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We're thinking about getting a second hand AGA (I know, every other range-type cooker is better value and so on, but you know how it is!).
For various reasons we'd be limited to an electric AGA (it can't be on an outside wall, a flue through the middle of the bathroom isn't entirely practical, the steam vent from the oven can't be sensibly routed outside, we have no gas, the price of oil is crippling, shovelling coal is a bit too 19th century etc), so I'm trying to get an idea how much more 'economical' (ahem) the more costly 30A night storage model might be than the standard 13A electric one with the AIMS timer.
Anyone have any experience of either?
Anyone have any experience of either?
Yep, I've had plenty of experience with 'horribly middle-class'.
None with AGAs though.
is oil really that expensive?. you dont use that much. and the aga heats your water saving on that bit of energy.
no experience of elec one tho. just oil. and it was lush in winter and makes the best rice pudding.
Bear in mind they are horrible to cook on, so it is worth hanging onto your old cooker too for when you want to cook anything at a particular temperature / cook things in pans.
Joe
What sort of price would I get for a second-hand gas one with two plates? Functioning but really in need of refurbing...
I take it you're going to have a proper cooker too for actually cooking stuff on 🙂
get a wood burning reyburn, move to the sticks, and grow a beard. Buying a marin is optional.
my family (mom) has had 2.
one was coke fired, it was a pain in the ass, always sooting up and needed constantly cleaning, produced LOTS of heat, but she did get up at 8 am to pop sunday lunch in it to cook.
swapped to a oil version some years later, 2 top version with added heater/radiator expansion burner on it. in the winter you needed to constantly keep it going and that instant heat of other systems was never there, it cost far more to run due to this constant need to keep it ticking over rather than the minimum level you can run modern systems at. it was far far cleaner and more efficient as an oil base though and only got cleaned once in 8 years i think. (on the burners).
was great on the farm in cold winters, but as a general fire / heating system they eventually cut the water and house heating off from the oven and got one of those demand heaters which was oil fired and used the electric oven rarely did it get used after say 3-4 years only as a very expensive room heater in the winter.
people who are used to "conventional" ovens depsise agas (me for one)
people who are used to agas, despise cooking on a normal oven.
in my experience.
inefficient and pointless if you ask me.
the best way (i understand) to use it, is to run it in the winter, when you need the heat from it as well, and in the summer, turn it off and use an electric oven instead, that actually happens to work all year round.
if you get an oil one, FFS get the tank at least bunded,
people stopped using the metal ones cause the rusted through, so now use plastic ones that dont rust...... they suffer weld faliures about 10-15 years into thier life, usually as they are being filled, and dump 1000+L of kerosene through your house/garden
keeps me in a job 😀
he price of oil is crippling,
is it balls! 34p a litre
they are horrible to cook on
A myth, IME.
they are exellent to cook on. and we never used alternative cooking apparatus (apart from bbq`s)
ours was on 24-7 365 days a year. i never used an electric kettle till i went to uni.
heated all the hot water required for a family of 5 (we did have an immersion heater for emergencies)
you get used to them i think. if you are doing a big roast you have to turn it up the day before etc etc due to the heat loss of the cooking process.
pointless and inefficient? maybe
would i have one if i had the right house? - definatly.
turn it off and its about 2 days to heat up!
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Briliant to cook in, average to cook on.
Stews, casseroles, curries etc. can be left in the slow oven for up to two days at a time which means that they are excellently flavoured.
Another plus is that you can bung a joint of meat, vegetables and stock inside first thing in the morning and the meal is ready when you get home.
To cook efficiently on the hobs, you really need those very heavy convection pans and they aren't cheap. I do use a single gas ring for cooking on from time-to-time
We have an oil-fired Aga and a woodburning stove so the heating is rarely on as between them, they can keep a relatively large house pleasantly warm without the need for central heating.
The Aga is great for drying washing and ours heats the water.
It does need servicing about three times per-year to keep it efficient which is an additional £240 p.a.
I have a foot in the pro-Aga camp but if we hadn't inherited the Aga with the house, I'd have preferred a Rayburn which can be switched-off in the summer.
If you're going down the electrical route, I wouldn't bother with an Aga. Get yourself a standard oven and hob and slow cook with a slow cooker which cost about £25.
We got a 2 ring halogen hob, 2 oven Electric Esse (AGA lookalikee), no gas or anywhere to store oil, in a 1865 mid ter. cottage in the middle of kent countryside, can't fault the cooker or the location.
I've never cooked on one, but Mrs F shares Van Halen's experience - grew up with it, loved it, understands the limitations, and wants one anyway.
We're hoping for the 'AGA plus woodburner heats house without central heating' scenario, or at least I am, since I love our induction hob (I'd recommend one to anyone without hesitation), and we have a perfectly good conventional oven (planning to keep both and only run the AGA 6-8 months of the year), so the AGA had better work as a heater as well as a status symbol of some sort!
ROFL, as I understand it, when you feed oil into an AGA, even at just 34p/litre it's crippling. thisisnotaspoon, we live in the sticks and I have the beard already - thank god the Marin's optional!
just moved into a hous in the lakes with one, took a while to heat up but now its there and going, looking forward to playing with it and getting to know it. My folks just converted to oil (as the price rocketed) and reckon it's still good value (especially compared to tha amount of coal they used to use) Not sure teh summer heat thing will be much of a problem in Cumbria if this year is anything to go by.
At least with my 2000l oil tank I wont have to worry when the electric runs out and the gas goes off cause russia are pissed with someone again
AGAs are so towney; get yourself a Rayburn.
AGA's are the household equivelant of taking your kids 300 yards to school in a hummer.
My friend has a leccy one and bills are around £40 a week.
Can you not just go up the chippy like everyone else ?
My "stir boils" on my parents aga were legendary 8O. Now our coal fired Rayburn with tap water that was slightly above boiling and boiling water in the radiator pipes, humm that really was inefficient. Can't beat them for a sunday roast though. Used to cost about £100 a month on tick over years ago. Alledgedly the only way to "control" the water temp was to have a bath or two. It has gone now. 🙂
Oh in answer to the question, the aga meaning of efficiency is different to the normal meaning. They don't seem to include the price of the electicity in the explanation. 😉
My parents's AGA is oil fired but with a digital thermostat. Probably a waste of money but does keep the kitchen warm and my mum is fond of it. They have a smaller oven and induction hob for precise cooking. Uses hardly any oil now it's properly controlled.