Bought a house with an aga - it guzzles gas 25,000 kWh so no idea what to do! Utilities Warehouse?

theoretica

I grew up with a coal burning aga - with no gas supply and rather frequent powercuts it made a lot of sense at the time.

in_my_wellies

wittynamegoeshere said:

Flight3287462 said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

Get rid of the thing and buy a sensible oven, they're just not suitable for the reality of the modern world, they probably never were.

You obviously have never had one.

Some of us were brought up with no central heating and lovely warm Aga in the kitchen was a godsend.  

If you live in a rural area they still can be.

The heat doesn't appear for free, you pay for every bit of it.  You could probably have installed heating and fuelled it for less than the cost of running the thing.

If you want a warm house get some heating installed and switch it on, at least then you'll be paying to heat the parts of the house you actually live in rather than in a corner of a kitchen, probably mostly heating an external wall and/or extractor.

They are utterly pointless, perhaps with the exception of the originals which used solid fuel so perhaps avoided the hassle of stoking and warming up, perhaps if the olden days housewife or servants were at home all day baking bread and whatever else.

They're just a class badge, a status symbol of being one of the country house types.  Often in a suburban newbuild!

Oh dear! Your comments are the type of comments I hear from city folk who have no idea about village life but who want to inflict your views city views on us. 

wittynamegoeshere

in_my_wellies said:

Oh dear! Your comments are the type of comments I hear from city folk who have no idea about village life but who want to inflict your views city views on us. 

Thanks for the judgement!  Giving your jibe the response it doesn't deserve, we live in the middle of a field, off the gas grid, in a well-insulated house with electric heating.  We're about to close up the chimneys and install a heat pump.  We're country folk, we're just not stuck in the past of setting fire to stuff to keep warm and having an oven you never switch off for no reason that makes any sense.

I also own some wellies.

wittynamegoeshere

I've heard that Agas have been used in the past for gently warming up newborn lambs that had got really cold.

We'd have to microwave them, which probably wouldn't turn out very well.

So if you're a shepherd then perhaps they have a purpose.  Otherwise, it's probably just for bragging rights down at the WI.

shinytop

We inherited an electric Aga when we moved in.  It was expensive to run (even at 10p/kWh) and unreliable so we got rid.  It kept the kitchen very hot but was next to useless at actually cooking (or maybe that's just me).  Everybody said it looked nice though.  

Nothing wrong with them if you want one and are prepared to pay. 

lizziewillsavemoney

I love the Aga - would never have understood the fuss till I got one but it’s only as I’ve dropped a day at work for ill health and now thinking if going to three days work that the pennies are pinching more and more. I usually turn it off last weekend of May til  early October. I reckon it will be off longer this summer and I’ll be using the conventional oven!. 

So far Utilities Warehouse has the best variable rate - gas is 3.98 per kWh and 18p standing rate, electricity is 20 kWh and 17 standing. So Energy my current supplier on variable is gas 4p and 26p and electric 20 and 24 standing 

Cardew

wittynamegoeshere said:

in_my_wellies said:

Oh dear! Your comments are the type of comments I hear from city folk who have no idea about village life but who want to inflict your views city views on us. 

Thanks for the judgement!  Giving your jibe the response it doesn't deserve, we live in the middle of a field, off the gas grid, in a well-insulated house with electric heating.  We're about to close up the chimneys and install a heat pump.  We're country folk, we're just not stuck in the past of setting fire to stuff to keep warm and having an oven you never switch off for no reason that makes any sense.

I also own some wellies.

I hope your wellies are green! These are a bargain at £360 https://www.wellywarehouse.co.uk/le-chameau-chasseur-leather-lined-wellingtons?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz4_O2PDe9QIVh6ztCh2NRAAdEAQYBiABEgIc8vD_BwE

There have been several threads on the very high cost of running an Aga. I am with you that they are by and large a fashion statement these days; although I do have fond memories of one in my grandparents house.

EssexHebridean

lizziewillsavemoney said:

EssexHebridean - or won’t let me reply - keeps saying I’m 9 characters too short,, 

Variable gas is 3.9 kWh, 18 standing charge
elec is 20, 17 standind

fixed gas is 6.75, standing 15.8
elec 32, standing is 11p 

That fix looks decent - so long as it genuinely IS from UW. 

QrizB

lizziewillsavemoney said:

I love the Aga - would never have understood the fuss till I got one but it’s only as I’ve dropped a day at work for ill health and now thinking if going to three days work that the pennies are pinching more and more. I usually turn it off last weekend of May til  early October. I reckon it will be off longer this summer and I’ll be using the conventional oven!. 

So far Utilities Warehouse has the best variable rate - gas is 3.98 per kWh and 18p standing rate, electricity is 20 kWh and 17 standing. So Energy my current supplier on variable is gas 4p and 26p and electric 20 and 24 standing 

3.98 is not significantly less than 4, and 20 equals 20. The only saving is on the standing charge.

UW has some rates - I think they're called "Double Gold" or somesuch - with reduced standing charges that are only available if you also get landline, broadband and mobile phone services from them. Please make sure that you're not being quoted those rates (or, if you are, that you're happy to switch those other utilities to them).

wittynamegoeshere

lizziewillsavemoney said:

I love the Aga - would never have understood the fuss till I got one but it’s only as I’ve dropped a day at work for ill health and now thinking if going to three days work that the pennies are pinching more and more. I usually turn it off last weekend of May til  early October. I reckon it will be off longer this summer and I’ll be using the conventional oven!. 

So far Utilities Warehouse has the best variable rate - gas is 3.98 per kWh and 18p standing rate, electricity is 20 kWh and 17 standing. So Energy my current supplier on variable is gas 4p and 26p and electric 20 and 24 standing 

If you could take meter readings over a 24-hour period where you're otherwise not using gas you could work out roughly how much it costs you in cold hard cash.  Put some numbers up if you like, there are lots of boffins here who like nothing better than working out this sort of thing.  It probably amounts to lots of £100s per year at current prices.  Then decide whether your love for it is unconditional!

I'd assume that they will be nothing like as energy efficient as any decent boiler, so a lot of heat will be spraying straight out of the flue, in addition to the remaining heat probably not being in the place you really want it.