The Rayburn is a lightly insulated cooker, designed to release a gentle warmth into the room into which it is installed.

The actual amount of heat given off varies according to the model of Rayburn, Solid fuel cookers usually giving off the most heat. Variations will occur due to other factors such as the temperature at which the cooker is operated and the amount of time during which the insulating lids are lifted. Exposed lengths of hot-water pipes or flue and chimney pipe connections will also increase the heat emitted.

As a general rule, an average of 1 kW/hr should be allowed for, as a contribution into the room. This may reduce down to about .75 kW/hr when the Rayburn is idling, or perhaps increase to 1.5kW/hr if the cooker is set to maximum roasting temperature for several hours. Models with separate boiler burners will give out less heat if only the boiler burner is firing.

Although this may be sufficient to keep a medium sized kitchen warm, allowance must be made for some other additional heat source with larger or poorly insulated rooms. Some smaller or well sealed kitchens may require additional ventilation, particularly if the Rayburn is to be used for longer periods at a high temperature during the summer. See also VENTILATION

If a radiator is installed in the same room as the Rayburn it should be fitted with a thermostatic valve, to ensure that it can respond to the changing conditions from the Rayburn.

Remember that the Rayburn will only give out heat whilst it is alight. Many of today's Rayburn's will operate as ON/OFF cookers, rather than being continuously burning, therefore this must be allowed for when calculating heat losses and the need for an additional heat source.

All Rayburn's have some method of control to obtain different oven temperatures.

With a solid fuel model, this is achieved by a spin-wheel controlling the air intake and thus the fire's burning rate.

Spinwheel Control

Some Gas fired cookers have manually operated control taps or valves to control the burning rate and thus operating temperature.

Manual Oil Control valve

Most gas fired models now have a thermostat to automatically control the burner, reacting to the temperature within the top oven. In addition most of these Rayburn's can also be programmed for specific cooking periods. Remember to allow extra time when programming for a 'cold' Rayburn to reach maximum roasting temperature.

Automatic Control

Oven temperatures are indicated by a Thermodial, located in the top oven door. Current Pattern Shown.

Some older thermodials had actual temperature markings, either in Fahrenheit or Centigrade

This gives an approximate guide to the centre oven temperature, but will automatically drop in temperature whenever the door is opened, taking several minutes to recover. With the 'rapid response' Rayburn's, the thermodial may 'lag' behind the actual oven temperatures for several minutes, by about 10 degrees.