Does anyone have a rayburn on board

[Jamie alexander]

[mrsmelly]

IIRC @peterboat has one?

[Tonka]

somebody on here has a Uno Heritage which is similar. Search the threads

[peterboat]

Yes I have a baby blue Rayburn Royal solid fuel model with a stage to backboiler, I am thinking of converting it to oil when the current batch of Anthracite runs out. Numerous coal merchants have told me its unavailable, I would think the above model is oil fired very nice

[magnetman]

I put a Rayburn MF in my 55ft narrow boat and used it for 4 winters. Very Nice but being coal and wood the ash and dust was quite amazing. I plumbed it to hot water and radiators using 28mm pipes and 22mm pipes and it all worked without a pump.

 

It was great but I would hesitate to do it again as it was surplus to my requirements. 

 

The person who bought the boat broke it up on site and scrapped it (the rayburn not the boat). 

 

There are Good and Bad things. 

 

It had a voracious appetite for fuels and kept the boat bone dry and warm all winter which can be viewed as positives. 

 

 

 

 

The one in the image looks like an oil burner. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by magnetman
clarificatation

[Jamie alexander]

I just used the pic as an example. I have a solid fuel rayburn royal going in next week but there seems to be alot of confusion on how to plumb it in. Any advice? 

[magnetman]

If you mean the boiler circuit then it is complicated and you will get a lot of conflicting advice. 

 

Some people think a gradual slope upwards on the flow (top outlet) pipe is desirable. On mine I went straight up from the top boiler outlet to ceiling level in the boat and through the top of the cabin for an open vent. 

This was teed off in 28mm compression fitting to run below the lining and once it got to engine room it went down to floor level and came back then up to the lower boiler fitting.  This was 28mm using compression fittings from the scrap man who for some reason had a massive bin full of them.

 

The header tank was plumbed into the return (cold side) and fixed against the cabin top with another hole through to outside. Open ventilation as you don't want boiling water to get out into the boat. 

 

You tee off and join the flow and return pipes with rads or hot water tank and the laws of physics do the rest. 

 

Get the thermosyphon working by going up from the boiler as quickly as possible and keep a good flow and return temperature differential and you can't lose. Nature is in charge. 

 

Thats how I did it possibly a bit of a bodge but worked flawlessly for several winters with no pump.

 

 

 

 

On mine the header tank was manually filled from on top of the boat but because it was mounted on the return and there was an open vent on flow and return it never boiled so rarely needed topping up.

 

 

 

 

The key is to get a primary flow and return circuit in 28mm which works. Once this is achieved you can attach whatever you like by teeing in to the hot and cold side and the temperatures will try to equalise which causes flow through the item connected be it a radiator, matrix heater, calorifier or whatever. 

 

The aim is to have the temperature differential and putting the return pipe on the floor helps with this. 

[Momac]

2 hours ago, peterboat said:

Yes I have a baby blue Rayburn Royal solid fuel model with a stage to backboiler, I am thinking of converting it to oil when the current batch of Anthracite runs out. Numerous coal merchants have told me its unavailable, I would think the above model is oil fired very nice

 

I thought you were the evangelist  of electric everything?

 

[magnetman]

Electric Rayburns are shockingly (pun intended) expensive to run. Very shocking. 

 

I mean really shocking. 

[Momac]

I am shocked.

[sueb]

We had one for many years. More trouble than it was worth and I was pleased to see the back of it.

[peterboat]

4 hours ago, MartynG said:

 

I thought you were the evangelist  of electric everything?

 

I would have a water heat source pump but I am not on mains electric 

[MtB]

15 hours ago, Jamie alexander said:

I just used the pic as an example. I have a solid fuel rayburn royal going in next week but there seems to be alot of confusion on how to plumb it in. Any advice? 

 

Follow the instructions in the manual?

 

 

Strange how often I suggest this. Few people seem ever to think of it!

[magnetman]

Rayburns mostly go in houses. 

 

Does it say in the manual how to plumb one in when fitted inside a canal boat ?

[ditchcrawler]

14 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Rayburns mostly go in houses. 

 

Does it say in the manual how to plumb one in when fitted inside a canal boat ?

Dose it mention a 5 foot chimney ?

[MtB]

52 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Rayburns mostly go in houses. 

 

Does it say in the manual how to plumb one in when fitted inside a canal boat ?

 

Dunno, I haven't read it.

 

But I have a copy of the manual for the gas fired version and it explains how the pipework should be installed, which is what the OP asked about.

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by MtB
sp