We are currently selling a Rayburn on Ebay at the moment (highest current bid £3.20!). Does anybody know how difficult they are to take to bits and move? I would assume that it is standard practise to take the fire bricks out first. Any hints / tricks on how to do this?
- Thread starter MdB
- Start date
Rayburns are different to AGAs in this respect and are not normally dismantled when moved. The only time I have shifted one was with careful use of short sections of scaffold pole running on scaffold boards lay down on the floor. Having said that they do come apart but are then more difficult to rebuild.
Good luck. At a possible profit of £3.20 less ebay's cut you probably don't want to expending too much effort!
Good luck. At a possible profit of £3.20 less ebay's cut you probably don't want to expending too much effort!
Gervase
Member
- Messages
- 1,500
- Location
- North London
Don't even think of taking it apart!
They are absolute sods to dismantle, and they don't break down into handy components - there's masses of glass wool insulation packed inside for a start. As mentioned above, Rayburns are meant to be moved intact.
They are absolute sods to dismantle, and they don't break down into handy components - there's masses of glass wool insulation packed inside for a start. As mentioned above, Rayburns are meant to be moved intact.
What is sensible to do is to remove all the bits that come off easily. So far I've removed the doors on the front, most of the oil burner, the hot plates on the top and part of the exhaust section (all without using any tools). The lids on the top looked like they would come off easily too being held in place by a couple of pins. One came out quite easily with the aid of a punch but the other three don't seem to want to budge. The lids are heavy so it would be good to remove them. Any tricks / tips? I don't want to hit it too hard in the case that I damage something.
There is no flue pipe, it simply vents through the wall into the chimney on the other side but I can't obviously see any way of taking it to bits. Does anybody know of any good website which show how these things are put together?
I've also tried a bit of brute force to try and see if I can move the thing at all. However, it seems to be welded to the floor and I'm worried about bending the bar at the front. (I guess I'm also a bit of a weakling...). I have a load of scaffold poles for moving it around on but I need to lift it up without damaging it to get it onto them. There is no gap under it at all to get a crowbar underneath so I was thinking of making a hole in the concrete floor to create a gap. The floor is coming up anyway so this isn't a problem. I should also hopefully have some additional labour tomorrow which will help.
There is no flue pipe, it simply vents through the wall into the chimney on the other side but I can't obviously see any way of taking it to bits. Does anybody know of any good website which show how these things are put together?
I've also tried a bit of brute force to try and see if I can move the thing at all. However, it seems to be welded to the floor and I'm worried about bending the bar at the front. (I guess I'm also a bit of a weakling...). I have a load of scaffold poles for moving it around on but I need to lift it up without damaging it to get it onto them. There is no gap under it at all to get a crowbar underneath so I was thinking of making a hole in the concrete floor to create a gap. The floor is coming up anyway so this isn't a problem. I should also hopefully have some additional labour tomorrow which will help.
Feltwell
Member
- Messages
- 6,378
- Location
- Shropshire, England
Not terribly relevant but amusing.....
My parents have just bought the most thoroughly bodged bungalow ever, but at a price that makes undoing the bodging worthwhile.
Top bodge is the home-made breezeblock conservatory on the back, complete with lovely polycarbonate roof. Which features possibly the world's rustiest Rayburn. With a flue pipe cut straight through the polycarb roof - the hole is of course now melted to be about 6 inches bigger than the flue.
But it gets better. The flue stops just underneath the (plastic) guttering for the house. Which has of course melted. And which now pours the entire roof load of rainwater straight through the melted hole in the polycarb roof.
:roll:
My parents have just bought the most thoroughly bodged bungalow ever, but at a price that makes undoing the bodging worthwhile.
Top bodge is the home-made breezeblock conservatory on the back, complete with lovely polycarbonate roof. Which features possibly the world's rustiest Rayburn. With a flue pipe cut straight through the polycarb roof - the hole is of course now melted to be about 6 inches bigger than the flue.
But it gets better. The flue stops just underneath the (plastic) guttering for the house. Which has of course melted. And which now pours the entire roof load of rainwater straight through the melted hole in the polycarb roof.
:roll:
The Rayburn I'm trying to shift, the flue vents through the wall into a chimney behind. Directly above the flue (like 100mm above) is an air vent into the same chimney. i.e. the fumes from the Rayburn can come straight back into the kitchen.... :roll:
Feltwell
Member
- Messages
- 6,378
- Location
- Shropshire, England
Nice!
My folks got offered £25 for the very very manky Rayburn, complete with rust holes in the side, and the bloke said he'd remove it with his mate. Needless to say, they accepted!
My folks got offered £25 for the very very manky Rayburn, complete with rust holes in the side, and the bloke said he'd remove it with his mate. Needless to say, they accepted!
I've recently purchased and installed a very similar rayburn to yours (mine's a Rayburn Royal) and due to lack of labour, was planning to go down the same path as yourself on the dismantling. An extensive web search couldn't find a diagram of a Rayburn that could be used to dismantle, and taking out various screws and bolts in an ad-hoc manner didn't do me any good. Conclusion: Rayburns aren't meant to be dismantled and reassembled.
On the positive side, once the doors, hotplates, innards etc. are removed, then enough weight can be taken off the thing to make it possible for two men to move it using rollers. I could just about move it myself on level ground - by tilting up one end and putting in a roller, so if you can't even budge it where it is, then it may well be concreted in place. Maybe chip the concrete around the edges to loosen it up? Having said that, make sure you remove the splashback and disconnect the water pipes I see coming from the side. Don't forget to seal off the oil feed too, obviously enough.
The flue on my Royal, though different in shape to yours (round), was pretty much what you see entering into the chimney - basically a 90 degree elbow with 5-6 inches either end. What's going on inside your chimney is anyone's guess. You can always remove the front vent and stick your hand inside to see where the flue goes and if it's attached to anything - that top plate on the flue also comes off, with some difficulty, it's for a vertical flue pipe.
Hope this helps!
Brian
On the positive side, once the doors, hotplates, innards etc. are removed, then enough weight can be taken off the thing to make it possible for two men to move it using rollers. I could just about move it myself on level ground - by tilting up one end and putting in a roller, so if you can't even budge it where it is, then it may well be concreted in place. Maybe chip the concrete around the edges to loosen it up? Having said that, make sure you remove the splashback and disconnect the water pipes I see coming from the side. Don't forget to seal off the oil feed too, obviously enough.
The flue on my Royal, though different in shape to yours (round), was pretty much what you see entering into the chimney - basically a 90 degree elbow with 5-6 inches either end. What's going on inside your chimney is anyone's guess. You can always remove the front vent and stick your hand inside to see where the flue goes and if it's attached to anything - that top plate on the flue also comes off, with some difficulty, it's for a vertical flue pipe.
Hope this helps!
Brian
Lime
Member
- Messages
- 2,749
- Location
- East of England
I don't envy you moving the rayburn.
As has been said they are usually moved intact but with the obvious bits taken off to lighten the load.
I would not rely on the front bar to move or lift it with because it was never designed to take weight.
If I had this problem I would try prizing it off the floor with a flat garden spade used as a wedge.
Take care as it is possible to damage the finish.
Don't forget that older fires almost certainly contain asbestos inside them.
As has been said they are usually moved intact but with the obvious bits taken off to lighten the load.
I would not rely on the front bar to move or lift it with because it was never designed to take weight.
If I had this problem I would try prizing it off the floor with a flat garden spade used as a wedge.
Take care as it is possible to damage the finish.
Don't forget that older fires almost certainly contain asbestos inside them.
So it was in the kitchen. It is now outside the front door:
It turned out to be a lot easier than expected to move. For those that are interested (not many I guess), I used a drill to make hole in the floor next to a corner suitable for getting a crowbar underneath. I then used a wedge and various bit of wood to get a number of scaffold tubes underneath. It was then easy to roll the whole thing out of the kitchen, through the living room and out of the front door. I did this by myself though I then needed help to get it down our gravel lane as the scaffold tubes didn't want to roll too well. Crowbar and bits of wood where then used to get it onto the pallet.
It is now up to £10.50 on ebay with the auction finishing on Monday. Lets hope it goes a little higher than that.
It turned out to be a lot easier than expected to move. For those that are interested (not many I guess), I used a drill to make hole in the floor next to a corner suitable for getting a crowbar underneath. I then used a wedge and various bit of wood to get a number of scaffold tubes underneath. It was then easy to roll the whole thing out of the kitchen, through the living room and out of the front door. I did this by myself though I then needed help to get it down our gravel lane as the scaffold tubes didn't want to roll too well. Crowbar and bits of wood where then used to get it onto the pallet.
It is now up to £10.50 on ebay with the auction finishing on Monday. Lets hope it goes a little higher than that.
jocelyn plummer
Member
- Messages
- 2,297
- Location
- North Norfolk
Phew! Well done! Hope the rollers etc work in reverse when it is due to be re-installed in it's new home!
Presumably buyer collects?
Presumably buyer collects?
Cloudscape
Member
- Messages
- 473
- Location
- Mid-Wales
There's a solid-fuel cream/black Rayburn just like that heating my hot water. I'm also cooking on it (and in it) since the entire kitchen went to the tip. Yours looks to be in very nice condition (cosmetically). Whoever gets it should be chuffed - the price at the moment wouldn't cover spare parts. I thought it would be difficult to use, but we've had it running since Feb and now I doubt we'd ever get rid of it, unless it was to replace it for another one.
Flyfisher
Member
- Messages
- 10,154
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
£462! That's very encouraging - I'd be happy with half that for our old Rayburn. I must pay more attention to eBay.
It wasn't exactly mint. Everything was there and working but enamelling on the top had a few chips and a lot of scratching through use of I guess 40 years. Well loved is the term I think that it used.
We will be sad to see it go as it was quite a feature but it took up a lot of room in the kitchen and over heated the hot water when set on its lowest setting. This setting also wasn't hot enough to cook on properly. The oil tank also split and would have been expensive to replace.
We will be sad to see it go as it was quite a feature but it took up a lot of room in the kitchen and over heated the hot water when set on its lowest setting. This setting also wasn't hot enough to cook on properly. The oil tank also split and would have been expensive to replace.