AGA saga

[Manks]

We have decided to buy an AGA cooker. Or at least I stupidly raised the idea, Mrs Manks went and looked at them, fell in love with them and now I am committed. (note to self: don't ever mention you fancy a Bentley). We live in the rural and only have oil or gas as fuel options.

To buy a new oil AGA (2 oven) is about £6000. But we have a tricky house to fit a chimney to and it may cost £2000 or so. Apparently our oil tank is also too low, and we require a new oil feed. The oil cooker also needs servicing twice a year at about £80 a go. But oil is the cheapest way for us to actually run the cooker.

We can buy a new electric AGA for about £6500. It does not require a chimney, the oild tank doesn't feature of course, nor the oil feed and only one service in five years is needed. I gather that the manufactuer's figures for running cost are a tad optimistic, and this will be an expensive way to RUN the cooker.

BUT. I am not keen to spend a LOT of money on a new AGA when I can buy an as-new reconditioned one for about half price. So, that's what I should do right? Not that easy. There are no secondhand electric AGAs, or at least thirteen amp ones. There is a fella doing reconditioned old night storage ones but they are the price of a new thirteen amp one. The only way to buy a cheap reconditioned AGA is to buy an oil one. And then we need to contend with the aforementioned installation issues.

I am looking into a company that offers a power flue for an oil AGA and I am told that there is a product called a Tiger Loop that may remove the need to raise the oil tank. Then it's just a matter of getting the new oil feed put in...

So, has anyone by any chance been throught this process before? If so, please help me think this one through. If not, I will work it out and post my findings.

Many thanks

Manks

 

[joatex]

Don't AGA make a solid fuel heating cylinder. We had one which was originally for solid fuel and later altered to oil. Maybe with a little searching there may be a used solid fuelheating cyliner, mighty hefty and needing a flue liner. Ross

 

[NT]

Divorce.

NT

 

[Jocelyn]

So far, four months in, with an electric 3 oven aga, we have found that our overall fuel costs have been less than our previous property in which we had an oil fired aga. It seems that oil, gas and electric unit costs are all much of a muchness at the moment with electricity currently being a tadge more competitive. Like you, we had flue installation difficulties which is why I opted for electric.We also felt that the 5 year servicing cost was a significant offset.

A good local building /heating company should be able to deal with your flue requirements, so it might be worth further investigating all the options before you commit yourselves. There is also the hidden costs of levelling the kitchen floor for the aga, boxing in the flue conforming to regulations etc.

Be quick if you want it in for Christmas!!
Good Luck

 

[Lime]

Divorce.

NT

Yes, quite!

Personally I'd be mentioning Bentleys all the time.
A Bentley S3 Flying Spur or an S series Radford Bentley would be my most popular talking points.

 

[Penners]

Apart from the "smart" name, I can see nothing in favour of Agas at all.

We have an oil-fired Esse range. It was considerably cheaper than an Aga to buy. It does the cooking, heats the water and runs a 16 radiator central heating system. We have no chimney in the kitchen at all, so it runs with a power flue that vents the exhaust out of a side wall.

 

[middi]

Aga, rayburn, esse, etc..etc... are expensive to buy end even more expensive to run, and if you can't cook ( like me ! ), they are a waste of time. Admittedly not a waste of space, they do look the part.

 

[MDE]

How about an Everhot? - http://www.everhot.co.uk/
We bought one this year and are very pleased with it. Cooks better than an Aga (IMHO - I've used both). Uses less electricity (per the published figures) and is cheaper. If you still want an Aga, then buy the Bentley to go with it.

 

[skier-hughes]

Do esse have their own web-site?

How well does your Esse heat yor 16 radiators Penners?
What sizes are they approx?

We have 16 large rads and the rayburn we have is inadequate for proper central heating, so we are currently checking out our options.

Which model do you have?

Graham

 

[thiambal]

I know nothing about the types, styles, costs or relative cooking mertis of Aga (I have graduated from Radio 2 to Radio 4 but I am not yet posh enough to know of these things).

However, fwiw, my sister in law and husband have recently moved into a house with an AGA. It is situated in a large kitchen and the room is kept permanently very warm in winter - nice. However, in summer the room is like a turkish bath and almost unbearable.

So as far as i can see they have something that cost loads, is relatvely expensive to run, waste massive amounts of energy and which is a bit of a bugger to cook on.

On the other hand, it does look the part!

If divorce is out of the question I would suggest you buy her a baby belling and a bunch of flowers and then start looking for the Bentley.

 

[Penners]

Do esse have their own web-site?

Yes

How well does your Esse heat yor 16 radiators Penners?
What sizes are they approx?

It heats them very well, although it does take a while for the whole system to heat up fully after switch-on - perhaps 20 - 30 mins. And I find that I need to have the pump on its highest speed setting.

The rads vary in size from very small to very large. I suppose the average is about 0.75 sq m. They're all fitted with thermostatic valves.

We also have a big factory-insulated hot water cylinder. I can't remember the exact capacity, but it's 460mm dia x 1500mm high (so I'm sure you can work that out!)

 

[skier-hughes]

Found that one but got confused by the name and the top right link, I thought they were just a distributor

Blimey, ours takes at least 3 hours or so to warm up, and if it's on number 1 it can take another 3 hours to heat up to maximum for cooking. 1/2 hour would be idyllic.

I don't know about all this horrible to cook on going on, but we wouldn't be without ours for cooking, even with it's odd warming up etc we haven't tasted better cooked food from anything else we've owned.

 

[Penners]

I don't know about all this horrible to cook on going on.

Those in the know about these things (and that definitely excludes me!) say that range cookers are incomparable for oven cooked food, because their ovens surround the food with heat, and are pretty close to a sealed environment. Make of that what you will. :? The top rings behave just like any hotplate heat source - although you're best to have saucepans with perfectly flat bases.

However, I have heard it said that an Aga tends to have quite a variable cooking heat when it's doing a lot of water heating too. An Esse avoids that problem by having two oil burners - one for the heating and hot water and the other for cooking.

Mrs P adores her Esse. If it came to a choice between the Esse and me, it would be yours truly being broken up for scrap.

 

[skier-hughes]

yes, you can cook several food items at once and they don't get contaminated by each other.

Our Rayburn has two oil burners. Ours doesn'thave a variable heat, it's slow to get there, stays there and two days later it's cooled down again... well not quite.

 

[worms]

I know oil Rayburns are not popular with PP Forum posters, but I have to say that I can't fault ours for speed of warm-up, separate delivery of heating and cooking and being on a timer so that everything warms and cools when you want it to without too much input. All for half the price of an Aga (and to save anyone else saying it, yes it may only survive for half the life of an Aga). And I doubt if servicing is beyond the average skills of most of the posters on here.

 

[Penners]

I know oil Rayburns are not popular with PP Forum posters.

Really? I can't imagine why. They presumably work on the same principle as any modern two-burner range - Esse, Stanley, etc.

 

[worms]

Really? I can't imagine why.

There have been threads in the past by people with problems with the boiler, which in certain types was impossible to replace without completely dismantling the whole stove. The boilers apparently were prone to rusting. I think the stove has now been redesigned to be able to replace the boiler. Unfortunately, I think my one is from the earlier era and I still have fingers crossed...

 

[skier-hughes]

Ours is about 35 years old, no timers, no anything except a turn it up or turn it down knob for each burner.

It's asked to do way to much for teh heating side.

It is rusty inside, but it's easy enough to give a decent clean, it should last another few years yet, more so if we change our heating heat supply.

I love it.

 

[Penners]

It is rusty inside, but it's easy enough to give a decent clean, it should last another few years yet. I love it.

Aaah - actually I overheard Mrs P saying exactly the same thing about me, the other day.