Survey on stone cottage - thoughts?

[Penners]

Is "the bursar" a euphemism? :shock:

 

[Gazza]

Good times, finally got survey done and all is well, the guy says the readings on the previous survey just treated the house like it was new and with no sympathy to how houses work when no damp course is fitted.

There was a slight high reading where the washing machine leaked but this is now drying out, the guy made a few recommendations,

Air the property more, keep doors open and heat more consistently rather than on and off for an hour a day

Make use of rooms instead of leaving them dormant

Don't dry clothes on radiators

As far as "work" goes, he said I could fit a positive ventilation system if I wanted and I may get an aga too for heating the kitchen and providing warmth to the adjoining rooms.

Happy days! Purchase progressing well.

 

[Penners]

I may get an aga too for heating the kitchen and providing warmth to the adjoining rooms.

That all sounds like good news, but I would counsel a fair bit of market research before you install an Aga. It's my experience that a Rayburn is considerably cheaper and much more versatile in its cooking/central heating capabilities.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

eh hem excuse me Penners, ----our 3 oven electric Aga in the Holy Land made very little difference to our electricity bill!!! The 4 oven one in Chelsea by Sea ran on oil, and that would definitely be a huge cost now. BUT there are new variations on the old heat store Aga--dual control being one of them. However, I am in love with the City 60---------.( I'm STILLl waiting for that magic word beginning with E-------- so that I can get on and order the new baby Aga)

So Gazza, there are many options, Rayburn, Esse, Everhot to name but a few. In our current house we have an Esse Cat enabled cooker which has a controllable temperature---we turn the gas flame right down to idle when we have finished cooking and in turn have a very pleasant ambient heat throughout the ground floor that has not made a significant difference to our fuel costs. Well worth shopping around and seeing what these cast iron cookers have to offer.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Post Script, Gazza your independent guy sounds too good to be true------how refreshing-----wonder if he used to work for Aga!!!
Seriously though good sounding comments.

 

[Penners]

eh hem excuse me Penners, ----our 3 oven electric Aga in the Holy Land made very little difference to our electricity bill!!! The 4 oven one in Chelsea by Sea ran on oil, and that would definitely be a huge cost now.

Ahem, Joss... let me see if I understand exactly what you're saying:-

* Your 3 oven electric Aga in the HL used virtually no electricity at all - is that right?

* Your 4 oven Aga in CbtS ran on oil, and nowadays would have far higher running costs than an equivalent running on electricity - is that right?

When I commented above, I was referring to a single range that would act as a cooker, plus central heating boiler. To the best of my knowledge a standard Aga won't do this. You need an "add-on" unit for central heating, which considerably increases the already high cost of an Aga. A Rayburn (or, as you mentioned, an Esse, etc.) will do both jobs for a lower capital cost than an Aga, which won't.

I contend that an electric Aga will not be any cheaper to run than an oil one, even at today's oil costs (unless you have your own very substantial wind turbine or solar panel installation). If your electric one made very little difference to your electricity bill, then I can only assume that you kept it switched off! :wink:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I had meant to add that, of course, some of the range cookers do both heating and cooking, and therefore you get more energy for your bucks.

However, the electric 3 oven cooker was only £11 per week. Yes, much less than the oil one we left in Cbts, and still would be I reckon.

I feel sure that the larger conventional range style cooking appliances must cost more than that to run.-- I had an Aga 6/4 for a while--6 ring gas hob and 3 electric ovens---that really did make a hole in the energy budget.

When we first had the 4 oven aga, oil was an amazing 16p per litre; 1,000 ltrs did 16 weeks . I dread to think what that works out at now!

Although I have had temperature zone difficulties with our current Cat enabled gas Esse it is really very reassuring to be able to turn the gas flame down to idle when not required for cooking and still have an effective ambient heat.

Hats off to Aga for producing a controllable version.

If I were to be starting a new kitchen from scratch I would definitely look at a cast iron range cooker that does the heating as well.