[blades]

I have what I think is a 20 year old (plus) aga that was originally solid fuel. My question relates to the amount of heat it puts out and what seems to be cooking temperature variations. This aga is in a farmhouse kitchen and is the only source of heating in this room..... the kitchen measures 18' x 13' (standard height). How warm should an aga keep a room like this? To my knowledge the house has been insulated (kingspan under plasterboard) but I still have to check this. Re the cooking temps.... sometimes the oven works like a dream and other times it seems to be colder?
The aga was service 9 months ago.

Lastly, does anyone know if a brand new oil fired aga would be massively different regards heating output to the room and cooking temps and overall efficiency?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[jaykay]

Hi, when you say it was originally solid fuel, has it been converted to oil now? I'll assume so, that's also what I've got.

In a similar sized room, sometimes the Aga is sufficient, sometimes I need to light a fire too, depends on the outside temperature, also the wind.

When did you last have the burner serviced? Mine burns much hotter after a service and gradually cools down as it cokes up, gets clogged with dog hair (eh hem) and so on.

Do you have a thermometer on the front - does that vary wildly? Of course, they're much hotter in the mornings and cool down as you use them a lot over the day anyway, don't they, hence having to cook Yorkshire puds first thing.

I have a dial thingy on a little grey oval thingy (note the technical terms!) next to the Aga and can turn up the oil drip rate there, which makes it burn hotter.

Hope this is useful - ignore entire post if yours is still solid-fuel 

[robert waddell]

agas Rayburn's Stanley's are envied by people that don't have one
they cost a fortune to buy service and run
converted ones never work as intended
there is a big difference betwean kero firred ones and diesel ones
when the oven is on in ours the kitchen is boiling

[Bionic]

Robert, I don't have one and am one of those people who are envious. I am seriously looking to get one when I move. As it would be new or reconditioned I would have the choice of oil, solid fuel or even electric.
Any suggestions?
Sally

[jaykay]

I bought a reconditioned oil-fired one. From John Wray at Catterick. You get a newly enamelled front (choice of colours) and top, new chrome lids and a new burner, in an old cast-iron body, for half the price of a new one.
Don't know about them costing the earth to run - I dry things on and over it, so no elec. for a tumble drier, it heats the kitchen and takes the chill off the bedroom above, so not much heating needed. And it's endlessly useful. Plus the oil is gravity fed so it continues to do all the above even during our frequent power cuts 

[robert waddell]

electric ones   probably better with a wind turbine
oil ones   they use about 2000 liters of fuel per year
solid fuel ones you have to stoke them and clean them out  coal burns hot depends on the quality of the coal anthracite well that will melt the guts of it wood depends on the type of tree and how well seasoned the logs are
gas ones will use a lot of gas


new you get the satisfaction of it being new and the cost to go with it
reconditioned  if you can get one that suits you
sometimes you can get secondhand ones very cheap
but get to know a very good central heating engineer first approved engineers are all called dick Turpin
jaykay i don't see how your burner continues in power cuts they all need electric to work the burner and the pump unless it is solid fuel and even at that the pump needs electric 

[suziequeue]

WOW!!!

I don't envy you guys having Agas but I do envy your wealth in being able to afford to run one!!

[Bionic]

Jaykay, Robert,
Thanks for your input. Definitely some food for thought
Sally

[robert waddell]

when buying new you have to get them commissioned by there approved engineer(dick Turpin)   they have there own areas that are carved up    a friend (Irish) bought a Stanley from a dealer in northern Ireland and as he visits back home collected it himself  saving thousands   the engineer we use services his as well
ours has been fitted from 2000 and no we are not wealthy by anymeans simply cant afford to change to a cheaper to run option       the wellstood that we had before was over fifty years old and badly fitted therefore not efficient also it was solid fuel and did not run central heating and did not have the capacity to do so
what would we change to that is very difficult        the aga idea that you come into a warm kitchen with the smell of baking  well somebody has to be there cooking and solid fuel fits the bill   central heating you can get a gas fired boiler for under £750 and guaranteed for years when it packs in just replace it it will run central heating and if you are limited by space as we are you don't have many options
yes it is great to hang a jacket on to dry even the Stanley will dry jackets  but solid fuel you have got the muck and dirt associated with it    a very difficult situation and one you have to decide yourself

[SallyintNorth]

electric ones   probably better with a wind turbine

You'd need a 1MW turbine for an electric aga.  Well maybe I am exagerating a little bit - but a standard household turbine won't begin to touch what an electric aga needs to get hot, even a new one.  I know - we looked into getting a turbine at the previous farm, assuming we could then look at an electric aga, and the turbine sales guy just looked at us witheringly and carefully explained that household turbines will run your TV, laptops, lights and your freezer and fridge if you're lucky.  We didn't get any further, so I never looked into what the electric agas consume to maintain their heat once hot and when not being used for cooking.

I loved my 1952 Pattern No 1 solid fuel Rayburn.  I didn't find it a chore to keep it going, it used a scuttle-full of coal a day and I could if needed keep it running for 22 hours without touching it.  Mind, it had only one oven and just heated the hot water, no radiators.

At first, however, it was a nightmare.  Ate coal, never got and stayed hot enough to make a roast dinner, and the hot water was luke at best.  Then we got a good guy to have a look, he changed the fire bricks, and it was like a new machine.  I don't know if oil ones, or converted ones, have or need fire bricks - but if they do, I'd look at those first.  If the cement is crumbling, and/or the fire bricks are, get that sorted and you will be amazed.

My mum always had Agas, and she reckoned you should always aim to have the temperature bang on that line across the gauge.  Not like Rayburns, where you manipulate the heat and type of burn according to what you are wanting the box to do for you.

[blades]

Jaykay.... Yes it's a solid fuel model converted to oil.

Everyone..... Many thanks for the input

[shropshire_blue]

Robert - our oil one doesn't require electric.  The oil is gravity fed into a regulator (silvery oval thing on side of aga) and then wells up into a dish with three rings inside the aga.

In terms of oven temperature, one thing we used to find (forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs), is that we had to cook slightly differently with the aga compared to normal hob/oven.  If you do most of your cooking on the hotplates, then the heat stored in the aga will quickly diminish, and you will find the oven temperature dropping.  It is recommended that 80% of your cooking is inside the ovens, and only 20% on the hobs.  So for example, we get our spuds boiling on the boiling plate, then transfer to the floor of the roasting oven.  Similarly, cooked breakfasts are started on boiling plate, then frying pan sits on bottom of roasting oven.  Keeps the smell out of the kitchen, and makes the juiciest breakfast you've ever had!

Also, as you cook the heat stored will diminish, so for example after a few pots of coffee with the lid up, then soup mid morning and a big sunday roast, ours would not be as warm as in the morning.

It might be that one of your wicks is going out, but this shouldn't happen if it's just been serviced.

Hope that helps,
Neil

[robert waddell]

kero or diesel has to be vaporised or injected to burn it also requires an igniter to burn  unless it is burning constant    the principals of a steam cleaner and oil/kero central heating/cooking is the same without an electric control to switch on and then off when temperature is reached
gas on the other hand has a pilot light that ignites the burner     no pilot light no burner
yes the hot plate covers have to be down to get max efficiency from the oven

[jaykay]

jaykay i don't see how your burner continues in power cuts they all need electric to work the burner and the pump unless it is solid fuel and even at that the pump needs electric

The oil is gravity fed into a regulator (silvery oval thing on side of aga) and then wells up into a dish with three rings inside the aga.

That's it. You light the oil with a match to start it and then it keeps itself going. No pump, gravity fed. Honestly, it goes without electricity, fortunately as we seem to specialise in 8+ hour powercuts here in winter 

[robert waddell]

it cant be very powerfull in output (btu) with that system     that is going back to the old salamander heaters that burned used engine oil and no more powerfull than a chip pan burning