Moving an AGA-type stove

[ViolentPanda]

I just had an idea - maybe I could use the giant hamstermobile to tow the Esse along on a trailer!

That's actually a good idea, but you'd have to make sure that the trailer was rated for the weight, which if you're renting one, the agency should be able to tell you.

 

[pk]

I've just been quoted over £400 including VAT for moving this lovely Esse cooker to Bristol from near Caernarfon - and that's with waiting until it can come as a part load!

Size-wize, it'd fit in my elderly Volvo estate - it's about 900 x 900 x 600 mm - does anyone know whether my suspension would stand for it?

I've moved one of these from a house, just two of us got it onto a tail-lift truck.

Don't put it anywhere near your Volvo, it's snap it.

The trick is - SAND - plenty of sand on top of some decent thick old bedsheets, and wooden round stakes to roll it over doorsteps.

Create a path using the sheets from the current location of the Esse to the back of the van (a tail-lift is essential really) and cover with sand.

Use a car jack and a lump of wood to raise the oven high enough to slide some wooden stakes under the bottom of it, roll it on to the first sheet with a load of sand on it beneath it.

Then drag it on out. Hope the floor's not too posh, it's bound to scratch it up a bit.

That's how I did it, anyway.

 

[pk]

Moving AGAs is a specialist job. They need to be taken to bits and reconstructed.

Wrong again Tobyjug.

I would counsel against trying to move it in one lump. For one thing they will not fit through the gap in a standard door.

It's not an AGA.

 

[djbombscare]

PK man there's no sand there but last time we went ove it looked like it had been snowing

 

[moose]

Blimey - Shirl had better get her pinny on and her dustpan out.

 

[fat hamster]

LOL - I think djbs was referring to the polystyrene "snow" that's been drifting around Hamster Mansions for months while the block has been being "cladded" for insulation. I'll try not to bring too much to Wales with me (though it does tend to stick to everything, especially the cats).

Right. These are the weights that the Esse people emailed back to me:

Cooker weights

Electric 250 kilos

Oil pressure jets 350 kilos

Oil pot burners 320 kilos

Gas cookers 300 kilos

So we're looking at about 700 - 800 lbs.

Can I get a trailer that'll carry that much? And would my Volvo pull it?

 

[ViolentPanda]

LOL - I think djbs was referring to the polystyrene "snow" that's been drifting around Hamster Mansions for months while the block has been being "cladded" for insulation. I'll try not to bring too much to Wales with me (though it does tend to stick to everything, especially the cats).

Right. These are the weights that the Esse people emailed back to me:



So we're looking at about 700 - 800 lbs.

Can I get a trailer that'll carry that much? And would my Volvo pull it?

If your Volvo will pull a caravan then it should pull a trailer and an 800lb load. I've seen quite a few Volvo estates used for pulling (occupied) horseboxes, so as long as your trailer hitch is solidly mounted you should be okay.

As I said in an earlier post, if you hire a trailer then the hire company should be able to tell you what sort of load it can bear, and it ay be worth telling them how heavy your load will be and getting them to state on the receipt the weight capacity of the trailer, as they then can't argue if (which it won't!) anything happens to the trailer (make sure you get them to throw in plenty of ratchet straps and make sure the load is strapped down as well as possible too).
Thinking about it, a boat-type trailer should have a jack at the front for setting the trailer at a fixed angle to enable loading. That would probably allow Mrs. Magpie's "rollers and slaves" method to be used effectively. Might be worth looking into.
Good luck!

 

[tobyjug]

So we're looking at about 700 - 800 lbs.

Can I get a trailer that'll carry that much? And would my Volvo pull it?

Yes easily, as 800lbs is only about 370 kilos. My Clio can tow nearly 700 kilos
You don't even need to hire a braked trailor as you can tow up to 750 kilos gross with an unbraked trailor depending on the weight of your car.

 

[fat hamster]

Cool! Thanks.

 

[geminisnake]

Can you get a block and tackle for getting it down the stairs??

Apparently you can hire them from tool/plant places. Or Screwfix do ones that lift 1000k for £60.

 

[fat hamster]

Err...what's a block and tackle?

 

[geminisnake]

It's a pulley system for lifting/moving heavy weights. You might have seen one at a garage. They use them for lifting engines out of cars, etc.

Was going to put in a link but it seems screwfix don't do them anymore(it's last yrs catalogue I was looking at)

 

[fat hamster]

Okay, thanks. I did google for it, but mostly got a picture of Rasputin's pickled penis!

 

[Velouria]

Err I presume a block and tackle is some sort of counterweighted manual ratchet driven crane?

If you were gonna use one of em to lower something that size as far as the drop down your stairwell.... well, good luck

Consider that as it gets further down the leverage exerted will increase. It will need a large counterweight to stop it toppling. Like considerably more than the stove weighs. The other option is of course, extendable feet to distribute the load forwards, but I doubt you'd get that on an ordinary block and tackle. They're not generally designed for lowering stuff down holes (=lowering it down further than the base of the block and tackle). Just have horrible visions of the whole lot very quickly going CRASH!

edit: I think your safest option might be chains and a ramp, a ratchet mechanism of some sort, and lower it very very slowly , but I dunno what you would attach it to upstairs that would be strong enough... I have seen one man use metal bars, a strap and a ratchet to haul a 1/4 megawatt standby generator into place on level ground... but he did it very very slowly! (About half an inch per pull on the ratchet).

With a ramp, it's going to have to be sturdy, braced well, made of thick plywood... you are then gonna have to either lower the stove down to the end of the ramp then figure out how to take the ramp out, or get the stove halfway down with the stove on it and then lower the ramp slowly, neither of these are easy...

Can one hire a gurney which can take that weight and extend to that height I wonder? Then all you'd have to do is lower the gurney... Other problem is then you'd have to get the gurney into your kitchen - hopefully it weighs less than the stove

 

[Sunspots]

If you were gonna use one of em to lower something that size as far as the drop down your stairwell.... well, good luck

Yep. I'm no expert, but my main concern with this whole move is still not the trailer part, but the stairs to be negotiated once the stove's arrived at Stab Towers.

Even if it actually will fit down those stairs, negotiating that weight safely is the real problem IMO.

 

[fat hamster]

Even if it actually will fit down those stairs, negotiating that weight safely is the real problem IMO.

Why would it not fit down the stairs? They're normal-size stairs, with one right-angle turn halfway down, and the stove has approximately the same dimensions (900 x 900 x 600 mm) as a normal kitchen cabinet.

Verouria - WTF is a gurney?

Edit: OMG, googled again, and got pictures of post-mortems!

 

[DaveCinzano]

callie posting

i dont think its a manouvering problem - it might fit but whos gonna feel brave enough to stand underneath the thing as it goes down the stairs? youd need someone or two strong enough to take the weight of the stove, whilst moving backwards down the stairs. tbh i dont think id advise any one to do it, muscle man or not cos if the stove falls some bones are gonna get broken

 

[Sunspots]

Why would it not fit down the stairs? They're normal-size stairs, with one right-angle turn halfway down, and the stove has approximately the same dimensions (900 x 900 x 600 mm) as a normal kitchen cabinet.

Sorry, probably just my natural pessimism.

Like I say though, even if it'll fit, getting that kind of weight safely down the stairs is another matter!

 

[Sunspots]

i dont think its a manouvering problem - it might fit but whos gonna feel brave enough to stand underneath the thing as it goes down the stairs? youd need someone or two strong enough to take the weight of the stove, whilst moving backwards down the stairs. tbh i dont think id advise any one to it it, muscle man or not cos if the stove falls some bones are gonna get broken

Yep, that's the exact same scenario I'm worried about too!

 

[Velouria]

Why would it not fit down the stairs? They're normal-size stairs, with one right-angle turn halfway down, and the stove has approximately the same dimensions (900 x 900 x 600 mm) as a normal kitchen cabinet.

Verouria - WTF is a gurney?

Edit: OMG, googled again, and got pictures of post-mortems!

Yeah I meant a trolley that can be raised and lowered, scissor jack sort of affair.

Since looking I've found that 'gurney' is an American word. Damn

 

[DaveCinzano]

callie again

Yep, that's the exact same scenario I'm worried about too!

"help me please! someone get this stove off my foot!!"

 

[Velouria]

i dont think its a manouvering problem - it might fit but whos gonna feel brave enough to stand underneath the thing as it goes down the stairs? youd need someone or two strong enough to take the weight of the stove, whilst moving backwards down the stairs. tbh i dont think id advise any one to do it, muscle man or not cos if the stove falls some bones are gonna get broken

That's why I recommended a chain and ratchet, and a ramp.

One man (or woman ) job to lower it down, and no one has to stand in front ...

 

[fat hamster]

i dont think its a manouvering problem - it might fit but whos gonna feel brave enough to stand underneath the thing as it goes down the stairs? youd need someone or two strong enough to take the weight of the stove, whilst moving backwards down the stairs. tbh i dont think id advise any one to do it, muscle man or not cos if the stove falls some bones are gonna get broken

I wouldn't want anyone to stand underneath it!

I'd envisaged moving it on piano wheels, tied up with webbing which people would hold onto.

But TBH I'm thinking it might be better left to professionals, and maybe £350 (cos the guy I spoke to has dropped his quote a bit now) isn't so extreme after all.

 

[Sunspots]

"help me please! someone get this stove off my foot!!"

Yeah, that, but probably liberally interspersed with "-FUUUUCKK!!!!" "-SHIIIIIIT!!!!" and "-AAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!"...

 

[Sunspots]

But TBH I'm thinking it might be better left to professionals, and maybe £350 (cos the guy I spoke to has dropped his quote a bit now) isn't so extreme after all.

 

[Velouria]

That's why I recommended a chain and ratchet, and a ramp.

One man (or woman ) job to lower it down, and no one has to stand in front ...

Here's the ratchet thing I was thinking of:

Go to http://www.hss.com, code 69897. I can't direct link it...

Although I'm not sure exactly how you would run it 'backwards' as it's designed for pulling stuff up, not letting it down ... ?

This guy who said 350 quid.. he has seen how hard this job is going to be, has he?

I'm also thinking of the steepness of the ramp down to yours, and thinking that one of those and the steps to your flat might be quicker, easier and safer too ... You're effectively trying to roll something downhill that weighs as much as a small car

a braked pallet truck would be my best bet if you do take it down the ramps on the hill. even still if you went too fast, like more than a quarter walking pace, if you braked sharply it could slide off...

 

[fat hamster]

This guy who said 350 quid.. he has seen how hard this job is going to be, has he?

He was recommended to me by the guy from Mickleburghs Pianos, who recently delivered a piano to the Snail Gallery. I said AGA, so I guess they know what they're doing...I shall double-check though, before I send them up to Wolfie's!

 

[Velouria]

He was recommended to me by the guy from Mickleburghs Pianos, who recently delivered a piano to the Snail Gallery. I said AGA, so I guess they know what they're doing...I shall double-check though, before I send them up to Wolfie's!

Wolfie's is the easy end. I was thinking of your end

 

[fat hamster]

For sure. But Wolfie's is a long way to send someone and have them say they can't do the job - I'm guessing they won't pick it up unless they're convinced they can drop it off successfully.

 

[Velouria]

.... and was it a goer?