Anyone got a wood-pellet boiler?

[Merguez]

We are about to get one installed; upfront costs v high but we will save money in the long run I think.

Interested in hearing other people experiences ... want to know we are not making an expensive mistake.

Not pellet, but we installed a log fired boiler last year, to replace our exhorbitantly expensive to run LPG system. Yes upfront costs were high but we estimate that pay-back time will be quite quick given the rate at which the price of LPG was rising (it had doubled in 8 years)

Best thing we ever did. We had our first warm winter, because we could actually afford to run the boiler!! Also because we are using logs, we can pick up fallen elms in the ditches around here after a storm. Win-win for us.

We are thinking of getting one installed, and have the same questions as you do I'd be interested in replies. No mains gas here so most energy forms are expensive, we are wondering if this could be better than oil long term.

Wanted to add we have a 3000 litre accumulator tank which to my mind is crucial to the success of our system- it means we can "batch-burn" when we need to, which has only been once a fortnight since May (we also have solar tubes to heat water linked into the system) and a couple of times a day in the depths of winter. If we had to light or fuel the boiler all the time I think we might feel less well-disposed towards it. I'm not sure how pellet boilers operate in this respect although of course they are more automated. Ease of use has to be taken into account unless you are seriously hardcore.

Am v interested in this as we are about to Put an offer in on a house with LPG.
merguez, do you know what the up front costs will be yet? Am just at the beginning of my research so considering pellets, logs and wood chips.

Oh and if anyone can give me an idea on how much they spend on their LPG heating per year I would be very grateful. Thanks.

ool, we have a 5 bed detached house in the country. If we'd heated the way normal people heat their house in the winter (rather than running it for 1 hour in the morning and 2.5 hours in the evening, supplementing with the woodstoves to actually keep the chill off), our LPG would have cost us £5000-6000/ year . As it was we paid at most £1500/year for minimal heating as that was what we could afford- we were very cold quite a lot of the time.

Our upfront log boiler costs were £27,000 (plus another £9000 to insulate all our attic to above current regs) and we are spending less than £1000/year now on wood. When we've sorted ourselves out we will be eligible for the RHI payments, so long term it will pay for itself. Not using LPG alone has saved us £££.

Wow that's good info, thanks. This house is 2 bed at present but we want to extend. I had no idea that the upfront costs were so high! But I can see that it is worth it in the end.
Does it just burn logs or can you use a combination of pellets/chips? Does the system you were talking about automatically refuel for a hopper?
Sorry to hijack...

We are looking at paying c £20 k for the wood-pellet boiler, plus another £10k to build the pellet store and plant room.

5-bedroom farmhouse.

But we currently spend 3k a year on oil, which we expect to halve, and will get renewable Heat Incentive, so we expect to get the costs back in 5 - 6 years.

Friends of ours invested in a wood pellet boiler just over four years ago. However, theirs has had loads of problems, to the point where they are seriously considering ripping it out and starting again. They've spent £9k on maintenance in those four years! However, they feel that they were sold a dud, and have now got more knowledge and experience, so are considering replacing it with another wood pellet boiler but a different model. Clearly they've not been so badly put off by the experience, and would prefer to stick with wood pellet rather than go back to oil.

ignoring the spam, remember that these incentives are subject to government policy. Small scale woodburning is relatively green (industrial biomass is not) but be aware of what has happened to the solar panel subsidies.

I'd also say be wary of relying on wood pellet costs remaining stable. We import all our wood pellets (making the low carbon claims not entirely accurate, as they don't factor in transportation costs) and with the massive push for renewables in the industrial generation sector, prices may start rising in line with gas.

However, reading with interest as we're hoping to replace our ancient oil boiler with wood pellet sometime in the next 5-10 years.

We put in a log burning rayburn in our 3 bed cottage 4 years ago. Best thing we ever did. Cost £1000 on ebay then spent £5000 getting rads, water tanks, emersion tank and fitting done. House never bern so cosy, gallons of hot water and can cook on it too. Could never have afforded oil and husband is a fencer so loads of wood availablefor free. Good job too as ee get through loads of logs