Biomass Boilers - Domestic

maggieban

Has anyone any info on Biomass Boilers for domestic premises?
I certainly would be interested if these were cost effective, I know on a bigger scale they are used in Industry but there is very little out there in the public domain for the ordinary householder as an alternative to the increasingly expensive gas option.
The practical business of how to set up the "feeder" of wood pellets/chips and the problems of supply and storage, someone out there must have been there and done it, please let me know.

diywhynot

maggieban wrote: »

Has anyone any info on Biomass Boilers for domestic premises?
I certainly would be interested if these were cost effective, I know on a bigger scale they are used in Industry but there is very little out there in the public domain for the ordinary householder as an alternative to the increasingly expensive gas option.
The practical business of how to set up the "feeder" of wood pellets/chips and the problems of supply and storage, someone out there must have been there and done it, please let me know.

Details on the EST website. Can be pricey option. A few on here have taken the plunge.

bercydevil

I was looking into it, and agree information is difficult to come by.

I got an "indicative" quote for my 5 bed detached house of approx £16,000. Then when discussing further discovered the company were not MCS for Biomass.

I approached another company they were MCS. They visited, seemed very competent & professional, but quickly said it is not viable for my property.

DanRichards

Have a read through this, it might help.:)

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4149471

Sycorax

I was looking into this recently for my 3 bed detached (I'm currently on LPG).

I was quoted £11,500 for a basic model i.e. no automatic feed or cleaning. My place would also require a minimum amount of replumbing and no new hot water tanks. So a pretty straight forward and simple conversion.

The biggest issue I had was finding an installer. Out of the dozen I contacted there was only one guy who actually came out to quote. I either didn't get responses, or companies had gone out of business.

I found there were plenty of wood pellet suppliers, so I wasn't concerned about a supply.

I did check with the local council about planning permission for the flue, mine would have been OK, but only just.

My biggest concern out of all of this was finding unbiased info about boilers i.e. info not from the manufacturer and finding someone to install.

I've parked the idea for now and may revisit in 18 months

Canucklehead

Would like to fit a Windhager, but there is little to no appetite for them due to cost. MCS costs and paperwork are a big turn off for the SME.

HM Gov. dragging it's feet (and knuckles) on the RHI

Various video clips showing pellet store options etc. on the website.

As usual the rest of Europe are ahead of UcK in this technology, and are more inclined to embrace it.

Silent_Dancer

Sycorax wrote: »

I was looking into this recently for my 3 bed detached (I'm currently on LPG).

I was quoted £11,500 for a basic model i.e. no automatic feed or cleaning. My place would also require a minimum amount of replumbing and no new hot water tanks. So a pretty straight forward and simple conversion.

Sorry but this is crazy money. Why would want to blow out £11K to save at most a few £100 a year?

Johnandabby

Silent_Dancer wrote: »

Sorry but this is crazy money. Why would want to blow out £11K to save at most a few £100 a year?

Absolutely right - at the moment even if you can get free wood it would still take 20 years to pay off.

If the RHI ever gets sorted out then it might be worth considering, but completely dependent on the tariffs available

muckybutt

Were taking the plunge with a pellet boiler, going for the MCZ Musa Hydro. This will be used to heat an extension we are building, it will also do our hot water and will also be linked / zoned into our current stove heating installation.

RHI payments should be in the £1.2K a year bracket, install and stove costing £5.5K. we have loads of room for pellet storage so thats not a problem for us, buy in bulk when its cheap.

frugal90

seems very cheap for an install-is the product itself not £3500 itself?

Johnandabby

muckybutt wrote: »

Were taking the plunge with a pellet boiler, going for the MCZ Musa Hydro. This will be used to heat an extension we are building, it will also do our hot water and will also be linked / zoned into our current stove heating installation.

Interested in hearing more, sounds like a good deal for you. Assume it's a manual feed boiler? How do you get on with your current stove system in terms of lighting it and feeding it?

We have a simple stove in the living room, which we only light in the evenings. Not sure if I would have the patience to be feeding a central stove all the time - I really appreciate having a gas boiler on cold mornings!