Aga conversions

[moondoggy]

Does anyone have, or know anything about, an Aga converted to run on electric?

When we bought our cottage six years ago, we inherited an old, solid fuel Aga.

We love it to bits, it's like an old friend.

However, as much as we love it, it is becoming a real chore to shut down an clean (often taking the barrel out) once a month. You are talking of a couple of days job with the shutting down, cooling down, cleaning and re-lighting.

Also, the old girl is looking past her best and could do with a refurb.

My question is, are we better buying a refurbished Aga that has had an electric conversion?

Or, do we bite the bullet and buy a brand new electric Aga?

Which is best?

[ditchman]

you must be using the wrong fuel.............our aga was only cleaned like that every 3-4 years.....clean the chimney once a year thats all...............

[oneshotonekill]

as above! ours is cleaned every year. are you burning coke? as this burns cleaner than coal/wood which tars up. also should have a riddling bar to riddle the barrel from the hotplate rather than taking barrel out every time. hope this helps..

Edited October 18, 2016 by oneshotonekill

[moondoggy]

Tried four fuels now, non of which was coke, all recommended for Aga's, all with the same results, regardless of cost.

Aga instructions tell you to do this clean once a month,

Even the engineer who came out to it said once a month and I even tried the fuel he recommended.

[moondoggy]

as above! ours is cleaned every year. are you burning coke? as this burns cleaner than coal/wood which tars up. also should have a riddling bar to riddle the barrel from the hotplate rather than taking barrel out every time. hope this helps..

It is riddled twice a day.

Aga do not recommend using wood, we have only ever used anthracite or fuels formed into cobbles such as Phurnicite, Taybrite, Extraheat and Rose Blend.

[ditchman]

It is riddled twice a day.

Aga do not recommend using wood, we have only ever used anthracite or fuels formed into cobbles such as Phurnicite, Taybrite, Extraheat and Rose Blend.

 

 

twice a day....thats standard...and you are using the good nuts.....cant understand why you need to virtually take it apart once a mth.......

[SpringDon]

Don't know the solid fuel aga but I was told that they can't be run on wood as the firebox isn't big enough. It's coke only.

 

The electric conversion (some people go from oil) works very well but the running costs are more or less equal to oil @ 70p plus. Things like using ovens not plates and keeping the lids down make a big difference.

 

Oh, and the dedicated new electric aga is more efficient than a conversion. But you'd need to do some maths to see what the break even time is on the new one due to the much higher cost.

Edited October 18, 2016 by SpringDon

[moondoggy]

Just tried running it on coke, but it went out after we poured the sixth bottle in.

[SpringDon]

Try the real thing next time.

[JDog]

Everhots using electricity are way ahead of their Aga counterparts. We have had two in our houses and we will be having another when finances permit.

[aga man]

In my opinion, if you are to go down the electric route a refurbed or new purpose built model would be the better option. Do you have oil or gas into your property? you current Aga can be converted to either of these fuels with good results.

Most of the retro fit conversion kits for electric are yet to prove them selves long term.

[moondoggy]

In my opinion, if you are to go down the electric route a refurbed or new purpose built model would be the better option. Do you have oil or gas into your property? you current Aga can be converted to either of these fuels with good results.

Most of the retro fit conversion kits for electric are yet to prove them selves long term.

We have mains gas.

 

We got the impression electricity may be slightly cheaper to run than gas.

[aga man]

We have mains gas.

 

We got the impression electricity may be slightly cheaper to run than gas.

Yes you are right the electric will be slightly more cheaper to run than the gas but at least you have another option to look at. Your old cooker would be more suited to a gas conversion but if as you say it's in need of some tlc, then trading it in for a refurbed gas or electric would seem a better idea.

 

Have a word with John Wray country cookers, they will point you in the right direction.

[moondoggy]

Thanks guys, I will have a chat with John Wray Country Cookers and also have a look at Everhots.

[Adge Cutler]

Everhots using electricity are way ahead of their Aga counterparts. We have had two in our houses and we will be having another when finances permit.

Another vote for Everhot.

 

Just plug it in with a 13 amp plug and switch it on.

 

Aga's are old hat these days, its only the yuppy home mags for people who live in surrey keeping them going

 

Trade it in or donate it to the local museum and come into the light.

[iano]

can't help with the refurb question, but on the 'past its prime bit', Le Crueseut have an enamel cleaner for their pans that really brought our old Stanley back to life.

 

This is it (https://www.lecreuset.co.uk/cast-iron-cleaner)

[moondoggy]

can't help with the refurb question, but on the 'past its prime bit', Le Crueseut have an enamel cleaner for their pans that really brought our old Stanley back to life.

 

This is it (https://www.lecreuset.co.uk/cast-iron-cleaner)

Got some and tried it.

It did clean it a bit, unfortunately, it doesn't replace huge chunks of chipped enamel.

[100milesaway]

I had an old AGA years ago, I bought it in bits for £50. I had to get a new boiler and it cost a fortune to have it plumbed in and rebuilt.I always used the round cobbles as fuel , i think that was phurnicite, it was superb, we had the first service done with us watching ,again this cost an arm and a leg but having watched the proceedure we decided we were competent enough to do it ourselves the year after. The boiler or i think it was termed as the barrel never needed to be removed just turned slightly on each service.It must have been 40 years old when I left the cottage but it still performed beautifully. As a footnote I did have the whole of the AGA enamel parts revitrioused in black and it looked like brand new.It truely was the heart of the house. I would have another tomorrow. from Auntie.

[moondoggy]

As an update to my previous post, our solid fuel Aga tried to kill us twice last Christmas with carbon monoxide.

So, we said that's it, you're going.

We dismantled it and threw it outside. 

It turns out the breather pipe that runs from the front at the bottom to the flue at the back top had become blocked.

This would have been an uneconomical repair as it would have meant a total strip down to replace the pipe which had started to rot away.

So, we decided to take the plunge and totally renovate our kitchen, and I mean totally. Back to brick on every wall, floor tiles up, ceiling down and fireplace demolished.

The walls had been cement rendered, so we removed it all and re-pointed using lime mortar, which Mrs MD did the majority of and found it very therapeutic.

Anyway, the main point of this post is to show the latest acquisition which was installed last Friday.

We took the advice of several Pigeon Watchers and looked at Everhot cookers. The result was an Everhot 150 in black with the Chrome Pack fitted.

We had a new fireplace built to accommodate it with a huge piece of oak form the lintel.

Here is the result so far.

We still have a long way to go as we are doing the upstairs bathroom at the same time as it is directly above the kitchen and the joists required 'sistering'.

At least we can eat proper meals again and have just eaten a beautiful rib of beef served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Puds and veg.

I can confidently say, it was the best roast beef that I have ever tasted.

Thank you to all of you Pigeon Watchers who pointed us in the right direction and converted us to Everhot.

[kennett]

That looks brilliant, would love a house that it would suit!

[Hamster]

That cooker looks fantastic, same taste in rads as moi incidentally 😋 .

[moondoggy]

Thanks guys, we absolutely love it, our energy supplier loves it as well!

We obviously have good taste Hamster. We chose a radiator that we thought would look good on a bare brick wall.

[Gameking]

Can you give me some idea of running costs for electric Everhot ?

 We had an Aga (oil) and now have  Rayburn Oil (after downsizing houses) but this is only a cooker NOT hot water / cooker like an AGA.

 

Wife loves it for cooking especially after having the AGA for 15 years  ---  but it's a very expensive cooker on 24 hrs during winter. In summer we use an electric oven / LPG hob

 

[JohnfromUK]

9 hours ago, Gameking said:

Can you give me some idea of running costs for electric Everhot ?

You might find this helpful http://www.everhot.co.uk/Products/Comparison.aspx

 

[moondoggy]

Ours is currently costing £5 to £6 a day at the moment.

Points to bear in mind: -

We are currently paying 17p per kWh (desperately need to change supplier)

Ours is the Everhot 150 (not the induction model), the largest they make and the most costly to run.

We are still experimenting with temperature settings and Eco settings

We like the background heat, so we keep it up high for longer

With the Everhot, you don’t really need another cooker as each hot plate, simmer plate and oven are all individually controllable. This means, in summer you can just turn on one hot plate and/or oven as required. Also, there is the option of the right hand plate being an induction hob.

If you are ever up near Skipton, pop in to T N Cook’s. They have a superb showroom in stunning countryside. They have every model of Everhot on display. They also sell Aga’s, so you can compare them side by side. We bought ours from them.

Hope this helps.