This is a bit technical but super interesting and a potential safety issue if you own a 'pressure jet' conversion. These pics are from a pre-74 'Deluxe' owned by Philippa. It had been converted to a pressure jet system, supplied by a company now defunct, very badly.
Pressurising the oil before it is burnt makes for more efficient combustion but you do get a 'jet' of heat which can cause problems. In this case very serious problems. The barrel has been insulated incorrectly and effectively melted and disintegrated under the jet of heat. This allows combustion gases to escape of course and vermiculite to enter the barrel.
In addition to this potentially disastrous failure the flue of the Aga range cooker had been run through the floor above and was in contact with the floorboards and the oil shut off valve had been disconnected. The engineer who found this said it was the worst he had seen but not the first and Philippa and family had a lucky escape.
If you have a pressure jet conversion do ask your engineer to check the barrel on your next service and if you have the slightest concern safety wise on any cooker you should turn it off and seek qualified advice. This cooker was converted back to a standard oil burner but we can also convert to our 'Electrikit' system. Funnily enough we took one of these systems out on Tuesday and converted it to Electrikit after it had proved unreliable. Happily we didn't find any safety issues in that case!
>>See our DIY improvement kits for use with Aga range cookers.
>>View our reconditioned electric Aga range cookers page.
