Life at home this week has been strange. Unfocused. Confused. Challenging. Awkward. Uncomfortable. Chilly. Different.

Why? What is the cause of all these difficult, negative feelings?

Agatha. The Aga. Our gas-fired, cast-iron range cooker.

Agatha is poorly, shut down, awaiting the transplant of a vital part; namely, the boiler within. During a routine service last week, the Aga Doctor noticed some dampness where dampness should not be. This little issue is compounded by the fact that the insulation (after 30 years) has settled, leaving said boiler at risk of further damage from overheating. So, shut down she is, pending the return of the Doctor next week.

In these modern times, I would venture that very few Agas continue to be used in the way they were intended when the were first invented by Dr. Gustav Dalén in 1922 – for cooking everything, for heating the kitchen and beyond, and providing hot water. They’re very much seen as an expensive, aspirational, luxury item, to provide country house ambience in the kitchen. For folk with more money than sense. It’s easy to judge.

I’ve been thinking a lot about these things in general, and about Agatha in particular, and how she fits in with our aspiration to live a low-impact life.

Agatha runs on gas. If you compare her consumption to that of a standard gas oven and hob, Agatha uses an alarming amount more.

However.

In our home, Agatha is considerably more than an oven and hob. This is what she does for us:

• Provides ALL the hot water, including that for the washing machine
• Does ALL the cooking
• She keeps the kitchen very cosy, and the rest of our 100 square metre flat comfortably warm.
• Keeps our traditionally built, 1750s home at an even temperature and humidity.
• She dries all the laundry on the overhead pulley.

As a result, there’s a lot of things we don’t have; you may notice the lack of things with plugs in the photo. The list includes (sample list – not everyone has everything!):

Central heating boiler
Tumble dryer
Oven and hob (separate from Agatha)
Electric kettle
Microwave/combi oven
Slow cooker
Air fryer
Coffee machine
Toastie maker
Toaster
Soup maker
Thermomix
Deep fat fryer
George Foreman grill

Etcetera.

Agatha was built in around 1972, bought second hand by us in around 1992. She cost us £300. Engineering and installation cost a bit more than that in 1994. Since then, she has fulfilled all the functions above.

If we were to accept conventional ‘wisdom’, we could ‘modernise’ with new and up-to-date energy-efficient systems. What would that mean for us?

• Removal and disposal of a working appliance and associated infrastructure
• Purchase and installation of (say) ground source heating, pipework and radiators with the associated works involving damage and disruption to historic internal structures. Getting Planning, Listed Building, and Building Control consents. Restoration and redecoration.
• Refitting of the kitchen to accommodate new appliances
• Purchase of: Oven and hob, Electric kettle, Toaster, Tumble dryer

I’m not just talking about the monetary cost of these items, but the energy and resources used in manufacturing and shipping them. Especially when they would be replacing an entirely functional system.

Since we installed Agatha in 1994 (that’s 31 years ago), how many times has your central heating boiler been replaced? Your oven and hob? Your tumble dryer? Not to mention all the other small appliances? And that’s not taking into account all the work she did in the 20 years before she came to us.

And the bills? Our energy bills are completely within the current normal range for a 2-bedroom property. And ours is a big 2-bedroom property, far from modern, built in 1750. We don’t even have double glazing*, though we do have draught-proofing and shutters.

So, if we made all these modernisations, our bills would likely be much the same. But we would also have the costs and carbon footprint of disposing of the old and the purchase and installation the new systems and appliances. I guarantee that none of them will still be functioning 30 years from now, nor will parts be available to effect repairs.

So – logic? Or hypocrisy?

And what price a warm heart to the home?

*Listed building, Conservation Area. We got a quote, 2 years ago, for double glazing that may (or may not) satisfy the Planners. £24,000 for our 6 x 12-pane sash windows.