AGA [E2 and E6] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

These two are the exception that proves how sparse the rest of AGA’s code documentation is. In the eR7i guide, on the induction hob pages, AGA state that error codes E2 and E6 displayed on your induction hob can be associated with use of poor-quality cookware or cookware not suitable for induction, and that continued use may cause serious damage to your induction hob. That is the only place in any AGA document where a specific code is named and given a cause, and the remedy is implicit but unusually forceful: change the pan or you will break the hob. Read that warning carefully, because it is about owner-caused damage rather than a component wearing out, and damage an owner has been warned about in the user guide is not the same conversation with a warranty department as a part that failed on its own. If either code appears more than once with the same pan, the cheapest thing you will ever do for that hob is stop using that pan on it.

What counts as unsuitable is not a matter of opinion. Induction works by inducing a current in the base of the pan, so the base has to be ferromagnetic, and AGA publish the test themselves: hold a magnet to the base, and weak or no attraction usually indicates a pan that is not suitable. They also say plainly that all copper, all aluminium and ceramic pans will not work, and that some grades of stainless steel may not function or may be slow to heat. Poor quality is the subtler half of their wording, and AGA are specific about the construction they mean: they strongly recommend that composite aluminium cookware with steel inserts is avoided, because that type of construction can significantly reduce the lifetime and performance of the induction cook top. A thin base, or a small ferrous disc bonded into an aluminium body, couples unevenly and concentrates heat where the hob is least able to shed it, and a base that has bowed with age makes it worse by reducing contact with the glass.

Two other things follow from AGA’s own pages. They publish an ideal pan size of 180 to 240 mm and warn against oversize pans that overlap the controls and display area, so a very large pan sitting across the panel is worth ruling out as well. And they publish nothing else: there is no E1, no E3, no U400 and no F-code anywhere in the eR7i guide, so E2 and E6 are the complete list of AGA induction codes. One thing to resist. Rangemaster and Falcon guides publish an E2 of their own with a different meaning, and AGA, Rangemaster and Falcon share a document platform, so the temptation to carry a meaning across is real. Do not. AGA’s induction module is a different supply, no mapping between the two code sets has been demonstrated, and using AGA’s own cause text is both safer and more useful than borrowing somebody else’s.

1. 1

   Take the pan off and stop using that zone until you have changed something. AGA’s warning is about continued use, so continued use is the one thing to avoid.

2. 2

   Hold a magnet against the base of the pan you were using. AGA publish this test, and they add the reminder to take the magnet off again before cooking.

3. 3

   Try a heavy pan with a thick, flat, fully magnetic base, ideally between 180 and 240 mm across, which is the size AGA give as ideal.

4. 4

   Stand the suspect pan on a flat worktop and see whether it rocks. A bowed base reduces contact and can provoke the codes on its own.

5. 5

   Check that the pan is not sitting over the control and display area, which AGA warn against separately from the question of pan quality.

6. 6

   If the codes still appear with good pans on either zone, stop using the hob and ring AGA Service with the code.

   AGA state that continued use may cause serious damage to the induction hob. Damage you were warned about in the user guide is the worst possible ground to be standing on in a warranty discussion.