Wood pellet boilers are very versatile and come with a huge range of types and options;
Wood pellet boilers can provide a fully automated system, allowing the user to have the fuel delivery at much less frequent intervals, with a correctly sized fuel store. Pellets can be ‘blown’ from the delivery vehicle directly into a fuel hopper at a distance up to about 10 meters, which eliminates the need for the fuel to be transported directly to the fuel store. Pellets are readily available in 15kg bags, usually delivered in 1 tonne loads. This will roughly be sufficient fuel for a 7 day period with a 20kW boiler.
If space allows, hoppers can be built near to the boiler room, or sunk into the ground, allowing for increased ease of fuel delivery. Careful consideration should be taken to the site characteristics during the design stage as this can have a big impact on the on-going running and maintenance of the boiler system. The storage of pellets is very important as they must be kept in a dry environment to ensure their water content is kept very low, below 10%.
Pellet boilers make very good replacement for oil boilers, not only because of the financial advantages, but also as the fuel store can often be installed where the oil tank is located and users are used to planning delivery of fuels. The savings without the RHI is up to 40% and with the RHI the extra cost of the boiler is very quickly recovered.
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Advantages
Fuel is easily handled
Reliable due to consistent fuel (ensure you only purchase fuel that is suitable for your boiler)
Very large range of boiler options
Minimal ash produced (roughly 1% of the fuel mass)
Disadvantages
Higher fuel costs at about 4.8p/kWh for bags and 4.2p/kWh for bulk quantities
Fuel supply may not be locally sourced, reducing the carbon neutral factor
Example of a Pellet Boiler