considering wood burner option for heating/water - Your thoughts

captainhindsight_2

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

They aren't the same risks, because of the restrictions of the RHI you have to use specific suppliers. You cannot trust Government bodies to regulate such companies (so, so many examples) so you are bearing *some* risk here.

This is why it has always been a no-go for us.



Electrical resistance heating is perfectly viable for a *highly* insulated and air tight home. It has the advantage of being very cheap to install and maintain.

Insulation is the best long term answer.

You have to use specific suppliers for your electricity and gas.... Lol.

Electric heating of any kind should always be a last resort!

Suppliers of biomass are usually small local companies and it is a very very competitive market with hundreds of suppliers across the country. The only real variable to the supply of biomass is labour costs, annual price increases are very very low compared to electricity and gas.

There are so many benefits of biomass heating the list is endless

Smiley_Dan

The point is that if it's regulated there's a chance the regulation will lead to unforseen consequences. It's happened time and again. That is the risk. I'm not saying it will happen and I'm not saying biomass is bad, just that there are risks.

In most cases the best thing has to be reducing energy demand rather than chasing the latest subsidies.

cmjl

I would be very wary about putting in a new wood burner unless I could guarantee a regular supply of timber.As people jump on the bandwagon the demand for wood is greater and the supply becomes less regular because even softwood takes 30+ years to get to a useful size.As the above post says 'the best thing has to be reducing energy demand'.