biomass boiler for farm house is it just a scam?

[RFCforme]

After one of my neighbours sent a very nice salesman up to visit me not mentioning he was on a £350 referral if I placed an order with the company, I thought I would listen to what he had to say as my oil boiler is needing renewed.
Anyway the nice chap looked at my existing boiler (fitted in the workshop through the wall from the farmhouse) and after asking how many radiators were in the house recommended I install a klover 35kw wood pellet boiler.
Doing a quick calculation he reckoned I would be entitled to £3800 RHI per year maybe more depending on how my home green survey came back and that he could supply and install said boiler for £17500 and if I used there finance company I would not pay a penny until three months after instalation when my first RHI payment was made. The figures he left me was that I would get £316 RHI per month and my monthly finance payments would be £293 per month over seven years with a monthly fuel saving of £80

Now at first glance this seems a no brainer a saving of eighty quid a month plus the twenty three quid left from the RHI thats a lot of beer tokens but when you look into it he is probably pricing kero at 55 pence and pellets at £250 pounds a tonne to get his fuel savings and there was no mention of the maintenence of the boiler or having to have it insured against frost damage etc
The boiler he quoted can be bought online for £5000 and allowing a grand for a flue that leaves him with £11500 to install the boiler and fill in the paperwork not bad for a day or two to install the boiler .

Anyway the question I would like to ask is am I being ripped off? there are a few renewable sales people on here who could maybe tell me if i am being paranoid and unfair and possibly missing something from my calculations

 

[ste]

That sounds very dear. I paid that last year for a 25kw Okofen with 11rads, new cylinder and all pipework. My RHI comes in arounf 1100/quarter for a very uninsulated old farm house.

What feed system did he quote for? is it manual feed (you fill a hopper from bags) or Silo (bulk blown)?

 

[RFCforme]

that was for a manual feed system with no additional plumbing just remove my boiler and fit the pellet boiler

 

[chickens and wheat]

heat the workshop to and go for non-domestic rhi?

 

[Jim75]

What size of house,35kw is a fair boiler for a bungalow but maybe not a mansion. Just had my 21kw windhager installed this week on domestic for the same price you were quoted.

 

[snarling bee]

Best bet is get other quotes. I agree with treblesykes - heat the workshop or any number of other close properties and get the non domestic RHI which lasts 20 yrs not 7 ( even though at a smaller payment). You need to look at the timing though as it needs to be in B4 the end of March as there is another drop in RHI then.

 

[manfromhill]

In Scotland we can apply for a £10000 loan for up to twelve years interest free which is what I've gone for with a rhi of over 5000 yearly it will pay of in three years without fuel saving

 

[Jim75]

In Scotland we can apply for a £10000 loan for up to twelve years interest free which is what I've gone for with a rhi of over 5000 yearly it will pay of in three years without fuel saving

Did you get accepted ok? When we went to get a look at a boiler in situ they said they'd had a lot of bother getting it so we went to the bank to get it sorted out before the rhi drops again

 

[manfromhill]

Seems to be fine boiler going in this week energy trust want papers in by second week of March I had heard that some hadn't got offer earlier in the year so I don't know if they had received more funding

 

[nick channer]

Our solid fuel one ticking along nicely
Looked at paperwork last week to clarify 100% for someone and £ 8500 rhi in first yr with Savin of £4-6k per yr in oil.

 

[SmeatonWoodEnergy]

The first step is to get your Green Deal EPC completed. You should be able to get this done for £60-£100. This will give you the exact deemed heat demand that OFGEM will use to calculate your domestic RHI.

Going for a manual feed pellet boiler will make your fuel bill much more expensive. If you go for a hopper option (preferably 4.5t) you should be able to get Pellet at about £225/t on bulk delivery.

If you are happy to finance through the business we have access to 7 year term at 3.9% APR, assuming business is able to cover the payments off of its own back. Finance will only be secured on the Boiler though.

 

[DrDunc]

The RHI is tax free it seems.

I was initially, of course, considering putting the installation through the farm books. However this route seems to mean the RHI will then be paid to the farm, and become taxable?

Time to talk to the accountant!


How does a £22k quote for installation of a Grant 9 to 36kwh boiler, tap hot water and 14 radiators compare to others?

 

[willie waver]

as I've mentioned in a previous thread on here, I was quoted 25k for a 28kw system, seemed like the guy just plucked the 25k out of his backside based on how much rhi he thought i'd get. and was really annoyed when I told him where to go. bunch of scammers

 

[sheepwise]

The RHI is tax free it seems.

I was initially, of course, considering putting the installation through the farm books. However this route seems to mean the RHI will then be paid to the farm, and become taxable?

Time to talk to the accountant!


How does a £22k quote for installation of a Grant 9 to 36kwh boiler, tap hot water and 14 radiators compare to others?

I paid £19k for a similar number of radiators ie.completely new central heating system with a 28kw Bioflame pellet boiler.

 

[Jim75]

Paid £17600 for a 21kw windhager. Pretty straight forward install and no new radiators installed. Expensive enough but next quote was for 22k

 

[DrDunc]

I paid £19k for a similar number of radiators ie.completely new central heating system with a 28kw Bioflame pellet boiler.

I've been doing some internet searching and it seems this is about the going rate for a draughty farmhouse installation.

I strongly suspect that the installation price has been fairly well derived from the RHI payment amounts

However if every company is asking similar price then that's what has to be paid to get the funding?

 

[RFCforme]

Had my RHI survey back today and I am entitled to £4500 per year for seven years so an outlay of £17000 for a return of £31500 seems quite appealing however I feel that the price quoted seems plucked out the sky . Has anyone a klover boiler installed and what are your thoughts? My problem is I only have days to decide as if I delay I will miss the RHI cutoff at current price and if as expected it reduces by ten percent that's over three grand lost

 

[Flyingscotsman]

I don't get all this subsidy for Biomass heating systems, especially when they are installed in draughty farmhouses - complete waste of energy and I assume a "tick box" exercise to keep Brussels happy........?
It would make better sense to provide support to install better windows and insulation rather than paying folk produce a load of heat only for it to be lost quickly to the atmosphere.....madness.!

FS

 

[RFCforme]

Also meant to ask are most people using a hopper for pellet storage or are you filling the boiler with bags and also how much pellets should I expect to get through running my boiler for about hours a day ?

 

[sheepwise]

I've been doing some internet searching and it seems this is about the going rate for a draughty farmhouse installation.

I strongly suspect that the installation price has been fairly well derived from the RHI payment amounts

However if every company is asking similar price then that's what has to be paid to get the funding?

My RHI payment is just shy of £5k and my tenants are delighted to have a warm house they can afford to heat.So I'm quids in and if my installer, who seems to have done a tidy job, has also made a few quid then good on him.Having said that I don't know if the Bioflame boiler is exactly a top brand. ,Maybe someone with more knowledge could comment on that one.