Gas 2 oven Aga - replace or convert

Quiet_penguin

Hi All, 

We've just moved in to a 300 year old property.  There is currently a 2 oven gas aga deluxe with a balanced flue in our kitchen. It's on 24/7 and seems like a waste of money/not great for the environment.  There is underfloor heating in the kitchen that is never on because, of course, it's not needed at all, but it would be there to use for heating if we wanted to replace the Aga with something else.   Boiler serves all the other radiators in the house and does the hot water - so Aga there only for cooking/cosy heat source. 

The issues with replacing are:

 There don't seem to be many options to replace the AGA with something of a similar size (depth/width) and the kitchen is beautifully fitted around what's there now - so we'd risk having to get quite a lot of work done to accommodate a different stove...  

I think Aga's are also quite good at keeping older houses well heated. The house is great and has been well maintained but we've yet to do a winter here so don't know how cold we can expect it to be.  Windows are double glazed and of good quality so that should help. 

I've been looking at Aga conversions - Electrikit etc.  That would seem like a good way to go but worried it would still be expensive to run and we'd lose the heating the house/keeping damp at bay elements that come with our current Aga.   Also, if we ended up having to have the underfloor heating on most of the time then we'd be spending quite a lot on that too in terms of running costs - albeit probably not as much as the aga!

Bottom line:

Convert it, or replace it with something else - if so, anybody got any suggestions for ovens that may be the same size as an Aga Deluxe?!

fromdusktilldawn

I was in a similar situation to you with an oil fired Aga. Old house, cob walls, less well insulated with single glazed windows (its listed). 
I looked into replacing the Aga with a range style cooker but it would have needed an external flue and lots of alterations. Current Aga uses an existing chimney so I had it converted to electric which is much easier to manage. I turn it off in the summer and run it mostly on low during the winter. It provides a good background temperature for the cob walls which are lime plastered externally for breathability.
Summary: Costs a fair bit but it suits the house.

Albermarle

Why is it on 24/7? Presumably the central heating/gas boiler is not ?
Remember if you change to electric, gas is a third of the price of electric per KWH.

Is the underfloor heating electric ( expensive) or does it run off the main wet central heating system?

Nobbie1967

We had this issue when we moved into our 1920’s semi with a gas fired Aga in the kitchen diner. First summer was ridiculous as kitchen was far too hot and we had to open doors/windows to keep temperature down, but needed to keep the Aga on for cooking. Our solution was to install a two ring electric hob and an oven when we fitted a new kitchen, although an air fryer would probably have done instead of a built in oven. This allowed us to turn off the Aga between April and November. We’re retired and spend a lot of time in the kitchen diner and love how cosy it is in winter. The rest of the house has CH, but is kept relatively cool except for a wood burner in the lounge for cold nights.

It may seem like a waste having it on 24/7, but it’s providing heat that would otherwise be provided by the CH, so it’s swings and roundabouts really. I assume the underfloor heating is run off the gas boiler rather than an electric system as that would be very expensive to run.

Our current monthly DD for both gas and electric is £200, so it doesn’t cost the earth really.

I wouldn’t bother with the electric conversion, very expensive and running costs unlikely to be much less as electric is 3-4 times more expensive for the same heat output and except in summer, the CH will have to burn more gas to replace the heat given off by the Aga.

FreeBear

Quiet_penguin said: Bottom line:

Convert it, or replace it with something else - if so, anybody got any suggestions for ovens that may be the same size as an Aga Deluxe?!

Replace the Aga with a dual fuel Rangemaster - Not cheap, but you will save a fortune on heating costs, so the payback period shouldn't be too long.

Get a quote for a heat pump from someone like Octopus to replace the existing boiler (and Aga if that also serves central heating). If your pipework is suitable, you may be surprised at how cheap an ASHP can be to install. And no, you do not need a highly insulated house in order to have a heat pump. It is just another way to heat a home. Decent levels of insulation is worthwhile in any property, regardless of how it is heated.

Quiet_penguin

Hi All, 

Thanks for the replies - a few extra details for context:

Underfloor heating is Raychem, so electric, rather than running off the gas boiler.  Gas boiler heats all other radiators in the house and the hot water. 

Aga in the kitchen is on an external wall and has a balanced flue.  It's just for cooking and cosy warmth though. 

So - options are:

1) keep as is - suck up costs and the excessive heat in summer!
2) convert using Electrikit - so we can turn off the oven in summer and just use the hotplates (you can get half converted to induction with the conversion) for cooking.  There is another small microwave/combi oven we can use too and we have a Ninja Foodie that does all sorts. 
3) replace the whole thing with a gas range - but that will likely involve doing something (potentially expensive) with fitted worktops as I can't seem to find any replacement the same size as our Aga deluxe.

I'm interested in finding a way to maintain the benefits of the Aga - heating a very old house in a way that suits it, while minimising the cost as far as possible - don't get me wrong, I know they're never exactly going to be an economical option!

Interested in hearing if there's anybody else out there who has converted using Electrikit - what was the cosy/heat factor like afterwards and did it save you any money during summer?

Thanks again all, 

FreeBear

Quiet_penguin said: 2) convert using Electrikit - so we can turn off the oven in summer and just use the hotplates (you can get half converted to induction with the conversion) for cooking.  There is another small microwave/combi oven we can use too and we have a Ninja Foodie that does all sorts. 
3) replace the whole thing with a gas range - but that will likely involve doing something (potentially expensive) with fitted worktops as I can't seem to find any replacement the same size as our Aga deluxe.

Doing an electrical conversion is likely to cost you around £4000 (ouch). A Rangemaster can be had from around £2000, and other brands for less.

At 987mm wide, the Aga sounds like it is a bit of an odd size, but allowing for a gap either side, it is darned close to 1m - If you measure a "standard" 1m wide range cooker, chances are, it will be a little less. How much space to the nearest millimetre do you have between adjacent units ?