aga problem

[woodland dweller]

Hi any aga people out their as i'm having problems with mine at the moment. Its an old conversion and i have been doing my own servicing for several years no probs, did a service 3 months ago and last week it suddenly lost heat down to 1/4 but had not gone out. Removed the burner and it was coked up, cleaned it out checked the oil level with the hacksaw blade method and it was high lowered the BM valve and got it running again but did not check the level again. But it would not get up to temperature, i Kept turning it up at the BM valve but this made no difference, so turned it out to have another look tomorrow.I cleaned out the filter at the tank which was really filthy, have not checked the filter at the valve. Surely if the oil in the burner is to high it will produce a yellow flame and soot not keep the temperature down, any suggestions ?

[openspaceman]

Hi any aga people out their as i'm having problems with mine at the moment. Its an old conversion and i have been doing my own servicing for several years no probs, did a service 3 months ago and last week it suddenly lost heat down to 1/4 but had not gone out. Removed the burner and it was coked up, cleaned it out checked the oil level with the hacksaw blade method and it was high lowered the BM valve and got it running again but did not check the level again. But it would not get up to temperature, i Kept turning it up at the BM valve but this made no difference, so turned it out to have another look tomorrow.I cleaned out the filter at the tank which was really filthy, have not checked the filter at the valve. Surely if the oil in the burner is to high it will produce a yellow flame and soot not keep the temperature down, any suggestions ?

 

You did check that the KBB fire fire valve was passing oil?

 

and you used a new wick?

 

I had repeated problems with one at the boss's house and I'm fairly confident it was a change in kerosene from Total, fine for ordinary central heating boilers but no good for wick fired stuff, they now spec a higher grade kerosene for Agas

[woodland dweller]

hi catweazel thanks for replying,no fire valve fitted, yes new wicks,have heard of problems with oil, but had a refill 8 weeks ago and been ok up to now so ruled this out.

[farmer rod]

Hi any aga people out their as i'm having problems with mine at the moment. Its an old conversion and i have been doing my own servicing for several years no probs, did a service 3 months ago and last week it suddenly lost heat down to 1/4 but had not gone out. Removed the burner and it was coked up, cleaned it out checked the oil level with the hacksaw blade method and it was high lowered the BM valve and got it running again but did not check the level again. But it would not get up to temperature, i Kept turning it up at the BM valve but this made no difference, so turned it out to have another look tomorrow.I cleaned out the filter at the tank which was really filthy, have not checked the filter at the valve. Surely if the oil in the burner is to high it will produce a yellow flame and soot not keep the temperature down, any suggestions ?

 

I had problems with the elbow below the burner coking up, but it sounds like you have checked all that.

[woodland dweller]

Hi farmer rod, yes cleaned the carbon out of the elbow.

[Ty Korrigan]

Try writing to Sussex Life or Horse and Hound:sneaky2:

Really, the 'Aga set' on a working mans forum...hhhhh:001_tt2:!

Ty

[farmer rod]

Try writing to Sussex Life or Horse and Hound:sneaky2:

Really, the 'Aga set' on a working mans forum...hhhhh:001_tt2:!

Ty

 

tried that, Sussex Life had a lively debate about which colour was best, and H& H seem to use the Aga for drying their numnahs.

[woodland dweller]

hey steady on their TY, the bloody thing was in the house when we brought it 25 years ago, but all that time its been a pain in the arse and costs a fortune to run about £325 every 8 weeks i wish i had the income to go with it, but alas as a woodworker i have not. I would rip it out tomorrow if i could find anything that not only cooks but does the hot water and as its on all the time makes the house nice and cosy. When its turned out the place is freezing no central heating. A calour gas or electric range would not do all this. Maybe i will start a thread some day asking what method is the cheapest. Just fired it up again after re calibrating the oil flow and the oil depth in the burner, fingers crossed.

[John Barleycorn]

Learned how to service my ancient Aga many years ago, saving £100- every six months.Thorough cleaning of cast iron fire pot with wire brush & drill. Clean pipe with wire (coathanger) & pipe cleaners. Push overheat reset button in case it has triggered. Make sure screw on top of external controll is screwed down, or it will revert to manual temp controll. Some Aga's revert to manual controll if they lose electric power to controll unit.

Push down controll lever to restart flow after service.

As last resort replace thermocouple (£50-) from Aga diy company (look on Google)

[StephF]

Changed from oil to wood range a few years ago, main reason price! but the EU regulations changed the fuel spec, and it is really bad for Agas, means you have to have wicks changed every time new fuel is put in your oil tank, they get all sooted up cooker just gets cooler and cooler and useless for cooking anything but a slow stew! apparently it is a well known problem but I dont know what the answer is. I thought at first when it started to happen that the oil company was delivering dirty oil and kept complaining, but found out it was a newEU oil, and it meant changing wicks (expensive!) every 6-8 weeks as oil ranges dont like it.