Aga's on Jeremy Vine Radio 2
I was fascinated to hear a segment on Jeremy Vine's lunchtime show about Aga's and how they are a major contributory factor towards global warming. Normally George Monbiot speaks a lot of sense but today I was a bit puzzled to her him denigrating Aga's as being inefficient and heavy on carbon emissions.
I was interested, as back in September we installed a Rayburn to run our radiators, hot water and to cook on, its a multi fuel stove and without exageration its the best thing we have ever done.
Most people think we are potty for going back to the old ways and it always gets a laugh at the school when I turn up at the school complaining I can't get the oven temperature high enough to cook on - I am still learning !
As the discussion wore on I was suprised to learn that you can get electric Aga's, I knew you could get oil and gas fired ones but electric Aga's - what is the point ? you may as well have a conventional oven surely ?We chose a multi fuel stove as we wanted to be sort of independant in our fuel - if Russia and Ukraine keep squabbling how long before our gas is restricted - at least I can still heat my home, have a bath and most importantly cook my dinner on.
However I didn't realise that some Aga's only cook, no rads and no hot water, others will heat one rad and not one caller seemed to heat their water. It appeared that George may have had a point they do appear to be quite inefficient
My poor Rayburn is an old workhorse he has been going full steam ahead all winter and the house has never been so hot in all the years we have lived here - so a big cheer for Rayburns at least.
Do any of you have any experiance with Aga's, Rayburn or such like.
posted by welsh girls allotment @ 10:02 pm
4 Comments:
I have to admit I did look at the electric aga - it's big, very controllable and it only needs cleaning/servicing once a year. However it is also very expensive and I was also doubtful that even if I could afford it in the first place I wouldn't be able to afford enough photovoltaic panels to run it to be self sufficient.
In the end I decided on an Esse woodburning range as there is plenty of wood available in France and I have also begun planting my own wood for coppicing too.
Like you I know that in the event of a power cut or fuel cricis I can cook my food, heat a room and heat my water - although at the moment I'd dependant on electricity to pump water from the well, so I guess that's the next area I need to look at.
Welcome back btw.
Deborah
Hi Welsh Girl,
I inherited an aga when I married my husband and we moved into the family farmhouse. Our aga is an oil aga that heats the water as well as for cooking. Our problem is that the aga is not positioned in the centre of the house but in an added on kitchen so the rest of the house, especially our living room which is furthest away from the kitchen and has little outer wall insulation, is very cold.
I do like cooking with my aga but it can take some getting used to and we often forget about the food so a timer is a good piece of kitchen equipment when you hve an aga or rayburn.
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriends
This is one of those confused debates - similar to 4x4's where people want a black and white argument. Gas Aga's in Kensington and Chelsea Tractor's being used for the school run are a very different proposition to rural / sustainably fuelled ranges used for main source heating and 4x4's used to navigate precipitous driveways and narrow, icy country lanes...
Huppphhh...
The best thing about Agas and gardening is bringing the weeds home and leaving them in the bottomoven over night before composting. I reckon it kills the seeds stone dead.
Ian
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