Aga - convert or replace or?? help with thought process

Genghissian · 11 December 2019 at 2:30PM

We have just moved into a house with an oil fired 2 oven aga that also runs our hot water\heating. There is also an electric oven and induction hob for use in summer when, as I understand it, the aga is turned off for 3 months. There is also, presumably, an altertive way of getting hot water though we have yet to get to the bottom of this. As far as I can see the aga is eating oil, there is no way of regulating the heat and many of the radiators do not have thermostats (they will be upgraded in due course) so we have turned off all but essential ones which has made a slight improvement to the rate at which the tank is emptying.

There is no gas in the village, but we understand that the roof is suitable for solar panels. As well as the cost aspect we would prefer to use energy from a renewable source. I would appreciate some help with the thought process please.

If we convert the aga to electric I understand that it should be possible to regulate temperature and would give the option, for example, of switching off the hot plates. I also believe that we would not incur the shut down\start up costs associated with the summer shut off. We would presumable need to keep it switched on for the heating\hot water? On the down side there is the conversion cost.

Conversion would really only be a reasonable option if we also invest in solar. We would not be looking to make any kind of income from this just cover our needs. We have been given a ball park figure of £5k for installation.

Would it be possible\sensible to invest in an electric range or cooker of some kind? I have zero interest in the lifestyle aspect of the aga: I have found it very troublesome so far and I'm not sure I have the patience or interest to get to grips with the arcanery of aga cooking. If it were removed I would have an aga shaped hole in the kitchen hence my thoughts about replacing it with something the same size and shape otherwise the oven\hob I have now would probably suffice in most circumstances.

There must be other aspects to this and other options that I have not considered. I would be grateful for any thoughts, particularly if you have been down this road or are currently on it. Thanks!

Gerry1 · 11 December 2019 at 3:02PM

Solar might be of some use on sunny summer days (when you least need CH) but you'd need a vast array to power CH and HW on cloudy winter days.

If you compare the kWh costs of grid electricity with oil you'll see that you'd be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Energy Cost Comparison
Fuel Prices
Fuel Comparisons

Cardew · 11 December 2019 at 5:44PM

Over the years there have been many threads on this forum on the pros and cons(mainly cons!) of agas; including conversions. I suggest you do a search to get a variety of opinions.

I think that the concensus is that the running costs of all types is eye watering.

I completely agree with the post above on the (un) suitability of depending on solar panels for an aga.

Genghissian · 11 December 2019 at 6:03PM

Gerry1 and Cardew, thank you for your quick responses. I have read the threads but I was particularly looking to see if solar as a supplement would make an electric aga any more viable than our current oil aga. We really are very new to this so apologies if these are stupid questions. I appreciate that solar power would not be a total solution by any means and definitely not all year round but initial conversations were quite encouraging (but they would say that wouldn't they ....). My preference would be to ditch the aga altogether and I am not seeing anything to persuade me that we should keep it.

Gerry1 · 11 December 2019 at 6:26PM

They're not silly questions. However, you need to work out how much many kW the Aga gobbles up at full pelt and how many kWh that amounts to in a year. Then see just how massive the solar array would have to be. It might give you 4kW in direct sunlight at lunchtime in June, but you'd be lucky to get 400W on a cloudy December day, and absolutely nothing at all right now. When the Aga is at its hungriest, the sun will be hiding instead of shining, and the meter will be whizzing away...

Wet electric CH + HW powered by the grid is just about the most expensive you can have. You might want to convert or get rid of the Aga for lifestyle reasons, but if you think it will save you money I fear you'll be in for a very rude awakening... just look at the pence/kWh figures in those three links and do the sums. If electricity would be cheaper, why do you think the previous owners chose oil?

coffeehound · 11 December 2019 at 6:26PM

There is some sort of market for secondhand oil-fired AGAs, though prices vary between £1 and £1900

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=aga+oil+fired&_sacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=1&LH_ItemCondition=3000&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

Cardew · 11 December 2019 at 6:48PM

Currently oil costs around 5p/kWh(50p/litre) and electricity around 14p/kWh.

It is worth mentioning that you can have external oil fired CH boilers.

SonOf · 11 December 2019 at 7:43PM

We have just moved into a house with an oil fired 2 oven aga that also runs our hot water\heating

Whilst they do exist, they are very unusual. It is typically the Rayburns that do both.

There is also an electric oven and induction hob for use in summer when, as I understand it, the aga is turned off for 3 months.

That is quite normal for cooking AGAs but less so with heating ones.

I have zero interest in the lifestyle aspect of the aga

They are great once you get used to them. Hard to live without once you learn about them and put them to use. It can be daunting at first but well worth learning.

I have found it very troublesome so far and I'm not sure I have the patience or interest to get to grips with the arcanery of aga cooking.

How has it been troublesome?
Could it be more down to your lack of understanding how it works?

matelodave · 11 December 2019 at 9:26PM

I've got an all electric household (heating as well, although it's via a heatpump) and I cannot see any possible way that solar panels would help me at all.

Lot's of leccy in the summer when I hardly use it and very little in the winter when I use lots.

70% of my energy is consumed in the five months when it's cold, wet, miserable and the sun doesn't shine and 30% during the other seven months when it does

The benefit of the solar Feed In Tariff and the option of selling any excess back to the energy company, ceased last year so there's a now only a slim chance that you'll ever get a return on your capital and non whatsoever if you have to borrow the money and pay interest to install them. They were probably a good bet around 8-10 years ago when the FIT was at it's maximum and the benefit was for 25 years, but they've slowly eroded it away to zero so the only advantage is the that you can use the energy that you generate but even then you've got to use most of it during the day between June July and August

If you really don't want the AGA then probably your best solution is to install an oil fired boiler. As Cardew points out you can get external boiler units if you've no space inside (although I guess that you might be able to fit one into the space vacated by the AGA)

FreeBear · 12 December 2019 at 11:45AM

Cardew wrote: »

It is worth mentioning that you can have external oil fired CH boilers.

I was goinf to mention this myself.. A friend has a wall mounted jobbie, and it looks just like a conventional gas type combi. Controlled just like one too, so no specialised timer/control needed.
Certainly wouldn't convert an Aga to electric - Eye wateringly expensive to run. An alternative might be a wood pellet stove IF there is a large dry space for fuel storage. Running costs would be higher than oil, so some careful research would be needed.

Davesnave · 18 December 2019 at 8:15AM

FreeBear wrote: »

An alternative might be a wood pellet stove IF there is a large dry space for fuel storage. Running costs would be higher than oil, so some careful research would be needed.

Installation would be much more too. Out here in the sticks, when I looked into the costs of going pellet or oil boiler 6 or 7 years ago, I was getting quotes for oil at 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of pellets and I'd have lost space for storage to boot.

The Aga was the first thing out the door, sold to a nice gentleman who wanted it for a cottage he was renovating: "so it looks like it's been there forever, and no messing with Building Control." He gave me £200.

The Aga is a nice feature in a country kitchen, but ours, which only did incidental heat, cooking and hot water, ran out of puff when the wind blew, making cooking 'interesting.' We also needed back-up from an immersion heater. Can't comment on the electric ones.

I expected oil to increase in price, and it has to some extent, but the last delivery I had was at 46p/litre. We're lucky in having great back-up from a wood burner + a cheap wood supply, and a well built sun room feeds in warmth, even at this time of year when it's sunny, so until Christmas, it's a rare day when we have any heating on in daylight hours. However, another important difference is through much improved insulation, including a heat store for the water.

I wouldn't say our solutions are perfect, or cheap, or eco, but IMO it will be some time before our choice to stay with oil through a conventional boiler might begin to look wrong.

Aga - convert or replace or?? help with thought process

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