Getting the Best From Your Electrickit

Many of our customers are long time traditional Aga owners wishing to reduce energy costs. A controllable conversion may seem like a sensible but daunting prospect. So how can you save money and retain the benefits that appealed to you about the Aga lifestyle in the first place?….

There are of course various schools of thought on this but your usage style should be a balance between cost efficiency and retaining the qualities of the Aga you love. In most likelihood this usage will vary quite dramatically from the summer months to the very coldest times and your energy bills will adjust to the changing seasons too. 

Please note, for any of the below approaches, we strongly recommend only turning on the hot plates for use. The hotplates are the most power hungry area of any Aga and reducing their use, will greatly reduce running costs.

1. Turning on / off to use and utilising a timer.

This will work fantastically well in the hotter months. You need to cook an evening meal but certainly don’t want the room heat and your washing is drying on the line, not on the Aga. On a picnic day or bbq day, your Aga need not use fuel unnecessarily and you need not produce excess heat into the room. For lighter meals, turning on a hot plate for 45 minutes or an hour may suffice.

Besides the hottest periods, turning on / off as necessary will suit a fairly limited set of circumstances. It is the ideal solution for a weekend home - simply turn on remotely via your phone ahead of your arrival. It also suits those with holiday lets, leaving them in control of the Agas usage. It may suit those who are frequently out of the home during the day, meaning energy is not wasted whilst you are at work or engaged in other pursuits. Finally, if the Aga is simply a cooker for you and you do not use it for its traditional warmth and drying functions, this approach makes sense, treating the Aga more like a conventional cooker but with the benefits of cast iron cooking.

2. Turning up / down for use.

In a pre energy crisis world, we would have suggested using the Aga more traditionally, simply reducing hot plate use and running at 180c or 200c, a little lower than the traditional Aga roasting oven. With rising costs, a more flexible approach is required. 

Your Aga will cook better the longer it is on. Whilst the ovens will reach temperature in an hour and a half, the cast will continue to saturate over time. This will improve cooking results and increase ambient heat produced. Once the cast is saturated, it doesn't matter what temperature the Aga is left at, it will continue to retain that more rounded cooking quality that we are looking to achieve. With this in mind, keeping your Aga at 120c or 130c when not in use, is a good ticking over temperature. Turn up 30 minutes ahead of cooking. By running at these lower temperatures for much of the time, costs will be significantly reduced. You will not however produce significant room heat or sufficient ambient heat for drying washing. For this a temperature of 180c or above is generally required. Spending a little more to run the Aga and dry a load of washing, is still likely to be significantly less costly than using a tumble dryer, with the added bonus of better room heat. You can change your approach throughout the week depending on your washing / heating / cooking needs. Here's an example of how a week with this flexi approach might look: