AGA for everything

[Fibrous]

Hello, we are looking at a house which has a gas AGA for cooking, hot water, and central heating.

Does anyone else have a similar setup? What are the running costs? The house has been on the market for ages and I think this is one of the things putting people off. I grew up in rural Ireland and we had a similar setup but it was solid fuel (turf) so I have some experience of the pros and cons but no idea of the costs.

It would also be very difficult to remove due to the terrain of the property - no idea how they got it in!

I'd avoid, unless it's a modern one with timers, which can be brought up to full heat quickly. Also, what will you do in summer?

We had an Aga for eight years -- it was in the house we rented and later somewhat grudgingly bought because the owners, adult siblings who'd inherited it from their parents, put it on the market and there was nothing else to rent locally.

I will be honest, it was a bit of a pain in the ass, and expensive to run. Ours was old fashioned, and, if turned off, went out, or even was turned down to a minimum, took hours to come back up to full heat to the point where you could use it to cook. We did learn the knack of baking in it, but the real issue was that either it was blasting heat, or it was unusable, and that turning it on and off took forever -- it was a choice between leaving it blasting heat all day while we were out at work and the house was empty, or turning it down for the day and arriving home at 5 or 6 o'clock knowing we couldn't start cooking dinner for an hour or more.

It was too hot in summer, so we turned it off and used a plug-in electrical hob and a barbecue to do most cooking them. (Our hot water was separate.)

I can see how it would work well for a chilly old farmhouse with people in and out needing meals and warmth during the day, and where it could be used for drying laundry etc, but it didn't earn its keep in a well-insulated 1970s house.

We both work from home and the cooking side of things would suit me - I tend to do long, slow cooking of pulses everyday so not really worried about that. It’s more the cost of running it. I am worried about having to have it on all summer too, but we are in the rainy northwest and the house is completely surrounded by trees (it comes with 4 acres of woodland) so it wouldn’t be in direct sun ever. I personally run very cold as I have thyroid disease and a very low heart rate, so the thought of a room that’s always hot quite appeals to me!

I am annoyed it’s a gas AGA though, considering the woodland. A solid fuel one would make a lot more sense when there’s an endless supply of wood.

The cost of running it/removing it and replacing with a combi boiler would factor into how much we offered for the house as we don’t want an unexpected financial millstone to crop up. Just doing the due diligence.

Well, then it might actually work well for you. I envy your four acres of woodland! (I live in a city, though with a large garden, but I am having to plant trees and make a garden from scratch...)

Cooking and baking were not a problem, particularly, once you learned how to use the oven. For us, as well as the cost of running it, the issue was the lack of flexibility in being able to cook on it without a couple of hours' notice -- but that sounds as if it wouldn't necessarily be a problem if you WFH and like a toasty kitchen.

We knew we wouldn't be living in our then house for more than a few years, or we probably would have sucked up the whacking cost of removing it. Sorry I can't provide accurate figures for running costs. It was a while ago. As you're aware, if you think you'll be selling again, it will put off some buyers, but if it works for you, that's more important.

Market place is full of second hand aga/rayburn

if there’s mains gas take the hit for a few years then change to combi

I have a gas Aga but only for cooking. Currently costs about £8 per day. Used to be a LOT cheaper!
I'm moving and have sadly decided to sell it V cheaply. I did look at replacing it with a new one but have settled on something else.
I shall be sad as I always wanted one but its an awfully expensive luxury now.

Thanks for the replies. Thats helpful.

yeah everyone I know who inherited one got rid but I’d be inclined to live with it for a couple of years first to see if it could work, especially as we’d be very skint from the move.

It’s rare to find something with land in our price point and location so this would be a financial stretch for a while.

Yeah that’s a lot. Thanks for the price point.

We bought a property 4yrs ago which had a gas aga. Just for cooking- not water/heating also. We were renovating and kept it, but also have a 2nd oven. We are SE, but it would be FAR too hot to keep it on all summer here- plus expensive! We love it this time of year though.

The biggest issue we had was finding a gas, aga engineer. The aga website has a list of engineers, but it was woefully out of date. Some didn't do aga anymore, didn't do gas, didn't cover our area etc etc. I called 8 before finding one. Our engineers details are now written inside the aga door, but if not, ask the current owner who they use. Sorry, I'm really now help, but there is an aga thread several pages long and if I can find it, will link it so you can more replies.

Here it is. You might find advise on here, OR, add your question/thread to it. 😊
www.mumsnet.com/talk/housekeeping/5187196-all-things-aga-related

For reference - our gas/electric bill is around £300-400 per month in the warmer months (when we keep the AGA switched off). When the AGA is switched on our monthly bill is double at £700-800pm. It’s very expensive!

So we tend to only switch it on Nov-Feb. We have another oven in the kitchen for the rest of the year - does the house you are looking at?

Christ! Our combined gas/electric at our current house is £150/month! There’s no other cooking apparatus at the house.

For price comparison OP, as a I said upthread, I live in the SE. 4 bed, detached but just DH and myself. We have underfloor heating and the heating and hot water is from the boiler- not the aga.

I quickly checked my bills. JUST for gas, we paid about £30-£80 a month in Summer/Autumn and in Dec, when we turned the aga on- its £200 a month. But, it also replaces our kettle, toaster, clothes dryer etc etc, but we only keep it on a few months.

@JDM625 great, thanks. This is a poorly insulated 3 bed 1930s bungalow (110sq m) and just the two of us as well, which we would look to improve on over the years but no grand designs for it, as I quite like 1930s bungalows as they are.

I can only agree with what others are saying about the running cost. Ours only does the cooking and when we turned it off in the summer, it saved about £200/month in gas costs. On the other side, we do only have our heating on an hour in the morning and a couple in the evening, except when it is truly cold outside, with both of us WFH.

My grandparents had a solid fuel one, but it was anthracite/coal fired. I cannot imagine how much effort it would take to have a wood fired one and keep it at a consistent cooking temperature.

Is there an option to fit a separate boiler and plumb it into the heating system/disconnect the aga from that door that you can have heating/hot water separately? Then you could have a summer set up with a small induction hob or similar and only use the aga in the colder months?

I want rid of ours, it was here when we moved in, but although it is ££££ to run, replacing it will be an outrageous cost by the time we factor in having to remodel the kitchen round it, as it is not as simple as pulling it out and chucking a range cooker in its place.

If you're lucky you might find the scrappy will take it away for free. I know the huge thermal capacity means that that they're very good for baking, and some farmers use the warming oven to raise orphan lambs, but realistically who can afford to run one.

An actual Aga doesn’t ever do the central heating, though if you have one that heats the hot water then some people do run a towel rail from the same circuit. However, they’re not a great way of heating water either. For cooking they are marmite - I got used to it quickly and find it absolutely fine, but others can’t get to grips with modifying their cooking techniques to get the best out of an Aga - prioritise using the ovens over the hot plates, moving pans around to manage heat, moving things between ovens etc.

On the other hand, it always makes the kitchen a natural gathering place, and for leaning on on a miserable day it’s unbeatable. It also provides background warmth, which I find useful all year, but in some houses could become unbearable. It doesn’t sound like a problem in the house you’re looking at, but I imagine in a modern, well insulated house with a south facing kitchen and low ceilings the heat which I like could be a problem. But, mine is in an Edwardian house with 11 foot kitchen ceilings, and a north east facing kitchen. Cost wise, it’s difficult for me to split from the heating, which is run by a gas boiler, but based on the summer when the Aga is on and the heating off it’s at least £200 a month to have on and used.

Some people turn theirs off in the summer…I never bother, but I imagine the savings in doing so are signifiant. On the other hand I rarely need to use the tumble dryer, never use the toaster or kettle and probably have the heating on a little les becuase the background heat delays the thermostat activating the boiler in spring / autumn. I now spend a big chunk of the year out of the country, but I leave the Aga on as it’s so nice to come home to :)

We have an Aga-but we also have a microwave/convection. The Aga is too hot in the summer, so we put it on first thing for hot water, then turn it off.

The house is on a hill (as well as being in the woods) so I think it would have to be airlifted out or removed in pieces.

I will scope out the plumbing. I think it would end up being an expensive ornament taking up valuable kitchen space.

The soild fuel ones require you to throw some fuel on all day and they run a lot cooler, I believe. I’ve only ever used a solid fuel range, everyone in my dad’s family has one. We had our own peat bogs so it’s a traditional Irish rural setup. More effort but very affordable (although not great for the planet, it transpires).

I grew up with an aga as our only oven so adapted to cooking with it and it was odd leaving for uni and having to get used to preheating stuff etc. it's absolutely doable but my mum always complained of the bills but it always made the kitchen so cosy in winter.

With these very hot and long summers it became unbearable to have on all year so mum recently bought a mini conventional/microwave oven so she can turn off the aga. A plug in hob too both of which are useful anyway for Christmas cooking. Doing this will probably be cheaper then buying a different house.

You can always swap it for a more conventional range in the future.

so I think it would have to be airlifted out or removed in pieces

Ours was in the house already, but on a wall we wanted to remove. The engineer we found, dismantled the entire thing and stacked it up in a pile, ready to be assembled again a year later. Amazing to watch really. They had a hoover to suck out the vermiculite inside, then piece by piece, took it apart and stacked into a neat pile.

Ah that’s interesting to know.

I grew up with a gas AGA. Kept breaking down. The 'Aga Man' was quite a regular. I'd have backup cooker in case.

We inherited an aga with our house. Oil run as we don’t have mains gas and we have oil fired central heating and hot water.

We switch the aga off in the summer and use an air frier and a plug in induction hob. Partly cos of the heat (although it’s Scotland and it’s not a particularly warm house so it’s about one week a year when it’s actually hot here) but mostly because of the running costs.

I do use it for loads though in the winter - kettle, toasties, drying washing, stews simmering away all day. I miss it in the summer but the giant air frier is awesome and we have a gas BBQ too. Undecided whether we’ll keep it long term but it’s working for now

We have an oil fuelled 1960s Aga, 250 years old house, it uses 40 litres per week, doesn’t heat the house apart from the kitchen or warm water just cooks. We don’t have gas in the village so just oil / electricity.
We do have an electric oven and turn the Aga off in high summer but we all love when it’s turned back on again, everything tastes better!
Have been in this house 14 years and have also used Agas before this. When we move I’ll definitely be looking for another.

Are you on facebook? There is a I Love My Aga group which if you search on that will give you more up to date info on the running costs for your set up. Its an ongoing discussion about the costs of running an aga 😂

Mine is a two oven gas, my gas/elec monthly is £275 (large 1920s 4 bed semi). I turn it off April-March, my kitchen gets very hot in the warmer months, I have another kitchen for summer use.

I love my aga very much, over night cooking of the christmas turkey is a godsend, Drying loads of washing, ironing bedding which saves me so much time. Cooking on it is so much easier not having to keep an eye on stuff just put it in the ovens. I cook overnight just put reminders for myself that there is food in the SO 😂

Older agas can be taken apart, so yours was probably assembled onsite. Mine was taken apart when we were renovating, stored it in the garage for months until we ready for it to go back in. To remove and reassemble was about £1,000 4 years ago.

I've recently paid £500 to have a very old one removed at another property as it was too fsr gone to use, taking them out is not cheap and shouldn't be done by just anyone, my aga man had to check mine that he'd be able to remove it, think it was to do with what insulation was in it.

We bought two plug in induction hobs and a mini oven as in the summer it was just too warm and too expensive to keep it on.

the house had a hot water tank and we put an electric immersion in it.