Does anyone have a pellet boiler installed at home?

LCK73

Hi,

I'm keen to talk to someone who has one installed at home as seriously considering buying one as my oil boiler is next to knackered at 20 years old so I need to spend money replacing it......

Thanks

janken

Have not installed on but have done some research. Wood pellets are not commonly availabel and you will need a large storage area proably sloped to allow automatic feeding. What i have seen so far is most of the pellet boilers are being used for office and large building work. I think the pellets are quite expensive compared to cut wood.

I am going down the route of installing a wood burning boiler connecte to my existing oil unit. The wood will be the primary unit and the oil as a back up.

This is not a simple alternative you need a neutraliser unit to combine 2 or more boilers but even so i expect to recoup my costs in 3 years. I already have a suply of seasoned wood that came from my garden. (at least 2 years worth)

If you get any more info i would be interested to hear your experiance.

LCK73

Thanks for the reply.

I live in northern Cumbria where we have a supply of pellet fuels and close to the border of Scotland where they have them too.

I've been quoted £3k plus 5% vat for a 14kwatt Edilkamin pellet boiler and been told that it will be enough to service my central heating system and water requirements (hot water tank). We have 7 rads and 2 adults in the house only (3 bed semi with d/g and cav wall ins). I have plenty of dry room to store the pellets. I have been advised to budget approx £1k for installation and costs as I already have existing rads in place etc.

This sounded fair to me (we don't have gas in our area so it is oil or electricity only).

I wondered about the small kwatt output of the boiler and was told it would be enough by distributer, so being a little suspicious I contacted CAT (centre for alternative technology) and they said it would be fine at that rate and if I was very careful I could get away with 10kwatt. Don't want to go for the lesser rate though as don't want to have to sit in woolly jumpers in winter.

Anyway, that's what I know right now and was looking to find out others experiences etc.

PS - not into the idea of wood stove so much as it takes more maintenance and attention (I'm told) and I prefer to have the convenience factor of pellets compared to wood. I kno w it is more expensive to buy and install pelltet compared to wood but I'm lucky enough to be able to choose which I want.

Thanks though.

TankMaster

I don't have a wood pellet system myself, but I'm installing 2 tanks tomorrow at at 2 different homes locally, who switched from oil to pellets a year or so ago and are switching back to oil.

Not sure as to why, but I'll see what I can find out.

Regards

TM

janken

TankMaster wrote: »

I don't have a wood pellet system myself, but I'm installing 2 tanks tomorrow at at 2 different homes locally, who switched from oil to pellets a year or so ago and are switching back to oil.

Not sure as to why, but I'll see what I can find out.

Regards

TM

Interesting post - would be interested to hear more

LCK73

TankMaster wrote: »

I don't have a wood pellet system myself, but I'm installing 2 tanks tomorrow at at 2 different homes locally, who switched from oil to pellets a year or so ago and are switching back to oil.

Not sure as to why, but I'll see what I can find out.

Regards

TM

Gosh me too! Please spill the beans.....

LCK73

TankMaster wrote: »

I don't have a wood pellet system myself, but I'm installing 2 tanks tomorrow at at 2 different homes locally, who switched from oil to pellets a year or so ago and are switching back to oil.

Not sure as to why, but I'll see what I can find out.

Regards

TM

Still wondering how you got on..........did you find out why these guys were switching back......??

janken

janken wrote: »

Have not installed on but have done some research. Wood pellets are not commonly availabel and you will need a large storage area proably sloped to allow automatic feeding. What i have seen so far is most of the pellet boilers are being used for office and large building work. I think the pellets are quite expensive compared to cut wood.

I am going down the route of installing a wood burning boiler connecte to my existing oil unit. The wood will be the primary unit and the oil as a back up.

This is not a simple alternative you need a neutraliser unit to combine 2 or more boilers but even so i expect to recoup my costs in 3 years. I already have a suply of seasoned wood that came from my garden. (at least 2 years worth)

If you get any more info i would be interested to hear your experiance.

Getting more complicated may have to move the hot water tank -wood boilers are in short suply and will not get one fitted before the week before xmass. Connecting two boilers is a big job for a plumber.