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What should we do with our Aga?

 
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 RobinBennett
(@robinbennett)
Active Member Member
Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 7
Topic starter 10/12/2024 9:55 pm   [#1928]

We have a gas Aga that we usually run all winter. My wife likes cooking on it, and the waste heat keeps the kitchen warm, but we have a boiler for central heating and hot water, and a separate cooker for use in the summer when the Aga is cold. We plan to replace the boiler with a heat pump, but don't know what to do with the Aga, so I'd like some suggestions please.

I know there are commercial electrical conversions.

I can have a 13amp always-on conversion that makes it work much like it does at the moment, using lots of electricity. That seems pointless when a heat pump could use the same power to much greater effect. I could run it on a timer during the off-peak hours for about the same cost as running a heat pump during normal hours - but even a basic conversion seems to cost about £5000

Or I could have a more complex conversion that makes it work like an basic electric cooker. That's even more expensive, duplicates the cooker we already have, and we'd lose the warm spot in the kitchen.

Are there any options for an Aga now?



   
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Morgan
 Morgan
(@morgan)
Noble Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 700
11/12/2024 9:17 am  

@RobinBennett

We also have an AGA.  Oil fired that we inherited with the house and the wife loves it.  We, like you, have an electric oven and hob which we use during the summer when the AGA is shut down. We don't have gas here in our rural location.  Also like you, we researched the conversion to electric option and immediately discounted it as insanely expensive.  There are companies out there that will remove and recycle to new owners but we chose to keep it and run it on the oil during the late autumn through to late spring.  Thus if you're getting rid of your gas supply I would suggest that the only option open to you is to sell it on.

 

Here is one such company, there will be others, but I doubt they pay you a lot. Good luck.

https://webuyagacookers.com/


Retrofitted 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan to new radiators commissioned November 2021.
14 x 500w Monocrystalline solar panels.

2 ESS Smile G3 10.1 batteries.
ESS Smile G3 5kw inverter.


   
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 Annahickson
(@annahickson)
New Member Member
Joined: 7 months ago
Posts: 1
27/10/2025 10:03 am  

I have a similar dilemma. We have an Aga that we used in winter to heat the kitchen and cook on, which also heated the hot water.  We want to keep it just to cook on (and heat the kitchen) now we've had a heat pump fitted. I've been told we need to have the Aga modified to do that, and as its old (a solid fuel to oil conversion) and probably has asbestos inside it's going to be very expensive. I just wanted a second opinion as to what our options are.



   
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Mars
 Mars
(@editor)
Illustrious Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 4609
27/10/2025 10:39 am  

@annahickson, welcome to the forums. Do you have any heating emitters (rads or UFH) in the kitchen or is it just the Aga?


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JamesPa
 JamesPa
(@jamespa)
Illustrious Member Moderator
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 4879
27/10/2025 10:51 am  

Posted by: @annahickson
↑

I've been told we need to have the Aga modified to do that,

What sort of modification is 'needed'?  Presumably if it previously heated the hot water there are some pipes and maybe a pump that take heat away to the water tank.  Once the water tank was heated up they wouldn't have taken any heat away, so it follows that the Aga cant be dependent on this to keep it cool.  Thus whats the harm in just disconnecting them?


This post was modified 7 months ago by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.


   
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Morgan
 Morgan
(@morgan)
Noble Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 700
27/10/2025 11:45 am  

@annahickson We had a similar dilemma with our oil-fired Aga, as it had a tank inside wrapped around the main burner.  It heated the water and two radiators. We had the guy who does the annual service remove the tank and pipework. We are still using the Aga now.  I don't recall it being uber expensive. If you live anywhere near Derby and the surrounding areas, I can put you in touch with him.


Retrofitted 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan to new radiators commissioned November 2021.
14 x 500w Monocrystalline solar panels.

2 ESS Smile G3 10.1 batteries.
ESS Smile G3 5kw inverter.


   
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 Lenny
(@lenny)
Trusted Member Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 36
28/10/2025 9:49 am  

We have an oil fired Marshall (similar to Aga). It has (had) separate burners for heating/DHW and cooking.

Our ECO4 funded scheme insisted that there was no oil fired heating available so I removed the "water" side of it and it remains as an oil fired cooker, providing background heat of course but not according to ECO4 surveyor .............. 

0


Samsung 12kw ASHP, nine 415w PV panel array, upgraded radiators and DHW water tank (+ pumps etc). Two wireless zone thermostat controllers and Samsung MWR-WW10N


   
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Majordennisbloodnok
 Majordennisbloodnok
(@majordennisbloodnok)
Famed Member Moderator
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 1772
28/10/2025 10:34 am  

One slightly off-the-wall suggestion is that, if you like the Aga-style cooking, the comfort factor of a cooker that heats the kitchen and you already have a conventional cooker for when the Aga's off you could replace the Aga with a wood burning cooker. At that point you could light the fire and do your range cooker thing on damp and miserable evenings and turn to your conventional cooker when the fire's just too much hassle.

Only a thought.


105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"


   
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