AGA cooker

The AGA cooker is a stored-heat stove and cooker invented in 1922 by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist Dr. Gustaf Dalén (1869 - 1937), who also founded the AGA company. The cookers are today manufactured by the Aga Rangemaster Group.

In 1912 Dr. Dalen lost his sight in an explosion while developing his earlier invention "aga". Forced to stay at home, Dr. Dalen discovered that his wife was exhausted by cooking. Although blind, he was determined to develop a new stove that was capable of every culinary technique and easy to use. It is also capable of heating a house.

Adopting the principle of heat storage, he combined a small and efficient heat source, two large hotplates and two generous ovens into one robust and compact unit: the AGA Cooker. The cooker was introduced to England in 1929, and its popularity in certain parts of English society (owners of medium to large country houses) led to the term "AGA Saga", referring to a genre of fiction set amongst stereotypical AGA owners.

AGA is an abbreviation of the company name, Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator.

The iron castings in the cooker are made at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, the site of Abraham Darby's original iron works where modern iron smelting was invented.

Models

Three main models of AGA are currently in production: two, three and four oven versions, with the four oven version wider than the others. The two oven model has three doors behind which are the burner, roasting oven and simmering oven. The newer three oven model also includes a baking oven,cite web |url= http://www.aga-web.co.uk/121.htm|title=Aga Range Cookers] and the four oven version also has a warming oven and warming plate on the top. All models have two hotplates - a boiling plate and a simmering plate.

The fuel for these is kerosene, diesel, natural gas, propane gas, night storage electric or a 13 amp electric wall socket. New models burning solid-fuel have been discontinued; however, Aga Twyford, the only renovator authorised by Aga, still offers renovated solid-fuel models.cite web |url=http://www.twyford-cookers.com/pricelist.html |title=Aga Twyford Price List]

In terms of weekly fuel consumption, Aga expects [cite web | title=2-Oven Aga Cooker Specification|url=http://www.aga-web.co.uk/183.htm] the two oven Aga to consume 40 litres of kerosene or diesel, 60 litres of propane gas, 425kWh of natural gas or 220kWh for the electric models. To put this into perspective, the average domestic natural gas consumption in the UK is 386.75kWh per week [cite web | title=DTI report on Energy - its impact on the environment and society| url=http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file20328.pdf] . This equates to about 20l of oil a week or £25.

In addition, Aga is selling kerosene and diesel models which, with slight modification, can be made to run on biofuel [cite web | title=Aga unveils new biofuel model| url=http://www.aga-web.co.uk/92_275.htm] .

References

ee also

*Rayburn Range

External links

* [http://www.aga-rayburn.co.uk AGA Rayburn]