Rusty Ovens inside An AGA Cooker

Rusty Ovens Inside An AGA Cooker?

Are your AGA Ovens rusty? I have noticed lots of AGAs have rusty ovens. I talking about the ovens on a 2 or 3 oven AGA here. They are especially rusty if the AGA has been switched off for the Summer. They get rusty because the ovens are cast iron and they rust if they are exposed to any dampness because there is no heat. The new AGAs, the Total Control and Dual Control, both tend to suffer more condensation, when in use,  because of the way they have been put together. They have more insulation in the doors. So they have 'rusty' ovens.

We often get asked: Can we clean off the rust when you clean the AGA?

The Answer is: We will try our best. We use a wire brush and give it a good brush over, it takes a lot of the red rust off and makes it look better but we can't remove it all.

Cast iron is good for an AGA as it retains the heat and gives you the AGA benefits of succulent cooked Chicken, for example. Also grease on the hot cast iron carbonises into dust, so the ovens (in theory) shouldn't ever get dirty. You may have been told when you bought your AGA that it was 'self cleaning' and would never require cleaning! This is the case with all the traditional operating AGAs, that is when they stay on all of the time. But not so much with the newer electric AGAs where you can switch the ovens off. I've had some real problems trying to clean off burnt-on-carbon (using our ECO Products Only Process), in the cast iron ovens, on AGA Total Controls. It is impossible in some cases to get it off.

Four Oven AGAs With Rusty Ovens on Left

For four oven AGAs, the two ovens on the left can rust if they are older AGAs. On the first ever AGA Deluxes, in the early sixties the ovens on the left of a four oven AGA were made of steel. Because of this they rusted. When these AGAs are renovated they are sometimes just  spray painted over. The rust can appear after a while on these ovens. To fix these the ovens the ovens would need re-painting again. Newer 4 oven AGAs (and now 5 oven AGAs) will have all aluminium ovens on the left so won't rust.

Also with the newer AGA E 3 and AGA 7 Series I have noticed they have a combination of the cast iron ovens (in the main part of the AGA) and then have additional warming ovens and cupboards, depending on which configuration you buy). These additional ovens are aluminium lined. So if they look rusty it most probably grease that will easily clean off.