On Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 4:02:47 PM UTC+1, gill wrote:
We are about to move to a house which has an Aga. (House is empty at
present, Aga turned off, no instructions!)

Does anyone know what fuel it uses - I think some sort of anthracite but are
there different types?

Also the books I have read say solid fuel Agas should be serviced once a
year by a specialist - my husband says this is a waste of money as there is
nothing to go wrong, it will just need a bit of cleaning - is he right?

TIA

Gill

Hi there! Found your thread whilst searching for advice. We are in a nearly similar boat.... thinking of buying a house with a 2 oven solid fuel aga. The current owner uses coal and it supplies the heating and hot water for the house as well as being a cooker. I'm a bit worried - never used an aga but also have a 3 year old who is very asthmatic. How did you get on? Are you still using it and do you love it? Does it make a lot of dust and smoke? apologies for the millions of questions. It's a sticking point on the house purchase for my hubby - I think it will be awesome!

many thanks in anticipation
Jacs

On Sun, 19 Mar 2017 14:04:38 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 4:02:47 PM UTC+1, gill wrote:
We are about to move to a house which has an Aga. (House is empty at
present, Aga turned off, no instructions!)

Does anyone know what fuel it uses - I think some sort of anthracite but are
there different types?

Also the books I have read say solid fuel Agas should be serviced once a
year by a specialist - my husband says this is a waste of money as there is
nothing to go wrong, it will just need a bit of cleaning - is he right?

TIA

Gill

Hi there! Found your thread whilst searching for advice. We are in a nearly similar boat.... thinking of buying a house with a 2 oven solid fuel aga. The current owner uses coal and it supplies the heating and hot water for the house as well as being a cooker. I'm a bit worried - never used an aga but also have a 3 year old who is very asthmatic. How did you get on? Are you still using it and do you love it? Does it make a lot of dust and smoke? apologies for the millions of questions. It's a sticking point on the house purchase for my hubby - I think it will be awesome!

many thanks in anticipation
Jacs

Jacs, after 15 years perhaps it's the same Aga in Jill's house that
you are buying.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On Sunday, 19 March 2017 22:32:01 UTC, Graham. wrote:
Jacs, after 15 years perhaps it's the same Aga in Jill's house that
you are buying.

Or perhaps Gill got so fed up with hers she donated it to charity - the local Chest Heart & Stroke 'boutique' has one as part of its display along with plastic grass and fake garden sheds masquerading as bookcases.

Owain

On Sun, 19 Mar 2017 17:43:54 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Sunday, 19 March 2017 22:32:01 UTC, Graham. wrote:
Jacs, after 15 years perhaps it's the same Aga in Jill's house that
you are buying.

Or perhaps Gill got so fed up with hers she donated it to charity - the local Chest Heart & Stroke 'boutique' has one as part of its display along with plastic grass and fake garden sheds masquerading as bookcases.

Owain

Our local Woolworth's became a British Heart Foundation charity shop,
and is the place of choice to go if you need a CRT television or VHS
recorder.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On 19/03/2017 21:04, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 4:02:47 PM UTC+1, gill wrote:
We are about to move to a house which has an Aga. (House is empty at
present, Aga turned off, no instructions!)

Does anyone know what fuel it uses - I think some sort of anthracite but are
there different types?

Also the books I have read say solid fuel Agas should be serviced once a
year by a specialist - my husband says this is a waste of money as there is
nothing to go wrong, it will just need a bit of cleaning - is he right?

TIA

Gill

Hi there! Found your thread whilst searching for advice. We are in a nearly similar boat.... thinking of buying a house with a 2 oven solid fuel aga. The current owner uses coal and it supplies the heating and hot water for the house as well as being a cooker. I'm a bit worried - never used an aga but also have a 3 year old who is very asthmatic. How did you get on? Are you still using it and do you love it? Does it make a lot of dust and smoke? apologies for the millions of questions. It's a sticking point on the house purchase for my hubby - I think it will be awesome!

many thanks in anticipation
Jacs


I doubt you will hear back from Gill but if its of any help we lived
with a solid fuel Aga for 22 years. STWNFI decided to get rid but misses
it so much she now wants one again!

Bad points.
Expensive to run.
Needs filling and emptying twice daily.
Creates a lot of dust when emptying.
Oven temperature can crash at inconvenient time and takes hours to build
back up.
You cant smell anything in the ovens.

Good points
Permanently warm kitchen.
No need for electric kettle, toaster, oven or hob.
You cant smell anything in the ovens.

Mike

In message ,
Muddymike writes

I doubt you will hear back from Gill but if its of any help we lived
with a solid fuel Aga for 22 years. STWNFI decided to get rid but
misses it so much she now wants one again!

Well, I am going to side with Mike on this one. Our last house had a
Stanley range, rather than Aga, and we still miss it, 15 years later.

I will say, though, that we still have an open fire which we also love
BUT, as the years pass, I am wondering quite how long I will be happy
lugging hods of solid fuel around. OK today, but after another five or
ten years?
--
Graeme

Muddymike posted
No need for electric kettle, toaster, oven or hob.

Actually lots of houses around here have Agas or equivalent, and
virtually every one also has an electric cooker as well. The Aga is just
so inconvenient for so many things.

--
Jack

On 20/03/17 18:34, Chris Hogg wrote:
Don't have one, but parents had one a great many years ago. AIUI they
are very inefficient, so wasteful of heat and expensive to run.

Not that bad really

Solid-fuel ones are best fueled with anthracite, as you say.
Anthracite is a very low-ash coal, almost pure carbon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite . It may also be called
'steam coal', as it was extensively used in steam locomotives because
of its low ash content, back in the days when we had
locomotives-for-MEN pulling trains :-).

No. Staem coal is a different grade from anthracite. Solid fuel Agas can
be fuelled with any decent grade coal or coal substitute like the
briquettes made from coal dust.

The sacks of anthracite
delivered by the coalman were labeled 'Lady Windsor',
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Windsor_Colliery

Gas and oil-fired AGAs are also available, I believe, and also
conversions from coal-fired to either of the above. Saves having to
provide a coal store, having to carry in hods of coal and cleaning out
the ash.

Oil fired conversions are not hard to do.
It certainly is a lot less messy, though annual or bi annual servicing
is still necessary as the burner feed line cokes up - especially with
modern grades of fuel

Of course laying in the oil lines and fire valves is not trivial


--
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as
foolish, and by the rulers as useful.

(Seneca the Younger, 65 AD)

On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 18:34:01 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:


Solid-fuel ones are best fueled with anthracite, as you say.
Anthracite is a very low-ash coal, almost pure carbon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite . It may also be called
'steam coal', as it was extensively used in steam locomotives

Steam coal is softer than anthracite and a little less in calorific
value, often regarded as the next grade down. Our coal merchant still
stocks some as well as anthracite as there are quite a large number
of Traction engine and Steam roller owners around here.

G.Harman

In message , Handsome Jack
writes
Muddymike posted
No need for electric kettle, toaster, oven or hob.

Actually lots of houses around here have Agas or equivalent, and
virtually every one also has an electric cooker as well. The Aga is
just so inconvenient for so many things.

We used an electric kettle as well as the range, and had a conventional
cooker, but that cooker was only used when the range was shut down for
cleaning, in the summer.

Not sure about the claims of wasted heat. Wasted in the sense that part
of the heat was not actually cooking anything, but that extra heat kept
our hot water hot, and meant the house was never cold. The flue ran up
through the centre of the house, and kept the chill off.

Our son was a baby then, and putting all those countless cloths and baby
grows around the range meant that drying was quick and easy.

Cooking was a pleasure. A range functions much like a slow cooker in
that casseroles and the like could be kept going almost forever without
spoiling. Baked apples were a dream. Daily attention was minimal - I
added fuel first thing in the morning and at night, removing ash at the
same time. That was it. Wifey opened up the fire before cooking late
afternoon, and closed afterwards, the range doing no more than ticking
over 20+ hours a day.

The range was fairly ancient when we bought the house, and I suspect had
been used by clueless owners. The water tank eventually cracked, so the
water heating side was disconnected, and the water tank filled with dry
sand. ISTR a discussion here about that, 15 or 16 years ago.

Things like ranges and open fires are not for everyone, but those like
us who love them would not be without them.
--
Graeme