Kitchen refurb - AGA/Esse/Other for winter heat and a usable cookspace.

[lagori]

We're in an old mill, built in the 1860s, down in a valley. It has solid stone 0.5m thick, single-glazed windows throughout. Accordingly, the ambient temperature inside is nice in summer. Still, it's always cold in winter, and condensation like you wouldn't believe forms on the windows after cold nights (I have hoovered up condensation on the windows as recently as the first week of May this year). The main room is open plan with an 8 kw woodburner on one side and the kitchen on the other.

The kitchen has an oil-fired AGA (1000 mm wide) that was/is a fairly grimy mess. It was intended for cooking only, as there is a separate boiler for water/heat (we replaced the 25+ year old one 4 years ago).

I guess the AGA will have been installed when the property was converted to a dwelling circa 1960, but has been given little to no attention since. Given its condition, fear of the costs of oil and maybe a little ignorance about its contribution to heating the house, we have never switched it on. We disconnected the oil pipe while doing external work a few years ago. There is a separate induction hob and oven on a central island, but that's also on its way out.

At the end of the year, I aim to update and maximise the kitchen-cooking space as I enjoy cooking, but I'm also considering the heat in the kitchen. Short of a complete remodel, the kitchen has no room to add a radiator anywhere. Accordingly, I'm considering a new electric range that offers radiant heat—a classic AGA-type experience.

Oil, electric, its all going to cost money to run, but we already have a south-facing slope I've earmarked for installing an array of solar panels (I've have already installed batteries and the system to bring power in, just have to buy and set the panels), so I have the scope to offset my winter power cost increases with power cost decreases whenever the sun is out. Replacing the unit would also mean I can remove the flue installed for the oil-burning AGA, which runs smack through the bedroom above the kitchen, which can ill afford the space it takes up.

I've looked at the Esse 1000X and 1000T, and despite Esse telling me these do not give radiant heat (!), they do appear to provide this feature. I'm open to other brands, but many are out there, making it hard to know who to steer toward/avoid. I'm also getting a quote to convert the current AGA to electric. However, with just two ovens and two hotplates, I think the cook space would be sub-optimal, and while converting will save expense and effort, it would still cost a lot.

Given the investment either way, I want to make sure I set things up right. I just wanted to canvass what others' experiences might be. Who installed an electric range cooker in this fashion? Which brand did you go with? How much difference does the radiant heat make in winter in your poorly insulated property? Do you find it gets too hot every time you turn it on in summer? How eye-watering was the increase in power?

Much appreciated.

 

[jamest]

I toyed with the idea of an electric range, but then I came to my senses and saved about £10K, phew!

Have you considered underfloor heating?

 

[lagori]

I toyed with the idea of an electric range, but then I came to my senses and saved about £10K, phew!

Have you considered underfloor heating?

Thanks—yes, we have. We would love underfloor heating. However, we have a flagstone floor, I believe, over compacted soil. I could be wrong, but I would bet it would cost us considerably more to remove the kitchen, dig out the floor, and lay underfloor. Plus, we have to deal with the current AGA, one way or another.

 

[fernicarry]

Some back of an envelope figures...

Our oil Aga goes through about 50l of oil a week. That's roughly 500kWh. A lot of the heat will go up the lum so you won't need as much electricity to replace it but say its only half then that's still over 30kWh a day, that's a lot of electricity in anyone's book. At the same time keeping the whole back elevation of the house warm and dry has a lot of value.

With oil at say 50ppl that equates to roughly 5p/kWh, waaaay cheaper than electricity on a single rate tariff (current 28p-ish). Of course oil prices can go up and no doubt in the long term as (if) the country is weaned off of fossils it will eventually be out of reach but for now electricity is not really a cost effective replacement for oil by quite some margin. This is why we are being pushed to heat pumps because their efficiency of several hundred percent gets them on a par with the running cost of fossils (maybe...).

The contribution from your solar in the depths of winter will be small to negligible unless you have a field full of panels. You could play around with variable tarrifs, charge your battery overnight etc. but the reality is that the capacity of domestic solar/battery is just a drop in the ocean compared to the heating demands of even one room in an inefficient period property.

A quick purusal of the Esse website finds that it talks about the ovens heating up on demand so could be right that it doesn't produce radiant heat other than waste heat after the ovens have been in use. To be honest thats really the only way you could operate an electric range cooker, as per above, the cost of running it continuously as a space heater would be ruinous.

Your Aga could be tarted up if its too manky to use. You could have the top re-enamelled for a fraction of the cost of a new cooker. Strong oven cleaners will take off most of the crud though. They are dead easy to service and given that finding someone who will touch then is nigh on impossible now then you pretty much do need to learn to do it yourself. The only weak link is the oil control valve and its electric head (if you have thermostatic control) which is no longer available but they appear on ebay from time to time. I see no reason why you shouldn't get another decade or more out of an oil Aga and by then the world could be a very different place.

 

[lagori]

Some back of an envelope figures...

Our oil Aga goes through about 50l of oil a week. That's roughly 500kWh. A lot of the heat will go up the lum so you won't need as much electricity to replace it but say its only half then that's still over 30kWh a day, that's a lot of electricity in anyone's book. At the same time keeping the whole back elevation of the house warm and dry has a lot of value.

With oil at say 50ppl that equates to roughly 5p/kWh, waaaay cheaper than electricity on a single rate tariff (current 28p-ish). Of course oil prices can go up and no doubt in the long term as (if) the country is weaned off of fossils it will eventually be out of reach but for now electricity is not really a cost effective replacement for oil by quite some margin. This is why we are being pushed to heat pumps because their efficiency of several hundred percent gets them on a par with the running cost of fossils (maybe...).

The contribution from your solar in the depths of winter will be small to negligible unless you have a field full of panels. You could play around with variable tarrifs, charge your battery overnight etc. but the reality is that the capacity of domestic solar/battery is just a drop in the ocean compared to the heating demands of even one room in an inefficient period property.

A quick purusal of the Esse website finds that it talks about the ovens heating up on demand so could be right that it doesn't produce radiant heat other than waste heat after the ovens have been in use. To be honest thats really the only way you could operate an electric range cooker, as per above, the cost of running it continuously as a space heater would be ruinous.

Your Aga could be tarted up if its too manky to use. You could have the top re-enamelled for a fraction of the cost of a new cooker. Strong oven cleaners will take off most of the crud though. They are dead easy to service and given that finding someone who will touch then is nigh on impossible now then you pretty much do need to learn to do it yourself. The only weak link is the oil control valve and its electric head (if you have thermostatic control) which is no longer available but they appear on ebay from time to time. I see no reason why you shouldn't get another decade or more out of an oil Aga and by then the world could be a very different place.

Appreciate you taking the time to lay that out - thanks.

All fair - and I do think some serious back-of-the-envelope efforts are required.

My last oil delivery a few weeks ago came at 60ppl, before that in January, 72ppl and before that in May, 24, 63ppl. I have bought it higher and lower, but it is averaging about 65ppl now for me. Based on your estimate (50l a week), I reckon it would be another 1500l of oil per autumn/winter for us (roughly double what we currently use), which equals £975 per winter on oil just for the range.

Your assumption on our electric cost is bang on - currently 28p.

This website indicated some idea of cost of running the Esse 1000X, suggesting 9.4kw for slumber mode (meaning 'minimal' ambient heat into the room)+ 1hr of cooking a day. Given a bit less in summer, and no doubt a bunch more in winter, I'm going to assume more than that on average - +50% = 14kw @ 0.28 = £3.94 daily. Year round = £1,440.

It gets tricky for me from there because there are too many other variables. If I reinstate the oil AGA, I still need to maintain another cooker elsewhere in the kitchen = which requires power whenever used, so I must factor this in too. I use the current (induction) one almost daily, and the oven frequently as well. I doubt I use it enough to bridge the £475 gap between oil and electric in the above rough workings, but it will close the gap somewhat.

I try to buy smart on oil, but the tank is only 1000l, so I don't have space to buy and store it at good prices. Fuelling the AGA inevitably means buying oil when it's at its most expensive.

Am I right to suggest an AGA has to be serviced every six months at around £140-170 + VAT? That's another cost.

I've no idea how much additional heat we will gain or how much we will appreciate the gains - I suspect a lot, especially my wife, but this gain will apply either way.

I intend to add solar either way (and no, not a massive bank, more like 8 - 10 panels), well aware this will help me little in the winter. That helps my power costs overall, but isn't necessarily directly involved in this equation.