Our Wood Pellet Boiler decisions.........

21poops

Wondered if anyone can help we have recently moved into a 3 bed detached property heated by electric underfloor heating and storage heaters.
The heating bills are shocking and we are looking at biomass as an option.
Does anyone have positive comments re this type of system and can recommend any installers?
We are also confused about the RHPP payments and how things will go with the proposed RHI payments. Spoken to energy saving trust today and they can not give definite dates for when the RHI comes in and whether the RHPP will be paid back in first year of rhi or over the 7 years.
Any help greatly appreciated
Thanks
Steve

Mikeeuropa

Baltrasna2013 wrote: »

Hello All,
I am planning to install a grant spira with a 4m3 hopper and auger in a new build house with a relatively low energy consumption eg 10kw at -3 deg outside. I am worried about auger on hopper jamming and whether i need an accumulator or eg a 400 litre hot water tank as i have such a low energy demand. Any advise is appreciated.

I'm no expert in this area as I'm researching like many others here. But, having read the whole of this thread, it sounds like overkill with the extra hopper. The Spira has it's own built in hopper. I think the original poster was topping up his (different) boiler with about a bag a day on a house with significantly higher energy demand. So unless you've a specific reason for wanting/needing the hopper my own personal opinion would be to save the extra expense and avoid the extra complexity.

There seems to be majority of opinion on here that accumulators are not needed either, I think accumulators are much more relevant for systems where the timing of the energy production (eg. solar - during the day) doesn't match the timing of demand (eg. baths in an evening).

HTH

juliet98

Wonderful to finally find some real people discussing these stoves without trying to sell us something.
We have just moved into a small 2 bed bungalow which we plan to extend upwards into a 4 bed house. We have a really good installer who previously did our woodburner central heating in previous house, which worked beautifully. However, we like the idea of having something which will be easier to keep going while we are at work all day.
We are looking at MCZ boiler pellet stoves which we want to install in the dining room.
Has anyone got one of these? How much heat comes out of the actual stove? Ours will be quite near the dining table and we don't want to roast anyone while they are eating. Also, are they noisy?

nemocharley

to 21poops:

I live in Denmark. Been through the whole process of changing heating system completely. I can honestly say that there are many good product on the market. If money is not an issue go "Austrian".

Value for money on a budget? Look to Ctc ecoflex maybe combined with either heatpump or solar heating (ctc is a Swedish/British company).

Cheaper still? Slimpel from Turkey.

But - if I understand You correctly we are dealing with dry heat, your system is not waterbased. A conversion will be expensive.

Maybe air/air heat pumps, large stone ovens and solar heating for the tap water. Can be done in steps -start with a good oven that holds the heat for many hours and think of transportation of the heat to the rooms furthest away.

nemocharley

ModelCitizen wrote: »

A decent company will work out what size of boiler you need. Correct sizing is important for biomass, more important that for oil. A major consideration, and effecting the choice of boiler size is whether you install a heat store (accumulator).
As for Sussex installers, see PM.

just browsed through this thread once again.

I see that you prefer simplicity

on that note I can reccommend my own system if you want a buffertank - see Värmebaronen.se - can be set between 12 and 20kw, starts and stops - no cycling. (or a primitive kind - going between low effect and high effect, but you have to adjust the settings for that. (Värmebaronen has developed a new burner Viking Bio 200 that is slightly more powerful but contains easier adjustments via display.

There is also the Atmos Boiler with either the A25 burner or Iwabo S2 burner - The A25 cycles between 2-24kw and the Iwabo S2 can be set between 7 and 20kw - it does not cycle, just starts and stops. This is a good, old school simple and cheap choice.

I have seen both Pellmax Ub and Atmos w. Iwabo in use without buffertank - and they work fine. The issue here is to know how much water there is in your system, and then set the burner at the right amount of kw - and if your heating requirements are low say 5-7kw well then I might look for a different option or add a buffer (as I did).

yes it is true that a large waterstorage reduces the number of starts and thus saves energy, but you also loose energy from the heat loss from the buffertank (if the tank stands in a place where the heat is used and not lost then it is a different matter ofcourse)
But fewer stop equals less strain on the burner thats true no matter what. But less starts yearly can also be achieved through a timer set on the burner, so that it only heats when you want it to. This is very useful for energy savings in the summer, spring and fall and much cheaper than adding solar heating (and I say this despite being a big fan of solar heating).

Having this timer-feature is still a good idea if the heating system includes a buffer and/or solar heating. If you have a floor heated system in solid concrete and tiles, then you can use the buffer effect in the floor also - again resulting in potentially great savings.

My personal favourite is the CTC Ecoflex - I would have installed this one if I had the room for it. It has the sturdiness and simplicity of the above Swedes, but with added advanced control options and its system is prepared to work fluently with either heat pumps or solar from CTC (this reduces the risk of a faulty setup) - CTC Enertech is established in UK. Also the installation is quicker and often cheaper in the long run if you stick to one brand.

Note however that 20kw output from the CTC Ecoflex is not enough for everyone.

DaveWSmith

Has anyone had a issue with Condensation ! we are getting around 1/2 ltr of water on cold days from the bottom of the connecting flue. the Chimney extends about 2.5 Mtr from the roof, and is a twin We have a clay lined chimney,and have fitted rain/bird cowles but still get the water. we had it repointed and re-leaded last summer but still have this issue. I think we may need liner fitted with a insulation wrap on the top 2/3. anyone have a similar issue ?

DaveWSmith

In Reply to Juliet98, check out the convection heat output, our stove kicks out about 4KW in to the room not a MCZ but a Lincar, we have ours in the Kitchen, you can hear it start , and load the pellets, and will roar when cleaning the basket, its not quiet, but its not so annoying that we notice it .

Robsmith88

Hi,
I'm hoping a few people on here can help me as I took the plunge and had a wood pellet boiler installed last year and it's been nothing but trouble since.

In May 2013 I had a company install an MCZ RED365 Compact 18 wood pellet boiler and it has been a nightmare with LOADS of issues. since installation I have had the installers back out about 20 times to fix all manner of issues.

The main issue is that it keeps tripping the electrics (MCB) in the boiler room but am guessing that is caused as a knock on effect from some of the other issues.

- 3 x faulty igniters
- 1 x faulty turbulator
- 3 x faulty motherboards
- leaks due to the boiler not having the right UK connections
- many blown fuses
- overheating issues
- constantly tripping the electrics

At the beginning of January 2014, after being without heating and hot water for over 2 months I had them rip it out and replace it for a new one (the same model) and last week (4 weeks later) it tripped the electrics (MCB), blew the fused spur between the MCB and the boiler and blew the fuses in the boiler - I've now been without heating and hot water for another week...

has anyone else had similar experiences? I just have no idea what to do now other than to instruct the installers to take it out and refund me in full.

has anyone else got a RED 365 Compact 18 or Compact 24 boiler with issues?

i'd love to hear from you to share your experience :-)

thanks

Davesnave

Robsmith88 wrote: »

Hi,
has anyone else got a RED 365 Compact 18 or Compact 24 boiler with issues?

i'd love to hear from you to share your experience :-)

thanks

No, but thanks for the post, because my local installers use MCZ and suggested a Red boiler for my property. The installers have nbeen around a long time and are totally reputable, but this technology is relatively new to them.

I'm far from convinced that pellets are the way to go for us, but always interested to hear experiences positive and negative.

lostinrates

Robsmith88 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm hoping a few people on here can help me as I took the plunge and had a wood pellet boiler installed last year and it's been nothing but trouble since.

In May 2013 I had a company install an MCZ RED365 Compact 18 wood pellet boiler and it has been a nightmare with LOADS of issues. since installation I have had the installers back out about 20 times to fix all manner of issues.

The main issue is that it keeps tripping the electrics (MCB) in the boiler room but am guessing that is caused as a knock on effect from some of the other issues.

- 3 x faulty igniters
- 1 x faulty turbulator
- 3 x faulty motherboards
- leaks due to the boiler not having the right UK connections
- many blown fuses
- overheating issues
- constantly tripping the electrics

At the beginning of January 2014, after being without heating and hot water for over 2 months I had them rip it out and replace it for a new one (the same model) and last week (4 weeks later) it tripped the electrics (MCB), blew the fused spur between the MCB and the boiler and blew the fuses in the boiler - I've now been without heating and hot water for another week...

has anyone else had similar experiences? I just have no idea what to do now other than to instruct the installers to take it out and refund me in full.

has anyone else got a RED 365 Compact 18 or Compact 24 boiler with issues?

i'd love to hear from you to share your experience :-)

thanks

We're your installers MCS and other body (e.g. Niceic) registered/accredited?

Having been through a long mediation process with a woodpellet boiler we felt very let down by both MCS and NICEIC but I would suggest that if your problems are continuing and your installer is failing to address them it might be time to take this further?

Can I suggest you start a thread, detailing your issues and timescales and where you are now. Those more experienced than I will guide you as to whether this is appropriate.