wood burning cooker

[Lucy Robyn]

Hi, does any one have any experience of solid fuel stoves? How much work are they, I believe there is weekly cleaning out of flues or vents involved.

I have an old Aga in the kitchen of our new house, this is rusty and rancid (I don't think it's been heating up properly), it's been converted to gas (not sure from what)and we weren't brave enought to start it up. This needs to be sent away to be reconditioned and converted to wood burning. We would need to open up the chimney and have a stack put back (need planning permission for this).

The dream is a wood burning stove with back boiler but this will be alot of money and time. Is it worth it? The alternative is a gas hob and seperate electric fan oven at waist height when we eventually have the kitchen fitted. We both work and have a small child so time is an issue but food and cooking is important to us.

I would like to know other peoples experience and opinions.

[Darroch]

We have one. It burns wood or coal - we use wood as it's lying around all over the farm.
I'm not sure of the specifics of it as it was in the house when we bought it - and we're in NZ so probably the regulations are different.
That being said we love it.
For 5 years, until this winter it was also our only source of heating so it was somewhat of a necessity.

We don't cook on it all year round, not least because to have it going in the summer would make it far too hot. The rest of the time we have a gas cooker ( run off a gas bottle as there are no gas mains here)

As for cleaning - we clean it once a year at the end of each winter - by this I mean round the insides to make sure there is no build up of ash etc. We get the chimney done every couple of years. I blacken it as well once a year.

Ours has a back boiler - so it heats up our water and we run small radiators in each room off this too - so free hot water and free heating. To make the water go round the radiators there is a small electric pump which we turn on when the pipes feel hot to the touch. About half an hour after lighting. Oh and huge plus - you can toast marshmallows! :)

I think it's absolutely marvellous. If you have a decent place to store wood where it can stay nice and dry and get well seasoned it is very easy to light, kindling first then bigger wood - its lit in about 2 minutes.

here it is being used - you can also take off the round things and heat pans up in the direct heat.


ps it does have doors! they were open for the pic. It has an oven door and another one for the wood/coal bit.

[Green Aura]

That's a pretty little range Darroch.

Are you sure your range is an Aga, Lucy? If so I don't think think they heat water - you need a Rayburn or Stanley (or one of the other types with boilers). As far as I know Agas don't have a boiler. Quite apart from the ridiculous price they command I've never seen much point in them - no-one spends all day cooking or lives entirely in the kitchen these days.

Might be worth trading it in for a Rayburn though.

[oldjerry]

Not quite,an aga will heat water,but without a hell of alot of add on,wont power central heating.If your aga is really old agood service will work wonders,but if you're having a complete refurb,which wont be cheap,that will be sorted any how.Agas wont run easily on wood (specially if your out all day),they need anthracite or furnacite,and they wont run cheap.If you live a 21st century life an ordinary cooker will probably be better,BUT they are excellent,and if you use them to their max,as they were designed to be,i.e.all the usual stuff plus drier,slow cooker,permanent kettle etc.they start to make sense.You could keep it then get a woodburner in your living room and run rads off that............or get a rayburn.

[theabsinthefairy]

To be fair if you are both out at work and want heat on demand for cooking a wood burner is not for you. They need to be lit in advance, and take time to get up to temperature. An old gas fired AGA is better than a wood burning Rayburn, I don't see how you could convert an AGA to wood, normally any conversion is done the other way around. Al least gas fired your heat up time is quicker and your temperatures are more controllable, in addition you could get hot water and heating from it. Wood burning you really only get one or the other effectively depending on how many radiators you try to link into the system.

[Big Al]

Hi, does any one have any experience of solid fuel stoves? How much work are they, I believe there is weekly cleaning out of flues or vents involved.

I have an old Aga in the kitchen of our new house, this is rusty and rancid (I don't think it's been heating up properly), it's been converted to gas (not sure from what)and we weren't brave enought to start it up. This needs to be sent away to be reconditioned and converted to wood burning. We would need to open up the chimney and have a stack put back (need planning permission for this).

The dream is a wood burning stove with back boiler but this will be alot of money and time. Is it worth it? The alternative is a gas hob and seperate electric fan oven at waist height when we eventually have the kitchen fitted. We both work and have a small child so time is an issue but food and cooking is important to us.

I would like to know other peoples experience and opinions.

Your aga is rubbish and needs to be sent to the scrappy...... Hmm I know a good scrap merchant that will take it off your hands for nothing..... ME !

[pelmetman]

We had an old Rayburn Royale at our last place which was solid fuel. When I say old I mean old, it was in a disgusting state when we moved in. The house survey actually made mention of it basically telling us to scrap it. We decided to roll up our sleeves and get scrubbing and cleaning, after a couple of weeks it looked half decent. We did have to buy some new parts and a new flue. It had lots of marks and scratches on the doors but I loved it.

When we were home it was on 24/7, it warmed the whole back part of the house and once you get the hang of it cooks everything to perfection and was fantastic for drying clothes in the winter.

You just empty the ash pan every morning and had the chimney sweep in once a year and that was it. You will of course need another cooker unless you want to boil in the summer. I would go and look in a reclamation yard or get a reconditioned one which will be chepaer.

I like the look of your range Darroch.

Sue

[Lucy Robyn]

Thanks for all your feed back.

This thing is an aga as there is label on the front of it if I was a bit techie I could have inc a picture. Also a little hole has been cut into the firebox door to accomodate the gas pipes from a box thing/fitting on the side. Some of the gas fittings look like they are off a fire! At the very least it needs a service to ensure that its safe. We have a new gas combi boiler (the old one was very old) and central heating so the wood burning stove would be in conjuction with this. I have a feeling that we will either trade in for Rayburn ( or alternative) or simply scrap it. I notice that some of the companies that sell refurbished stoves will buy old ones.

By the way I'm not compleatly obsessed by saftey but the previous owners of the house used all second hand gas appliances and some of the DIY he did is very dodgey!

[Thomzo]

You do need to learn how to use an aga/rayburn etc but once you do, you'll love it. I had one for years even though both the OH and I worked full time. Once you get used to them, they take no time to light. Mine kept warm for a day after it had gone out so lighting it again was a doddle. Light it in the morning, pop in the casserole and use it like a slow cooker. It only needed a few bits of coal to keep it in all day or all night. If you have access to free wood then it's definitely worth it. I did have a small cooker alongside it but we found that we kept it lit most of the year - and we were in Bristol then too.

Zoe