8 Costs to consider when installing an AGA cooker:
1. Which One Is The Cheapest To Run?
AGA Cooker Running Costs: So you need to look at monthly running costs and the cost to service the AGA.
If £80 a month to just run a cooker doesn’t matter to you then you have got a choice of all the AGAs including the Oil, Gas, and 13 Amp electricity which tend to be more expensive to run.
If £40 a month sounds better then you need a to get the AGA Dual Control cooker. It can be run on eco mode to save running costs and you can turn the top plates off. This is the AGA that I recommend these days.
Or, as I have had one since December 2007, a 30 Amp AGA. With the 30 Amp you only get two ovens (though you can get the wider 4 oven model) compared with the AGA DC which comes with 3 ovens (though you can get the wider 5 oven model). With the 30 Amp AGA you are going to get the traditional AGA experience, that is you can't switch bits off and on. It says on all the time. You benefit from cheap running costs (mine is £15 a week to run) and it doesn't need servicing, so no servicing costs. It feels your home with radiant heat. Though the 30 Amp is no longer sold new. You will have to get a reconditioned secondhand one - it will look like new. I recommend Mr Cooker from whom we bought our 30 Amp in 2007 - a former AGA Engineer who now has his own restoration business. Click HERE to go to his site.
So a rough guide to AGA running costs:
13 Amp Electric 2 Oven £30 a week to run. 3 Oven £25. 4 Oven £40.
Gas AGA: 2 Oven £20 a week to run.
Oil AGA: 2 Oven £30 a week to run
30 Amp AGA: 2 Oven £15 a week to run.
AGA Dual Control: 3 Oven - £20 a week to run
AGA Total Control: 3 Oven - £15 a week to run.
AGA City 60 - About £12 a week to run - both ovens on full, top plate switched on when required. (But this is the smaller mini AGA, it still has two ovens but is just 60cm wide hence the name).
AGA 3 Series - much the same as the Dual Control with lots of controllable bits.
AGA 7 Series - much the same as the Total Control but with even more temperature control.
Though for the AGA Total Control and the AGA Dual Control it's difficult to find out an accurate figure. The figures I have found include switching bits off. So for example on the Dual Control you can turn it to slumber which means all the ovens are switched off. The AGA Total Control can be switched off completely. But I know a lot of people who use them like a traditional AGA and keep everything on all the time.
Also you need to think about the AGA owning experience. The newer electric AGAs are more suitable to modern houses with high insulation as the AGAs themselves are highly insulated - that is they give off less radiant heat.
And I have known of people with a barn conversion with high vaulted ceiling kitchens who complain about their very high oil bills. As I have now met three people with this problem I think it's the combination of poor insulation in the ceiling, and/or an inefficient older oil boiler. Not the AGA.
2. AGA Servicing costs
An Oil AGA needs servicing twice a year, because they coke up, A gas AGA once a year, an electric AGA doesn’t need servicing but to keep the warranty validated AGA say it needs to be checked once a year during the warranty period (5 years). The cost to have your gas AGA serviced is in the region of £140 (as of 2019 – servicing by Spillers of Chard) or if you get a local independent then it will be cheaper.
There will be conditions with a new AGA to get it serviced by AGA or the supplier. I would say avoid the 13 amp AGA as they had problems with the main PCB board failing, which is expensive to replace – about £300 each time it fails. As the warranty with a new AGA is 1 years parts and labour and four years parts only after year one you could be paying for the call out charge to fit the new board even in the warranty period. This will be about £125 in itself. So the tempting 13 Amp AGA for sale you've seen - give it a miss.
Also list the AGA Total Control (AGA TC) on the bottom of your list as it may look attractive as the ovens can be controlled on your iPhone. The 3 ovens can be switched on and off. But you’ll probably end up running it continuously, on all the time, like an ordinary AGA. Then you won’t make any savings on running cost or gain any of its benefits. Also they had a huge number of teething problems when they were introduced the AGA TC. Condensation in the main oven, with water running out, ovens rusting very badly, and electrical problems with the dash board going mental and requiring an AGA call out to put right. I’ve also noticed that AGA TCs run very hot and for me as a professional AGA cleaner to clean them is difficult as the doors, inner lids tend to be caked in dirt.
Also if buying a secondhand TC: beware. Get an AGA Engineer to check it out before buying. Some of the older ones need an update to the newer PCB (printed circuit control board). They cost over £2500.
3. Installation Costs: Does your AGA need a flue?
For a gas and oil AGA a proper flue is required. This is going to cost up to £2000. Also it means the AGA will need to be next to an external wall or have a chimney into which the flue can vent into.
A flue running up an outside wall can look ugly. However, you can get a version of the gas AGA that has a power flue. This means the AGA can be located in any position and it has a small pipe (about 25mm) that can then be carried along walls to the outside vent.
The electric fan on this takes the exhaust fumes outside. The AGA Dual Control and the AGA Total Control have the option of venting into the room or venting outside (small pipe). If you decide to vent into the room, and/or your kitchen is a new build, to comply with building regs, you will need a range cooker extractor over the AGA (to me this is madness as if you use the AGA properly 80% of the cooking is inside the ovens, but rules are rules).
For the 30 Amp Electric AGA it has a small (15mm) vent pipe that goes to the outside
This can be run through your kitchen cabinets. A 30 Amp electric cable needs to run to the cooker from your meter board. You will need an off peak meter fitted to your property as the cooker works like a night storage heater heating up at night on off peak electricity. You can also make savings using this electricity to run your washing machine and dryer. You need to fit a timer.
4. Installation Costs: Is A Fuel Tank Required?
For an Oil AGA or LPG AGA you will need to site a fuel tank (plastic tank on concrete bricks) outside your house. You will need to install the pipework from the tank to the AGA location in the house - small oil pipe. If you have an old cottage with very thick walls you will have to drill a very long hole through the wall to run the supply pipe through.
5. Will the AGA heat water?
This is generally a thing that most new AGA owners won't consider as with todays efficient heating boilers why bother to add an additional way to heat your water up? I think the additional cost of getting it plumbed in are more than the savings of the 'free hot water' once it is place.
But if you do think this is a good idea your AGA will need a boiler fitted to it. That is it has a water jacket fitted to the main heating plate on the AGA. Also it will need to be plumbed in. You may need another water tank installed for this, ask your plumber – the pipe work may be very expensive. The advantage of a water boiler is lashings of hot water.
You can’t fit a boiler to a 30 Amp Electric AGA or to the other electric AGAs. The weekly running costs of the AGA will be higher with a boiler fitted. I had my gas AGA installed with a boiler and it does make a huge difference in the supply of hot water; it’s basically free hot water. But I remember the complicated plumbing to get it all set up was expensive.
6. You need a plinth as It needs to be the right height for modern worktops
For all the AGAs you need to install a plinth. You can either build this yourself or get a builder to lay it for you using a wooden frame and concrete it has to be exactly level and set for the day of installation. You will need to finish off the front of the plinth with tiles or paint. The alternative to making a plinth is to buy a metal plinth which looks very good in the matt black finish. This plinth can be adjusted on the day of installation of the AGA. The older traditional style AGAs, and if you buy a new oil or gas AGA, are built on site. So the plinth needs to be in place and then the AGA is built up on that plinth with checks to ensure that the AGA is level and true.
The AGA TC and the AGA DC have the plinth already attached. They are delivered as a whole on a pallet. As part of the site survey by AGA they bring a pallet of the same size with them and ensure that it will fit through all your doors. They check the width clearance and the height clearance. The towel rail on these AGAs is easily taken off. So the AGA is delivered without the towel rail attached.
7. Is planning permission required?
If your house is listed you will need to get listed planning consent.
As I’m not technical and these are from my experiences of installing my own AGAs you will need to get professional advice. See Installing an AGA and the main official AGA Cooker site for more technical details.
8. Do you buy new or second hand?
You can get great savings on second hand ones that have been renovated to look like new. We bought our 30 Amp Electric AGA from Mr Cooker for £5500. Also you need to decide on which size AGA you need – a 2, 3, 4 or 5 oven AGA. And you can also add an AGA module to make it 7 ovens!
The older ones will be 2 oven only (also the 30 Amp has two ovens - these were sold new up until 2018). The newer ones have a third oven, an additional baking oven which is at the right temperature for baking cakes. Though we have never had a problem with baking cakes in our 2 oven 30 Amp AGA.
I bought a 1959 AGA on Ebay for £123. It had been renovated but it didn’t have a gas burner. You can get some fantastic deals on Ebay as AGAs can be difficult to sell quickly as they need to be dismantled and moved professionally. Look for ones that look good and then get a professional company to dismantle it (cost about £300) transport it and rebuild it and commission it (about another £1000 - depending on fuel type).
Yo may want to consider converting and old oil, coat or gas AGA to electricity. I recommend the Electrickit - you can run the AGA like an AGA DC - keeping it on all the time to get radiant heat but being able to turn bits down to reduce running costs. Cost to do this is about £2,300.
Until the arrival on the new AGA TC and AGA DC, AGAs were built in situ in your kitchen. So if you buy either a secondhand AGA, or a non DC or TC, it needs to be dismantled, transported and then rebuilt in your kitchen on a plinth. The AGA DC and AGA TC now arrive fully built as a whole unit on a pallet.
So as I already have mentioned, your doorways need to be wide enough for the pallet to be wheeled through, and you can’t have steps leading up to your property. If you are building a new extension, or your house is new then the AGA can be put in before they doors or windows. A crane can be used to crane it in if you have steps. If you do get an older style built in situ AGA – the new oil and gas AGAs are still like this – check to make sure it has been installed correctly on the day: check the way all the bits line up properly, joins, top plates, as AGA installation companies can get this wrong.
An Extra One: Number 9 Does it need cleaning?
You need to think about getting your AGA professionally cleaned by a company such as ours. Once a year should do it and our costs currently start at about £150 for full professional clean. You may be told that it is self cleaning. But that only applies to the cast iron ovens.
If you buy an AGA secondhand with a clean it will look a lot better.
There are lots of bits to get dirty and the enamel top will get particularly dirty as it’s difficult to clean when its hot.
To book with us ring 0800 802 1605 or click the box about to request a call back.
