Three oven gas aga

[Jamie Copeland]

Hi folks

My partner and I are considering installing an aga in the kitchen. We'd be installing a three oven gas aga.

My question is, does anyone have any knowledge of gas aga running costs?

My girlfriends father is a heating engineer so installing and servicing isn't an issue.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[Jacob]

Agas are the most expensive cookers in the world to run.
They don't do anything that any other cooker can't do but most modern cookers do it better, and are a lot cheaper to buy and to run by a very large margin
They are a funny anachronism - solid fuel versions they made sense 100 years ago as an alternative to the open range but gas powered makes no sense at all. Normal gas cookers are excellent. Agas are just an obscure fashion statement.*
Don't do it!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho ... ?t=3379114

*PS the fashion statement is "loadsa money, but no brains at all" :lol:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can't speak for gas, but I remember reading of a woman with a large Aga and more money than sense using £13,000 of oil a year.

 

[porker]

We had a 4 oven gas Aga in our last house which we used up until around 2007 when we finally turned it off largely down to the amount of gas they use. I can't remember exactly what it was costing because the CH was also gas but I think it was over 60% of the total gas bill something like £800/yr just for the Aga (8 years ago). My MIL still uses hers as her main source as she has the smaller one. They keep the kitchen nice and warm and they cook well with no warm up required because they are on all the time. When we sold the house it was a 'feature' everyone commented on - mostly people who had never had one. Would I have another - no. Simply too expensive to run. My parents and my sister both had them (oil in both cases) they also both took them out and got little for them. I think the market has dropped in them since fuel started creeping up. I am on oil now and although it is 50% of what I was paying 18 months ago I think fuel prices will continue to rise in the long run.
Just my opinion and if fuel were not an issue I quite like them - but it is for me.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"They keep the kitchen nice and warm and they cook well with no warm up required because they are on all the time."
That, I gather is the main thing against them - you have the heat all year even when you don't want it.

 

[Jacob]

"They keep the kitchen nice and warm and they cook well with no warm up required because they are on all the time."
That, I gather is the main thing against them - you have the heat all year even when you don't want it.

And you can keep the kitchen nice and warm by leaving any design of cooker on all the time, if you really want to.
But you have to leave the AGA/Rayburn on all the time or it's useless for cooking. This is not an advantage it's a major drawback!

 

[porker]

"They keep the kitchen nice and warm and they cook well with no warm up required because they are on all the time."
That, I gather is the main thing against them - you have the heat all year even when you don't want it.

yes, can't say the heat was ever a real problem even in the Summer but they most definitely waste fuel. I believe AGA make newer ovens that are more conventional in the way they work now driven by this issue but I've not looked into it.

 

[beganasatree]

Hi Jamie,
My son inherited one with the house that he bought,the previous owner had it disconnected because of the running costs.

Peter.

 

[adidat]

I bought a pretty decent small rayburn oil stove for 70 quid gonna rip the guts out and stick it the workshop to burn my off cuts.

I know several people (wealthy) with agas. One thing in common they all earn alot of cash and they all say how expensive they are to run.

Adidat

 

[YorkshireMartin]

I'd have one if I had a substantial period property to go with it. They are expensive to run by definition. Any cooker would be that is designed to operate 24/7?

I would like an Aga to running a heated swimming pool, if you have even the most remote concern about your energy usage for any reason, then you may want to look elsewhere.

My aunt has an Aga at the farm. She's never complained to me about the running costs, but then again I wouldn't expect her to complain to me about anything, I suppose. Theirs is wood burning and they have woodland on their land, so I don't suppose running costs ever come into it.

To sum it up, it depends on your circumstances.

If I'm allowed to be judgemental for a second....nothing screams "crass" more, than something like an Aga in a modern(ish) house...on it's own, that would almost qualify the owner for russian or UAE citizenship on grounds of taste.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My friend was a self employed carpet fitter in the '80s, and did most of his work in St. Mawes, for extremely wealthy people. He was laying a kitchen vinyl one day and the lady of the house said she was going to advertise the immaculate, huge, solid fuel Aga in the local paper. He dwelt on it for a minute or two and asked how much she would be asking. Oh, she said, I think i should be able to get £250 for it. He waited for a few minutes and said well, if that's what you're asking I'll take it off you. Oh, lovely she replied, that'll save my advertising it. He duly arranged for someone to go and dismantle the thing and take it to where he lived.
A month later, he returned to finish some carpet that he'd been waiting for, went into the kitchen and there was an absolutely identical Aga. He explained to me that the first thing the very wealthy did in St. Mawes when they paid several hundred thousand (1980s) for a house was to have the kitchen, bathroom and carpets ripped out and changed as they didn't like using other people's. He actually renewed carpets from summer to winter for some people (because they didn't like summer colours in winter and vice versa) even if they'd missed a season and hadn't even walked on them. He's got the Aga to this day, but he's in an area with no gas in an old, cold, damp house.

 

[Droogs]

Solid fuel AGA's are great, especially if you are able to have a cheap source of wood and use it to keep the water and or the house warm if you live in an older property. Oil and gas fired ones just seem anathema to me, after all if you want a gas cooker you'ld be better off buying a NEC or Stoves. And modern houses have far more effiecient CH. Why not just make yourself a rocket stove

 

[Distinterior]

I've got a kitchen to fit in late January in a newly built, very, very modern style house.

The client is having a triple module White Gas Aga fitted. the kitchen is very modern in its style (High Gloss White Handless) and as often as I have tried to talk them out of having the Aga, they are adamant that its the best form of cooking.....!!!!!

Sometimes, when a client wants to have an Aga, we put a normal oven & hob in the kitchen as well for them to use in the warmer months of the year, but that is not the case in this instance.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From what I've read, they are far from the best form of cooking as they are impossible to get hot enough for certain purposes. Slow cooking and slow baking, yes.

 

[woodfarmer]

15 years ago in Cornwall we had a gas fired Rayburn. We both loved it. Then we were living in a well insulated modern bungalow and the Rayburn also did hot water and CH. I ran the whole house at 20C Never used more than £18 in a week but summertime that was down to about £7. (no CH) although it was always on, it was also on the thermostat.

 

[Jacob]

I've got a kitchen to fit in late January in a newly built, very, very modern style house.

The client is having a triple module White Gas Aga fitted. the kitchen is very modern in its style (High Gloss White Handless) and as often as I have tried to talk them out of having the Aga, they are adamant that its the best form of cooking.....!!!!!

Sometimes, when a client wants to have an Aga, we put a normal oven & hob in the kitchen as well for them to use in the warmer months of the year, but that is not the case in this instance.

Nearly all AGA users have a normal cooker for "back-up" but in fact nearly all of them have to use it very often.

 

[blackrodd]

Hi folks

My partner and I are considering installing an aga in the kitchen. We'd be installing a three oven gas aga.

My question is, does anyone have any knowledge of gas aga running costs?

My girlfriends father is a heating engineer so installing and servicing isn't an issue.

Cheers

Jamie

You should be talking to you're GF Father as he ought to know the running costs when he sets these things up!
Our service engineer tells me, The original Aga stove was a heat leak to warm up the large kitchens they tended to fitted in, farmhouses, etc.
On the lowest economical setting, They produced 45 gallons of hot water stored in the copper tank.
And the hotplate under the burner/ firebox was hot enough to boil a large kettle, 24/7, exactly as mine was.

LPG, Was the dearest, also the tank owner or renter or supplier would fill up every month so you're tank was constantly full, therefore you were the proud owner of £600. in gas, constantly, and a fuel bill every month
The gaily coloured natural gas Aga's were useless and expensive, and many were taken out after12/18 months in the 90's, maybe they are better now.
Electric Aga's are similar and not very efficient, I'm told.
Oil is very efficient, controlablle, and without the mess and storage of coal or log conversion/splitting.
Solid fuel, still seems best for most as there are various methods of cheap fuel, pallets, wood waste etc.
So I took out the Aga, and bought a 1954 (plate inside the oven, l h side) Rayburn solid fuel.
Regards Rodders

 

[Jacob]

We had an old Rayburn when we lived in a primitive cottage in Wales. No running water but it had a tank with a tap on the other side from the oven. You'd fill the tank with a bucket. The fire box a bit small for wood - needed regular re-fills of small stuff.
So it was good for hot water and space heating but we cooked on a modern calor gas stove except for the few occasions when the Rayburn was hot enough.

 

[AJB Temple]

I have had three houses with AGAs. First was a small oil one. Second was a 4 oven gas one from an LPG tank and the third was a 4 oven oil. I loved them to cook with as long as I was not cooking for large numbers (they lose heat too fast if the lids are open constantly). I found oil was to crazy expensive to run, but LPG was very inefficient. I would consider a mains gas one but would turn it off in the summer.

I have looked at Rayburn recently but the has are too small even on the targets ones.

I can buy AGA and T Rayburn at less than half retail as my brother works for the company that owns them. However, for my next kitchen I will be buying an induction hob and eye level ovens, including steam oven. Ease of access and ease of cleaning are big factors now.

In your shoes I would look at the expenditure and weigh that against high quality large ovens, induction or premium quality gas hob with very good pan rests, and efficient extraction. Something like Miele appliances is just as much of a selling point, if not more so now than AGA.

 

[woodchip]

I have a 13a electric two oven model. It costs us around £15-£20 per week to run, but we do have a 4kw solar array to help with the running costs. It switches off at 9:30pm and on at 4:00am.

For us it works well as my wife works from home in the kitchen/diner and the rest of the house is unheated. Prior to getting the aga the heating was on all day heating the whole house. So there is soumd saving in gas to offset the aga usage.