An electric or oil Aga???

amicolley

jascilmil wrote: »

Thanks for your help guys!

We don't actually have any particular fuel at present as this is a self-build project. So I suppose effectively we could have an LPG aga?! Unfortunately mains gas isn't an option.

Good point about a power cut...somehow it doesn't seem right running it on electric, however the electric aga does come with what they call AIMS technology which means you can turn it down at night or when you are away etc.

Its good to remember that if you are using these cookers for central heating the pump wont work without electric which ever fuel you are using to power it :-) The voice of experience :rotfl:

amicolley

bryanb wrote: »

An electric Aga is simply a storage heater, It's OK if you already use economy 7 elec. They are good to cook on but you can't turn them off if the kitchen gets too hot. Running costs around the same as oil (assuming E7) if you include everything. Recent oil price hikes may have changed things, but elec has hiked as well.[/QUO

Does this mean you are running an electric Aga on economy 7, I would love to have one but am v wary.....Aga's blurb says one of the advantages to electric is that you can control them I would love to know how you are getting on with yours Cheers:o

puc

I have a 2 oven electric aga running off economy 7. Costs approx £20 per week to run.

The advantages are that it keeps the kitchen warm (the cats love it), it's great to cook with (hottest hot plate ever), bottom oven great for slow cooking, kept heat even when we had 2 days of power cut.

Disadvantages include the heat in the kitchen in summer, no water heating, need for good quality cookware.

It's been reliable.

ferretkeeper

I realise it's an old thread but I've just found it....I wanted to share a thought I've had as we consider installing an Aga or Rayburn, and deliberate over the fuel we choose.

It was on the news recently that the national grid apparently may not be able to cope with demand this winter, and we should expect power cuts, so we are very much swayed toward a wood burning range.


Obviously it needs to be kept topped up so no use if you're out at work all day, and wood storage is a consideration. But for us with no mains gas, and the price of oil changing all the time it's starting to seem like our best option.

Also as we will be putting the range in a not yet built extension, I wonder whether we should get a model with a back boiler and run some rads into the old part of the house in case of such a power cut, our oil boiler won't be working and it gets cold quickly in here!

There should be some sort of checklist to help cut through all the options, it's mind boggling!

Blackberryjam

Back in March 2012 d3plot posted, in this thread #16:

[FONT=&quot]The thermostatic controls are electric, so we have fitted a timer (£5 from Tesco) that turns off the mains between 10pm and 5:30am, meaning that it is on low fire for the full overnight period. This means that its heat drops off overnight, and it has to run on high fire for an extended period when it wakes up at 5:30am in the morning but, by and large, it is up to temperature in time for breakfast.

This has reduced the oil consumption from 70 litres / week to about 55 litres / week,[/FONT]

This sounds a really good idea if it works. The only reason I have doubts is because the Aga will obviously have to go to high-fire every morning for quite a while to restore the heat that it has just lost. So is there actually a measurable benefit?
I wonder if anyone else has been able to repeat d3plot's experiment and found that they have saved oil. I am trying the system at present, but I can see that it might take some years to tell if it is worthwhile.

dawsey

I've done this and it works. I'm a Chartered Engineer and just prior to buying an Aga I did a bit of research on fuel types, consumption etc and was amazed at the amount of nonsense online. There are those who post endless untruths about pressure jet conversions (and are usually trying to sell them) which just don't make sense thermodynamically, and lots of ill-informed concern about efficiency and environmental impact.

In a climate such as the UK, and in the type of larger and/or isolated rural housing where the Aga is usually found, the Aga will offset CH system consumption to an extent that the overall increase in total fuel consumption will be about 50-60% of the amount quoted by Aga.

The mod described above reduces this by a further 25-50% dependent on use and what you set minimum oil flow at. For me it is 50% - I leave the cooker at this form of idle most of the time, wound right down to 2.5cc/min - with the mercury midway between the black and the line it is still useable and I just press an Immersion timer to bring it back up to full temp for a couple of hours in the evening (and then only if we are roasting). I can still warm croissants in the morning, slow cook stews in the daytime, and warm pretty much anything else at anytime else. Just takes a tad longer.

An electric module allowing complete switch off when the weather is warm (June to September) reduces consumption still further - it is wasteful to be producing heat when you don't need it.

Used this way, the oil Aga has increased my annual fuel cost by £250 or 500 litres. Its a small annual price and it is worth paying. I still get all the usual stuff - dry, damp free house, warm kitchen at all times, always on oven still good enough for most things (have to wait 90min if we want to roast or bake something though - but strangely enough we always seem to know a hour or two beforehand that we are going to do that - so simply press the button)

Service is simplicity itself, no need to pay anyone - just remove the burner, scrape away the carbon and put it back together. You'll be amazed at just how simple it really is. There are loads of online tutorials.

Dont believe the snake oil salesmen who are merely trying to sell something. When heating is required in the house, with exit temps of 70C at idle (just above condensing), flue gas composition confirming proper combustion and a properly set up flue and draw, the aga has a thermodynamic LHV (efficiency) of around 90% at idle if you have a long internal flue section (with the majority of the heat rejected to the fabric of the house where it is useful).

Hope this helps

Graham

Blackberryjam

Thanks for the encouraging words, dawsey. I will certainly continue with my arrangement, which currently means using a timer to switch off the thermostat at about 8pm, when we move into the other room to watch TV or whatever. Then it comes on again at about 4am and is toasty by the time we are using the Aga to make toast and boil a kettle. The Aga keeps the house generally warm. I'll post my conclusions about economy when I've seen the winter through. We turn it off in the summer.
I'm determined to have a go at the servicing as well, although my engineer seems happy to come just once every two years, and only charges £70.