AGA servicing coures / books ect ect

[CXR100]

Thinking of doing my oftec so i can get some work servicing aga's. the guy that does it near me is giving it up due to old age, there is no one else doing it locally so was thinking of training up to do it, im allready a qualified plumber to nvq3 and have experience (been plumbing since i left school full time) but i have no experience in agas , only on oil boilers (pressure jet) . anybody know where i could get some decent training / books , videos ect ect or some training courses in agas/rayburns?? and are they that dificult to service/repair , compared to a combi ?? any info would be great! thanks

 

[Dotty]

Have you looked on the oftec website for training establishments near you?

And good luck!

 

[CXR100]

yes i know where the assesment will be just i would like to chanse it cluless jest with a certificate, would like to get some propper training or some good books, dvd's ect ect if you know what i mean, are agas and rayburns that dificult to service tho?

 

[Dotty]

I'll be honest don't touch them myself. But oftec courses are engineered for you knowing nothing of the course in hand. I would just go to the manufacturers sites and download as many mi's as you can.

 

[CXR100]

thats the way a lot of plumbers feel about them this way "i dont touch them" but i dont know why. there is a lot of them aroud this way aswell. have you heard that they are a nightmare to service or something?

 

[Dotty]

Not much call for it over here tbh. I've been asked to look at 1 in the 8 years I've been here.

 

[SimonG]

Aga's are a pain in the backside, which is why I don't do them and why Aga themselves charge about 140 for a visit. Why not approach the guy who's packing in?

 

[lame plumber]

Aga does not do any training courses for agas they keep all servicing in house if possible. They will do a training course for rayburns if you are in an area they are short of guild engineers covering it. However you want to note that currently I believe there are over 30 different rayburn models in production and they will send you to any of them if you hold gas or oil tickets or heatas as well, and they expect you to get it right as its their name on your van (Rayburn Guild) they also throw agas at you if they are to busy or more likely the aga is out of warranty. Youll be expected to be able to replace the top oven stat easily and that only involves lifting the top cover off, damage the enamelling and thats £400-500 for a new top!! You need to be confident with vapourising burners as Aga will not certify any conversions put into rayburns or AGAs be they gas or oil. A poor burning vapourising burner can make a heck of a mess and a lot of CO. Agas are a bit of a pig to work on as the hot spots can be v heavy, so dont drop them on the nice black top cover, but apart from that they are great to work with. Only advice is never ever try to service an oil raburn nouvelle cooker/boiler, you wont achieve a happy outcome and youll be there all day and back for the rest of the week, so say the aga training techies. I havent had the pleasure of one yet, as I took their advice.

 

[Kev the gas]

A friend of ours has an Aga in their very old cottage 2/300 years old !

He needed a new heat exchanger in the unit and was quoted nearly £2.5K to supply and fit. I looked at the job as a favour and declined to get involved, the heat exchanger was near on £1k.

In the end it took the Aga guys nearly a week to sort out. Glad I didn't get involved.

Aga/Rayburn did send me a few emails asking to attend their training courses 8/10 months ago, not many around here so I didn't take it further.

 

[Roger Welton]

Nouvelles aren't too bad, just quite time consuming, dirty and thirsty. I only have 2 on the books at the moment.

 

[tonto33]

i just booked to go on aga servicing course in telford as i hold rangemaster contract for my area they asked me if wanted to do aga as well, so thought why not and get my oil ticket while there

 

[lame plumber]

Nouvelles aren't too bad, just quite time consuming, dirty and thirsty. I only have 2 on the books at the moment.

If I get any I'll let you have the little blighters, as you say they take a while to set up

 

[Dsgas]

Theres an old boy conducting a service on an aga on youtube, quite informative and usefull. have found the aga tech guys quite helpfull also.

 

[lame plumber]

dont rely on u tube to much as they dont tell you everything to do a professional service! ie flue draft checks, oil rate,firevalve checks etc