Which? Biomass boilers!!

[duchesse]

I am so confused. Every supplier we speak to seems to have a different opinion of what size boiler we should get, what type of fuel (pellet, chip or log), whether their boiler will come under the (non-negligeable) RHI scheme. My head is spinning.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for a boiler system for a large house + granny annexe. I am around all day as I work from home, so log would not be a problem per se. I just feel we need some frank information on the advantages and inconveniences of each method.

We currently heat using (or rather, not using) LPG, which has gone up by 10p a litre in one year, and have nearly tripled in price in 7 years to completely unaffordable levels. I cannot wait to get shot of it! We will actually have a proper party when they take the horrible eyesore tank away.

Hi did you sort this problem out? We do know of an amazingly honest company who have just fitted our solar panels. They do all kinds of renewable energy products. The thing is we were like yourself really confused at first. Had afew companies around giving us quotes but the mind boggles!!! We just need someone to come and explain things simply and honestly.
We ended pay £120 more but know we got the best advise. Even now if u call hhe company they are really helpful.

Pm me if you need there number.

Ooh, 2sstressed, are you based in the SW? We have now chosen a company- they are heating engineers and have been for two generations so I feel a lot more confident about their honesty than I have done about the various companies who've just arrived on the market in a boom period for alternative energies. We chose an HDG boiler in the end.

Also interested in installing a biomass boiler duchesse - would love to know what you are paying approximately.

Last time I looked into it was going to be about £17k which was beyond our budget.

There seems to be a huge range of prices George. At the moment, the government is however giving an incentive to help fit them, and renewable heat incentives, which is a scheme akin to feed-in payments for micro-generated PV energy, will kick in next year, retroactive (I believe) to boilers fitted since July 2009. The reason for this delay is that they haven't finished ironing out the administration details for the scheme at householder level (although for businesses it has been up and running since late 2010).

BUT

There is a strong likelihood that only the most efficient boilers will be included in the scheme, which means that many cheaper boilers without Lamda emission controls will not be included in the RHI payment scheme. So it's worth really doing your homework before choosing. As far as we're aware, the boiler we've chosen, the HDG Euro, will be included, but it is costing us £27000 all fitted. We are having to take out a 10 year mortgage to finance it but we feel that it will be worth it especially as we should be able pay off the mortgage faster when we don't have such huge GAS bills to pay!

Wow!

Thanks Duchesse - I'm going to wait to see the details of the RHI payment confirmed before I commit. the government has a nasty habit of moving the goalposts on renewable technologies.