Aga - oil fired. How does it work?

Aga - oil fired. How does it work?

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anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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We're looking at s house that has an oil fired aga. It's a modern house with oil fired central heating.

I've never cooked with one and am interested to know about the practicalities. I'm used to a gas hob and fan electric oven. We have two young kids.

Let's say you wanted to cook;

- fish fingers with broccoli
- a fried egg sandwich
- Sunday lunch

How quickly does everything get to temp and how controllable is it compared to a normal oven and hob?

As you might guess, I'm not up for fannying about and want to know if it will be a PITA.

loskie

5,143 posts

119 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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they are nice if the house is occupied all day, you may also want an electric cooker as you won't want the aga on in summer.

They use a lot of oil

If you have regular power cuts they are a great asset.

They make great roast potatoes, roast meats, porridge

If windy they can smell oily, blow out, be cooler than you want

You cannot just turn the heat up instantaneously


I'm basing this on my recent experience of living with a solid fuel converted to oil Rayburn No2 (1950s)

It was really nice, no longer used for heating or hot water but guzzled oil . There's nothing mysterious about them they are just different.

There's nothing mysterious about them, they are a highly inefficient but "luxury" item

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
Ok. So don't shoot me here, I love cooking, however let's say I want to cook some chicken dippers for the kids (me) in the aga oven. How would that work? How long would it take to heat up?

irish boy

3,520 posts

235 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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They stay at full temperature all the time. There’s a cooking oven and a warming oven. The hot plate over the burner is always very hot and the other is warm. These are non adjustable too.

Based on 5 years living with one from the 90’s.


Oil consumption was 250 litres a month. Ok now but if prices go up it’s a lot of money.




anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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I get it now. Not for me.

Catz

4,812 posts

210 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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My Mum had an oil fired Rayburn which she successfully cooked with for years, it provided the heating too. I could never get to grips with it myself and preferred to use her electric oven/hob.

From memory it took longer to heat up than a regular oven and is a large piece of kit if you just want to boil an egg for example. It used a lot of oil. I’d not want one to be the only oven in the house.

She eventually got rid of it and now has an oil fired boiler and a woodburner.

LooneyTunes

6,780 posts

157 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
Let's say you wanted to cook;

- fish fingers with broccoli
- a fried egg sandwich
- Sunday lunch
Fish fingers, top right oven (like a normal oven). Broccoli, left hand hob (in a shallow pan of water).
Fried egg sandwich, sheet of cooking paper stuff on left hand hotplate, egg straight on it. Want toast? Straight on the hot plate or use the tennis racket (warm it first).
Sunday lunch, what Agas do best. Roast beef in the roasting oven, some veggies cook on top but a lot you use a small amount of water in the pan, get it up to temp, then transfer the pan to the bottom right oven to effectively steam them.

They’re always on but burn through about 40l of oil a week (if memory serves correctly). Lovely warmness to the kitchen. You will find yourself leaning against it. The ovens look small but are full depth and have runners in them so with the right size trays you can fit far more in than a regular oven. Needs servicing every six months to keep the burner clean.

I really like ours, wife still hates it and wants to replace it with an electric range/induction hob. Which would be fine if the aga wasn’t the only source of heat in the kitchen. We’re probably going to add an induction hob to the island unit and keep the aga.

essayer

9,009 posts

193 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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The best thing about an Aga is that it heats the room incredibly well, so in winter your kitchen is really cosy

The worst thing about an Aga is that it heats the room incredibly well, so in summer you have to turn it off and have an oven and a hob installed as well

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
I get that people will be enthusiastic about them as a thing. We're a family who don't want to have to think too hard about getting on with things (we have enough to do at the best of times), and an aga seems like an expensive and inconvenient way of combining a radiator and cooker.

Thanks for the replies.

NDA

21,485 posts

224 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
I get that people will be enthusiastic about them as a thing. We're a family who don't want to have to think too hard about getting on with things (we have enough to do at the best of times), and an aga seems like an expensive and inconvenient way of combining a radiator and cooker.

Thanks for the replies.
I've had an Aga in several houses now for about 25 years I should think.... oil fired too. If left on 24/7 all year round, it costs around £500 year at current oil prices. Half that if you turn it off in the summer (as many do).

There's nothing complicated about an Aga. It's pretty much like a conventional oven in many respects... but the difference is that it's 'fully on', so you don't need to wait for it to come to temperature. There's the top oven at 200 degrees and the bottom at 150. And two hot plates - one for boiling (on the left) and one for simmering on the right.

Very easy to use and very quick. Lovely in the winter as the kitchen is always warm.


ST12AT

539 posts

166 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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As soon as you asked about ‘fish fingers with broccoli’ I knew an AGA wasn’t for you laugh

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
ST12AT said:
As soon as you asked about ‘fish fingers with broccoli’ I knew an AGA wasn’t for you laugh
Haha! Busted.

I love cooking all sorts of things but sometimes you just need something quick for the little ones.

I get why people like an aga, but we're taking about a rented house with no other cooker. Think we'll give it a miss (despite the adventure side of me being curious).

dontlookdown

1,683 posts

92 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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For 99% of users, an Aga is an addition to a regular cooker not a replacement. Because you have to be pretty committed to cook only on an Aga, Great at a few things, pretty average at the rest.

My Mum loved hers, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. OK, when there was no such thing as central heating they kept the kitchen warm in winter. But those days are gone for most of us, and as cookers they leave a lot to be desired.

ST12AT

539 posts

166 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
Haha! Busted.

I love cooking all sorts of things but sometimes you just need something quick for the little ones.

I get why people like an aga, but we're taking about a rented house with no other cooker. Think we'll give it a miss (despite the adventure side of me being curious).
A good friend of mine is a chef and absolutely loves his. He does also have a huge gas hob and a twin commercial oven along with 4 kids. Having said that he uses all of them when cooking.

It is a focal point in the kitchen and a lovely thing to lean against in the winter.

I’d say you’d want a separate oven/hob, especially in the summer.

andye30m3

3,451 posts

253 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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We moved into a house with a Gas aga a year ago. Like the OP weren't sure how we'd get on with it but after a year love it.

Ours in on in the winter months and we have a small electric cooker for the summer.

I'm no cook so just use the hot ovens as you would any other cooker but without having to wait fort hem to heat up , the slower cooker oven works well for us as we can chuck food in it before heading somewhere with kids for a couple of hours.

They are reasonably expensive to run but in the winter the Kettle, toaster or microwave are ready used as most stuff just gets chucked on / in the aga.

cerb4.5lee

30,180 posts

179 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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I'm not a fan of them, but as said the kitchen is lovely and cosy in the winter. They do cook stuff really nice though and they are quick. The house we used to live in only had the AGA, so it was boiling in the kitchen in the summer.

Still have an AGA where we are now but it has electric ovens and a gas hob(so nothing like the real thing). It looks like an AGA though, but without the oil cost and the sweltering kitchen in the summer.

clarkey

1,365 posts

283 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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My wife loves ours, and its currently really cheap to run with oil at 25ppl.
I believe the secret is to use the hotplates as little as possible as they reduce the temperature - wherever possible use the ovens

Moose309

17 posts

85 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Just remember bottom oven for warming live lambs, top oven for cooking dead ones!

PugwasHDJ80

7,522 posts

220 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
I get that people will be enthusiastic about them as a thing. We're a family who don't want to have to think too hard about getting on with things (we have enough to do at the best of times), and an aga seems like an expensive and inconvenient way of combining a radiator and cooker.

Thanks for the replies.
well if you just want to get on with things and not think about anything then surely an AGA is perfect for you.

There is literally nothing for you to do- its on and hot all the time.

They transfer heat vry very quickly into pans, you're basically putting a pan directly onto something very hot that holds LOADS of energy.

I grew up with them and miss having one- they produce a tonne of radiant heat, cook with a dry heat, need no heating up time, you just bung food in/on.

i miss having somewhere to dry clothes, defrost food, warm your bum, cook food quickly, never seem to need cleaning, etc etc

Richie C

637 posts

205 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
An expensive and inconvenient way of combining a radiator and cooker.
Straight from the marketing brochure? smile