Aga conversions

[JohnfromUK]

I had a gas Aga, and to cut a long story short, the flu arrangements, though legal at the time it was installed nearly 50 years ago - didn't meet modern regulations (despite working fine for over 40 years).  Modifying to meet modern regs wasn't economically practical (partly due to listed buildings considerations).  So - no one would work on it and the burner was obsolete, beyond reliable use and no spares were forthcoming.  The answer seemed to be to convert to electricity (no flu needed).  I ideally wanted to keep an Aga as I had lived with one most of my life.

I looked at converting to electricity, but decided the 40 year old Aga wasn't ideal as it was a bit shabby and chipped.  I looked at lots of alternatives, new or reconditioned newer electric Aga, update old Aga, Everhot, Esse, off peak Aga, 13A Aga etc.

Major problem with all was that 'heat storage' cookers are horribly expensive to run.somewhere between £20 and £40+ a week depending on model, type, fuel, off peak/full price etc.  Also, my kitchen is right at one corner of the house and single story, and so heat doesn't benefit the rest of the house much at all, and it had always tended to get too hot in summer.

I bit the bullet, scrapped the heat storage Aga and installed an Aga Masterchef induction (a rebadged Rangemaster really) non heat storage cooker.  This has worked really well for me as it costs under 50p a day to run (on average) and fits where the old (2 oven) Aga came out.  It was also much cheaper to buy and is of course cool in summer.

The downside is that I have had to drop an additional radiator into the kitchen, but that was an easy job as there was one there already.  Saves approx £600 a year in gas cost (my gas bill has halved).

 

[Hamster]

Sorry to be a bit thick but how do you guys know the daily running costs so accurately ? 

[moondoggy]

I am basing mine on the smart meter reading.

Prior to fitting the Everhot, we were using very little electricity, so I am assuming the Everhot is using the difference between the old amount and the new amount.

I know it’s not super accurate, but it gives an approximation.

[JohnfromUK]

4 minutes ago, Hamster said:

Sorry to be a bit thick but how do you guys know the daily running costs so accurately ? 

I know what the old gas Aga used to use because it was the only gas thing running in summer (at least at times)

I know what the various things I looked at were reported to cost/use in units of KWhrs from their websites

My present electric Aga Masterchef I know that on a day when I cook I use between 8 and 9 KWhours overall in the house, whereas on a day I don't cook it is between 5 and 7 KWHrs.

There are also figures on line such as

http://www.agaliving.com/aga-range-cookers/aga-running-costs

http://www.tncook.co.uk/AGA_running_costs.html

http://www.everhot.co.uk/Products/Comparison.aspx

http://www.tncook.co.uk/Everhot_running_costs.html

I do know that my old 2 oven gas Aga used considerably more than these predictions, but it was over 40 years old, and probably much less efficient/well insulated than modern ones and the thermostatic control didn't work well.  You could also tell how wasteful it was because the flu pipe was always very hot.

[Hamster]

👍

[norfolk dumpling]

We have a very old (engineer who sourced/converted it says 80yrs+) AGA - a solid fuel converted to oil. Expensive as a cooker but for the 6/7 months we run it we have hot water, background heating for our small cottage and of course the best cooker you can have. It sits in an ingelnook in the huge chimney which basically is the central support for our very old cottage and it heats that whole chimney stack and thus most of our house. We also have secondary oil heating but this only cuts in when temp really plummets. Absolutely love this set up and although we use about £1k of oil in a year without a major cold period the benefits are huge - I love my fry-ups during the cooler months and overall cooking does go up a notch - it's just the feel-good factor that we need sometimes but with us 24/7. Lab and terrier always 'joined' to it when lit. The key to this is however an excellent engineer.

[JohnfromUK]

2 hours ago, norfolk dumpling said:

We have a very old (engineer who sourced/converted it says 80yrs+) AGA - a solid fuel converted to oil. Expensive as a cooker but for the 6/7 months we run it we have hot water, background heating for our small cottage and of course the best cooker you can have. It sits in an ingelnook in the huge chimney which basically is the central support for our very old cottage and it heats that whole chimney stack and thus most of our house. We also have secondary oil heating but this only cuts in when temp really plummets. Absolutely love this set up and although we use about £1k of oil in a year without a major cold period the benefits are huge - I love my fry-ups during the cooler months and overall cooking does go up a notch - it's just the feel-good factor that we need sometimes but with us 24/7. Lab and terrier always 'joined' to it when lit. The key to this is however an excellent engineer.

There is no doubt there is a lot to like about an Aga in the winter.  My parents had a pre-war coal Aga converted to oil when I was a boy, and it was lovely.  I wanted to keep mine, but the flu issues and it's rather 'one corner' location made it far from ideal.  However, £1000 of oil for heating and winter only cooking is a significant price to pay; I live in a fairly large listed old farmhouse (29 radiators), and total heating last year cost £600 inc standing charges for gas central heating and gas fires.  I will admit it isn't as hot as many would like, and I'm careful (some would call it plain mean) with the thermostats!  There is no other heat source.  (Electricity was a further £520 (inc standing charge) for cooking, lighting, fridge, freezer and all of the gadgets)