• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • What's Up at Webster Ridge
  • news from WRLG
  • Farmers Market

What's Up at WRLG

Learning more about my AGA Stove....

5/1/2023

 
Picture
It is hard to judge how much propane your AGA will consume and how often the tank level needs to be checked. The first thing I discovered is all the AGA literature is aimed at people who are using oil. natural gas or coal. This means that with natural gas you don't have to worry about running out...cut off...unable to pay, but not running out. This means that running my stove at what is considered the optimum temp ,having only 1 person cooking and only using it as an auxiliary source of heat, it is hard to figure how often I need my  110 lb propane tank filled. My fuel provider(both oil and propane) have me watch the gauges on the tanks and when they get low I need to call them. 
But this is problematic for me: 
  
1. The AGA stove I have works by using radiant heat. The stove retains it's heat in the iron body filled with wool and the oven temp is determined by how close to the fire box it is. The plates on top are the same , the boiling plate directly over the fire box(heat source) at full temperature can be over 500 degrees. The plate or hob to the right is the simmering plate. The rule of thumb is 7 minutes maximum on any plate and then the pot or pan goes into the correct oven for it to finish cooking.  Which means you need to be prepared with your ingredients to cook quickly and then into the oven.  This may seem silly, but  your kitchen doesn't smell, so you need to learn to use a timer once things go into the oven. Reheating leftovers or frozen casseroles is really easy and you don't have to wait for the stove to heat up, boil over...etc.
THE PROBLEM COMES WITH HOW MUCH FUEL DO I NEED?
2. If I do keep the stove up to optimum temp my Addition kitchen/living area is 74 degrees, while the rest of my old house is set between 62 -64 and I have forced hot air.
3. So I turned the AGA down(there are no numbers or marks just a dial that goes up or down to shut off the gas).  This will affect my 4 ovens making them work at the lower temps.
The roasting oven should be 375-475 F, Baking oven 325-350 F, simmering oven 250-315 F.
But with the reduced gas flow :
my roasting oven is 325-365 F and the baking oven is 275-325.  But my simmering oven is now great for letting dough rise , warming plates or keeping cooked items warm, drying herbs or melting butter.
My 4th oven is used as storage .
3. So my dilemma is I have to turn the stove up for when visitors come and still hope I don't run out of Propane(especially in the winter). It is hard because my usage is so erratic it is hard for my fuel provider to find the right balance. 

​Hopefully soon things will level out....even with all this ...I love the AGA and it was Brandon's dream to have one...so here we are!
Picture

    Mary Will Sussman

    ​

    Archives

    September 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • What's Up at Webster Ridge
  • news from WRLG
  • Farmers Market