Kitchen heating

[skye16]

Hi
There used to be an old oil burning Rayburn in my kitchen. It was dirty, smelly and expensive. Many years ago, I had it cut off, and an electric storage heater was installed in the kitchen.

Where I live it is very remote. After 30th June I can no longer get Economy 7 - I live too far from the smart meter transmitter.

Can I transform the old Rayburn pipes into some form of hot pipework or radiator? I have a modern oil boiler hot water and central heating system, but no radiators in the kitchen. The radiator pipework does not go through the kitchen.

I am looking for ideas of how to heat my kitchen next winter. If it were possible, I would get a professional in to do the work.

I have included some pictures.


Thanks for any help.

 

[Diver Fred]

Why won't they fit a mechanical time switch ? If they can't use a stupid meter to do the switching then they can't use a SM to 'read' your consumption.

 

[stem]

I'm not a massive fan of heat pumps pre-se, but they do have their place, and this could be one of them. A simple split air-con unit for a single room running on full rate electricity would probably cost less to run that your storage heater does to run on Economy - 7. And as a bonus you could use it for cooling in the summer should you wish to.

Not impressed with the removal of your E-7 though, especially as we are supposed to be being encouraged to move away from fossil fuels, not return to them.

 

[fixitflav]

Can I transform the old Rayburn pipes into some form of hot pipework or radiator?

If you can install a radiator where the Rayburn was, and find a way to connect into the existing CH system, I don't see why not. But impossible to say without knowing the house details.

 

[skye16]

Thanks for your replies. Everytime I contact the electricity company, they tell me I need a smart meter. Yet when they came to fit one, they couldn't. It means that I will be on standard rate from July, which would make storage heaters far too expensive.
My wife and I are in our mid-seventies. I am not sure that we want the upheval of a heat pump.

What I was hoping is that there could be some way to use the old Rayburn piping to heat the kitchen. Even if it was not a radiator, but just piping in a loop say. What is the old Rayburn piping connected to, do you think? Could it be connected to the radiators pipework, somewhere in the airing cupboard?

I am sorry the photos are not clearer.

 

[Diver Fred]

I think you need to wait for them to contact you again; ask how they expect you to heat your property when they remove the radio time switch. If you can't get a sensible answer ask to speak their manager and firmly explain that technicians have previously been out to install a SM and the technician has refused due to lack of signal. You (and I) believe the appropriate solution is the installation of a mechanical time switch. If they continue to refuse write to your MP explaining your predicament and request his help in getting a mechanical time switch installed.

I have a similar issue and have insisted that they fit a mechanical time switch. My 'industrial' meter is a SM and to get that to work (occasionally) the technician had to install an external antenna - the industrial SM's have a connection for an external antenna unlike domestic SM's. I presume that Mobile (cell) 'phones do not work in your location.

 

[skye16]

To be honest, even the cheap rate electricity is getting very expensive. And the room gets colder at the end of the day. I would prefer to go with the oil boiler and a radiator, if I could. The boiler was only installed two years ago. I get it serviced every August. Perhaps the best bet is to wait until then, and ask the engineer what can I do.

 

[fixitflav]

What is the old Rayburn piping connected to, do you think? Could it be connected to the radiators pipework, somewhere in the airing cupboard?

I don't see how we can judge that from on here. Maybe a heating engineer could work something out

 

[stem]

I am not sure that we want the upheaval of a heat pump.

Assuming the layout of your home isn't too challenging, I suspect it would be far quicker and less disruptive to install than hooking the Rayburn up to a new radiator and recommissioning it. Most Split AC-units are installed in a day or less. Just two components that are interconnected by pipes and cables. You never know, you might even be able to repurpose the existing storage heater wiring.

 

[ericmark]

I would be looking for something like this

hydronic plinth heater. There has been a lot about the North - South divide,

Below they use mobile phone, above they use transmitters I think VHF, it seems the old system used radio 4 long wave and the BBC is going to turn it off. But some in Scotland have after a lot of complaining got the mobile phone type installed. So may be worth shouting?

As to cost, I have an EV tariff, 8.95p per kWh off-peak, but only for 5 hours, and I do not have an EV, it seems British Gas will give it to anyone, but Octopus only if you have an EV, but it is also down to area, so depends on what it costs where you are. Peak went up a few p to 31.31p per kWh, but standing charge went down.

I heat with oil, and it has worked out cheaper than gas, which I had in the last house. I think in the country any idea of heat pumps are non-starters, I, for one, want something which carries on working when we have a power cut. So with solar panels and battery, still got heating with a power cut, the size of panels and batteries needed with heat pumps, is simply silly, so will never happen.

 

[skye16]

Thanks. Cheap rate electricity for my remote location is 14p per hour, so not that cheap.

I got on my hands and knees. Both the cut off pipes, previously to the Rayburn, go into the rectangular black box at the back. Altogether, 8 pipes go into it. If the old Rayburn pipes were now connected outside of the cupboard, would it need a pump? I know that two of the pipes into the box are from the living room wood burning stove, which has a wrap around boiler.

I do not want to get rid of the Rayburn, but it is in too bad a state to do up.

Thanks.

 

[fixitflav]

I do not want to get rid of the Rayburn, but it is in too bad a state to do up.

In your original post you said it had already gone

 

[skye16]

Sorry, it is there in the photograph.

 

[fixitflav]

Sorry, it is there in the photograph.

OK I assumed the photo was from before it was removed

 

[ericmark]

Thanks. Cheap rate electricity for my remote location is 14p per hour, so not that cheap.

Economy 7 here is more expensive to EV, it depends on the supplier, but there are at least 3 off-peak rates, Economy 10, Economy 7 and EV and the longer you get the supply for the more it costs, although with EV where the supplier can set the times there are some versions that do allow day time top up.

As to pump, with my own micro bore central heating there must somewhere be a manifold, but we have electronic TRV's on 9 of the 14 radiators, so not only temperatures set, but also times, and for the recovery after the heating has been off, just 10 minutes delay between TRV's opening gets the kitchen first, then dinning room followed by living room, and once the flow has started the thermo-syphon in the radiators seem to keep it going.

The fan assisted radiator is an odd one out, really they should be piped in series not parallel, and there is no restriction on water flow, but I had one odd fan assisted in the last house piped in parallel, and it seemed to work OK with a non modulating boiler, most oil boilers don't modulate, that's something reserved for gas it seems.