeping the back of the house warm and dry.....But its fooking
expensive to run!!!
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DIY Si
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| posted on 19/8/07 at 05:37 PM |
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If I read the Aga website right, the oil fired cookers are designed to be turned on and off, but as to whether that is all of it, or just the cookers
I don't know. Also, some, but not all, of the new gas fired ones have a condensing boiler. Just to confuse things further!
If you don't mind me asking, what size and type of Aga do you have, and just how expensive is it to run? Only 1 of my mates parents has one, and
they're not about at the mo for me to ask.
“Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
My new blog: http://spritecave.blogspot.co.uk/
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JoelP
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| posted on 19/8/07 at 06:12 PM |
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i would guess from a simple thermodynamics point of view that a condensing boiler as required is more economical than an aga on perminantly. Fuel type
isnt an issue since you can get oil fired boilers (i think, not my area really).
Rather than underfloor heating, you could lay insulation and put in a false floor 4" higher, since im guessing head room isnt an issue in a
church!
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DIY Si
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| posted on 19/8/07 at 06:17 PM |
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I was planning on redoing most of the floor anyway, so the plan was to fill the space currently under there with insulation when rebuilding. Just
trying to think of ways to heat the place, and I quite like under floor stuff. Having said that, the bigger Agas can keep up to 16 radiators warm!
I'm just not sure how effective they would be in such a tall space.
“Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
My new blog: http://spritecave.blogspot.co.uk/
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hughpinder
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| posted on 20/8/07 at 08:10 AM |
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Hi
I'm using an oil fired rayburn 480K - combined cooker and 86000Btu boiler to heat a large 4 bed (old) house, without much in the way of
insulation. I have a 200 l hot water tank with 2 coils in it - the boiler pumps into the main cylinder body, one coil is used to heat the hot water to
the taps and the other is used for the central heating (for more info, it is an albion mainsflow tank). I use 2* 660 gallon tanks of oil per year
(currently about £800 per fill). The efficiency of the boiler is about 85%, newer separate condensing type boiler boiler about 10% higher AFAIK. Also
the Rayburn with cooker + heating is a much more expensive option to buy initially than buying a Rayburn to cook on and a separate boiler.
Reliability of the range is not very good - I get it serviced twice per year at 80 to 250 per time and still get failures. I believe the reliability
of the older 'wick' type ranges is good. It takes about 20 minutes for the rayburn to heat up for cooking, and not much use if you like
stir fried food. Also the same burner heats the oven and hot plates, so when the oven reaches temperature your hot plates are not so hot to cook on.
Hope this helps
Hugh
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