Aga Door Stuck or Not Closing Properly?
If your Aga Cooker doors have started sticking, or letting steam out of your ovens, they may need a little adjustment.
During the lifetime of traditional aga cookers, the door hinge pins were slightly re-designed. These pins attach to the door and slot into the two hinge brackets on the cooker front plate.
Any cookers made before the year 2000 , had cast iron 'pins' welded into the door.
Any cookers made after the year 2000 , had steel adjustment pins, held in place with grub screws.
You'll find a couple photos below, showing the differences:
Pre-2000 models have limited adjustment, with manual manipulation and bending of the cast iron pin, using a pair of pliers. If you're adjusting these yourself, be really careful as they can snap off with too much movement (and you'll need a whole new door!).
Post-2000 models can be adjusted using the steps below, a slotted screw driver and a 3mm Allen key.
It's also worth checking your door seal and washers - particularly if your oven is letting steam out of the top corners of your doors. They are both classed as 'consumable' parts and can be changed yourself, with some spares and high temperature silicone for the door seal.
- Open the door.
If it's stuck in the closed position, your door pin has already moved and you'll need to turn it to change the position of the door.
Try to turn each door pin from underneath, using a slotted screwdriver, until it can be opened. If they're loose, they'll turn. Don't force it too much. - Loosen the door pin.
Using the Allen key, loosen the grub screw holding the pin in place.
Make sure the door pin is rotating in it's socket. - Use the slotted screwdriver to adjust the door position.
Looking from under the hinge, turn the pin and you'll notice the door will start tilting and moving slightly up and down. - When you think you have the correct position, tighten the grub screw to keep it in place.
Test the door, and adjust if needed. This can be very testing on your patience!
You can also commit the door pin position to memory, remove the door (lifting it off the cooker), then adjusting it, tightening it, then repositioning it back.
Alternatively, you can ask your local Aga Engineer to come take a look - they'll know exactly how to quickly adjust the door for you.
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Our black steel plinths are available to add onto your cooker order if required. They add additional height to the overall Aga dimensions and are available in multiple heights to suit your kitchen design. Traditionally, these British-made Aga Cookers were 851mm from the base to the top of the black enamelled surface. When do you need a plinth? If your worktop or ideal working height is taller than 851mm and you want your Aga Cooker to match them, you'll need a plinth underneath. Brand new Aga Cookers (as well as our ESSE and Everhot cookers) have a fixed height plinth built into the cooker body. If you need these raised higher, you'll need to lay marine-grade plywood or concrete at the required height before installation. What sizes of plinths are available? Our plinths are available in 50mm to 80mm sizes. They also allow for levelling of the base before the assembly of the cooker begins. How do I choose my plinth size? When choosing your required height, you should consider your finished floor height vs your worktop height. It's standard for Aga Cookers to finish slightly proud of the worktop, since the top plate is curved rather than a right-angle ( photo shown below ). If you were to finish level with the worktop, you will have a bigger 'valley' in-between, where crumbs and debris love to collect! Usually, the plinth is seated onto the subfloor, with finished flooring/tiles ran up to and around the plinth once the cooker is built. Alternatively, you can either seat the plinth directly onto the finished floor/tiles, as long as they can bare the weight of the cooker, or we can raise the plinth using the adjustment legs, to allow the finished floor to tuck underneath slightly ( photo shown below). If choosing this option, you should bare in mind the supporting feet in each corner of the plinth start at around 20mm from the front of the plinth. This means your flooring could run underneath for a depth of around 20mm if preferred. After the cooker is built, there are NO adjustments in height, without a strip down and rebuild. What do Aga Cooker plinths look like?
The internal cavities of Aga Cookers have historically been filled with loose-fill insulation. Inside the cooker body, there are lots of pockets and gaps around the cast iron conductions and burner casings etc. The insulation was poured inside after the build was complete, to rid the cooker of air pockets and insulate the cooker body. Diatomaceous Powder Insulation Early models of Aga cooker, like the Standard models made from the 1950's through to the Deluxe 1974 models (and some post-1974 models), would have originally contained Kieselguhr insulation power (or 'Diatomaceous Earth'). You can identify your model here. This is a fine, talc-like insulation, made from crushed up fossils called diatoms. It's satisfying to touch, but VERY messy to work with and instantly becomes thick clay once exposed to water or moisture. The good news is that amorphous diatomaceous earth is non-toxic. As with anything in powder or dust form - minimising exposure is key. You don't want to be breathing in lung-fulls of any dust or powder. If you're working with it, the proper PPE should be used; not just cloth or paper dust masks. Whilst the loose fill insulation may be ok, these models are still the most at risk for any asbestos exposure. AGA used asbestos rope seals inside their cookers for many years. These seals and gaskets are found inside the body of the older models explained above, and also around the lids and doors. Over the lifetime of these cookers, many of these gaskets and rope seals have been replaced for modern (safe) equivalents. AGA have previously reassured engineers and customers that undisturbed, these seals pose little risk and were of 'dust suppressed' or 'tightly woven' formats. Many of them have been exposed to moisture or grease over time which hardens them, meaning they're less friable in nature. They recommend that really old models of cooker are removed in one piece if possible and disposed of professionally.
