Having an AGA is a new experience for us, and a bit of a learning curve. It is an appliance of two halves - evoking a fug of cosy farmhouse kitchens, with fresh scones and floury aprons, steaming mugs of sweet tea and cats in baskets. It is also a completely different type of appliance, staying on and hot all the time, with very little temperature adjustment and a warning NEVER to light an AGA that's still hot.
So, having never had to look after an AGA before, and not sure how good a condition this one was in, on our Easter visit I (Liz) arranged for someone to come out and check it over. I called a chap who had serviced the oven in the past and asked him to come over on the first morning so that oven was cold for him.
AGAs are pretty simple pieces of kit - an oil burner inside a heavy cast iron lump. There's a set sequence to get it going - 9 steps all in!
Open any valves on the feed pipe between tank and valve.
Turn on the electric supply to the oil control valve/box!
Reset the oil supply by pressing the lever down gently on the control box until it clicks, no need to hold it down.
Check that the manual lever turned to the right and thus on 'automatic'.
Allow 15 minutes then lift away inner door to access burner. Insert a match carefully through the 'lighting flap' and close the flap. If it doesn't light check that fire valve reset button is pushed in.
Replace the inner oil door and switch off the electric supply to the oil control box.
The flames will burn yellow to start with but soon die down. It takes approx 30 minutes for the burner to get hot enough to vaporise the oil properly. When burning normally the flames should be blue with incandescent (glowing) shells.
Once the flame is correct switch on electric supply to the control box once more. The box will now be controlled by the thermostat and vary between high and low fire mode as required.
Finally keep an eye on the base of the flue as it warms up, sometimes condensation will run down and make its way onto the hob top; clean it up!
It then takes about 8 hours to get fully up to operating temperature. Controls are pretty basic, once 'on' you've got 3 temperature settings and moving between each one takes a couple of hours. 'Pop the oven on' is not a term you use with an AGA. There are a few advantages, particularly if you live in a relatively cool climate: the oven is always on and providing some background heat. Key disadvantage - you never turn it off so they aren't cheap to run! We want to stick with it - there may be some times when we don't need the background heat but we do like home cooked, slow roasts and baking!
Before Mark, the AGA man, arrived mum and I set about giving the oven a good clean. I had ordered a special cleaning kit form Blake & Bull who specialise in range cookers, with a great selection of products and also recipes specific to range ovens. I also picked up a new oven shelf and some utensils at the same time. Exciting times...
The cleaning kit contained a heavy duty enamel cleaner, a chrome cleaner and a range of clothes, sponges, scrubbers and razor blades. Step 1 was to use the razor blade to scrape off all the dried up, caked old fat. Well, I had not looked that closely at the oven top, but there was a quite a bit to be removed - grim! Step 2 was to cover the oven outer with enamel cleaner and leave for a while to work. Then wipe down and rinse off with a damp cloth. Step 3 was to do the same for the chrome cleaner. A good hoover out of the flue and a good wipe over to assess the progress, and then repeat until it's completely clean.
It didn't quite all go to plan either. I had ordered a lovely new thermometer surround as the old one had lost its markings which showed you if it was at the correct operating temperature. The thermometer is a very simple oldy-worldy mercury in a glass tube, behind a coloured metal plate with a thin window allowing you to see the mercury bar. John unscrewed the plate, cleaned behind it and screwed the new one in place. All done, we stood back to admire and then .... pop! The thermometer glass snapped under the pressure, and that was the end of the original thermometer. You can't buy those anymore, of course, they're hazardous. So a solution is required, and we have decided on one of those little round ones you put inside the oven, and it'll be much more accurate anyway. Never mind.
The process did take a good couple of hours, so once over was enough for this visit. Mark, the 'AGA man' pronounced it all in good working order, with good seals and a good draw on the flue. We just need a few little washers to cushion the door hinges and we are good for another year. A lovely guy and very helpful, he promised to return later in the afternoon to make sure all was well.
A few hours later, as promised, he stuck his head back in to check things, looked through the little observation door and told us the oven was off - there was no flame. John had knocked the 'off' lever while cleaning and not noticed. So, due to the fact that it would probably explode if we relit it now while it was still hot, we had to leave it over night to cool down before tying again in the morning. I stuck the dinner on the still hot hob top to try and cook it before we lost the heat, otherwise we would be on crackers and cheese for the evening!
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