Which fuel for a range cooker?

[Johnny Halliday]

Working on the renovation of a small cottage in the French Alps (sub-zero winters, Provencal summers) and tempted to install a range cooker for cooking, kitchen warmth and hot water. This does not seem very usual in the area, as most Frenchies (tending to suffer less from sepia-tinted nostalgia than your average Brit) use: electric for the water boiler and radiators in eg bedrooms; gas for cooking (instant heat, 'cookability'); a log fire for winter warmth (mid-Nov to mid-March) and cosiness. Research seems to indicate Stanley, Esse, Sandyford, Heritage and Rayburn (in that approximate order of preference) as being suitable. My questions relate to fuel. We have no mains gas so-
Would it be feasible to run a cooking + DHW range off 13kg butane/ propane bottles? How long might a bottle be expected to last? At about £18 a bottle, would it be prohibitively expensive? And a royal pain in the ass to be changing bottles every couple of days?
How about logs (solid fuel)? Would I require the services of a full-time stoker to maintain a solid-fuel stove at a suitable temperature? Would someone have to get up at 6am to light the fire in order to be able to have a shower or a bacon buttie at 8am? Logs are cheap and plentiful round here, and the French government refunds 50% of the purchase price of log-burning stoves as wood is a renewable resource so this could be a cheap option, but not if it means a soot-covered kitchen and having to plan mealtimes 4 hours in advance! Anyone have any experience?
Otherwise, maybe oil and a decent-sized tank is the answer. Or forget the range idea and do as the locals do.Any comments and suggestions gratefully received :wink:

 

[geoff]

I don't have a range, but I use gas bottles to power a combi boiler and a 6 burner gas cooker. I have two 47Kg bottles on an auto changeover connector - one bottle in use at a time. In winter I find that having the heating on twice a day (2.5 hrs morning and 5 - 6 hrs evening) plus cooking and hot water means a 47Kg cylinder lasts around two weeks (but it depends how much you have it on at weekends). And that is for just one person.

I would say 18Kg bottles would be a little daft - they wouldn't last with the requirements of a range which is on most of the time. You would also need a changeover switch and two bottles (if you can get them for that size), or any pilot lights would go out when the gas ran out.

I now use a woodburner in winter for most heating instead of the central heating (it chucks out a lot of heat and it spreads throughout the (stone 2 bed) cottage nicely. I only used one bottle this winter as the gas only did the water (combi) and cooking except for a couple of days when I ran out of logs.

FYI, because of the gas cost and the fact that I find combis are utter rubbish, I am considering a change to a (pressure jet) oil range (probably a converted rayburn) to do heating and cooking and put in a thermal store for water (with some solar input).

 

[worms]

On the "when in Rome" principle, the availability of cheap, local, renewable fuel AND a rebate from the government for the cost of the stove, I think I'd go with the wood option! Wish our government was so obliging!