Biomass boilers

[Haymaker1965]

Hi everyone,

new to the forum, looking at the possibility of installing a biomass boiler , any advice/pros/cons / grants available etc etc would be greatly appreciated and also your experiences with them . TIA.

 

[toquark]

I have installed two at work, both top brands, both properly installed in 2013, one commercial one domestic.

What I’ve learned over the last 8 years:

They are extremely expensive to install.
They are extremely expensive to maintain.
They are extremely unreliable.
Don’t listen “consultants” they are almost all salesmen.
Half any quoted ROI from the subsidy.
Double the quoted return period on any installation.

Time again, I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

Hope this helps

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

Hi everyone,

new to the forum, looking at the possibility of installing a biomass boiler , any advice/pros/cons / grants available etc etc would be greatly appreciated and also your experiences with them . TIA.

Ive got one, brilliant piece of kit. RHI rates have changed since we put ours in, and I don't know how it stacks up now. We have a chipper in once a year for our 50t, takes 2 hours.
There is a renewable energy forum if you scroll a bit further.
Welcome to TFF by the way.

 

[quavers]

to many of them you see coming up for sale on facebook market place , take it is domestic boilers that have there 7 years payments finished and are being thrown out

 

[Still Farming]

Read the threads under the renewables secton

 

[Campbell]

So far the UK Gov has paid out around £9bn in renewable subs. As money making schemes [rackets] go, it's a good un!

 

[quattro]

I got a wood chip one 7 years ago not the cheapest to buy, but been very reliable and cheap to run upto now
dont know if tariffs would add up now

 

[D14]

Hi everyone,

new to the forum, looking at the possibility of installing a biomass boiler , any advice/pros/cons / grants available etc etc would be greatly appreciated and also your experiences with them . TIA.

Big difference between domestic and commercial ones. I think all the rhi tariffs have now gone but we have a 995kw one doing grain drying and heating property and its worked well but we are only running it at around 75% of its potential output so not working it hard. I know of others exactly the same system as ours running 24hrs/day 365 days per year on poultry units and they had had to install gas tanks as back up because the boilers are always breaking down. They are a bit like having livestock on the farm in the fact you can't really leave them and always need to be around.

 

[Still Farming]

Big difference between domestic and commercial ones. I think all the rhi tariffs have now gone but we have a 995kw one doing grain drying and heating property and its worked well but we are only running it at around 75% of its potential output so not working it hard. I know of others exactly the same system as ours running 24hrs/day 365 days per year on poultry units and they had had to install gas tanks as back up because the boilers are always breaking down. They are a bit like having livestock on the farm in the fact you can't really leave them and always need to be around.

Full time job looking after them.

 

[D14]

Full time job looking after them.

Depends on the heat call. If you've the grain drier going full wack 24/7 then you might as well set up a tent. If its just the property ticking over in the middle of winter then a once daily check is fine.

 

[quattro]

I think ours is next best thing to oil apart from filling with wood every couple weeks in winter

 

[Bob the beef]

As said above, half your projected ROI, double your maintenance costs and factor in a15/20% rise in timber.


We have log boiler burning 35/40 tonnes a year. Hard work to keep it goino,, but does pay reasonable return. Sadly cut timber prices have risen from £27 tonne roadside to £56 in the last 10 years so that has taken the shine of biomass completely.

would I do it again? Probably not, but then kerosene price might become very scary shortly

 

[Doing it for the kids]

You have missed the boat really, unless you pick up a second hand unit.

fuel is key, you need enough of it and it need to be dry.

running two here, they are hard work at times but the saving in alternative fuel in addition to the RHI makes it worthwhile, one paid for its self in about 6 yrs.

 

[Poncherello1976]

We put in a 100Kw woodchip boiler last year, and so far really pleased with it, but has only been running with us for 10 months. It was a 2nd hand unit so had 16 years left on the RHI scheme, and I think it worked out slightly better than a new one with 20 years RHI at a slightly lower price/Kw. Ours heats 4 properties, and as said above you sort of need to be around, but we have livestock and so we are used to that. Will buy in about 70 m3 of chip over the winter, less if I can help it, and we go and collect it ourselves as it is quite local. Over the summer we just chip our own as and when we need it. Getting RHI accredited is a real pain in the neck, so be prepared for a bumpy ride on that front. Luckily our installers were helping with that.

 

[Pig man Rob]

We put in a 100Kw woodchip boiler last year, and so far really pleased with it, but has only been running with us for 10 months. It was a 2nd hand unit so had 16 years left on the RHI scheme, and I think it worked out slightly better than a new one with 20 years RHI at a slightly lower price/Kw. Ours heats 4 properties, and as said above you sort of need to be around, but we have livestock and so we are used to that. Will buy in about 70 m3 of chip over the winter, less if I can help it, and we go and collect it ourselves as it is quite local. Over the summer we just chip our own as and when we need it. Getting RHI accredited is a real pain in the neck, so be prepared for a bumpy ride on that front. Luckily our installers were helping with that.

Hi, please could I ask if you arranged this purchase and install yourself, or used a company to do this for you? Is so who, and were you satisfied with them? I currently have a 195kw batch fed straw and wood boiler commissioned in 2013, but I am wondering about the possibility of selling it and installing a boiler running on chip and trying to cut some of the workload of stoking it, I have another job off the farm and was hoping I could perhaps leave a chip one more to get on with it, but looking at some of the other comments I am not so sure?

 

[tommy tucker]

Hi everyone,

new to the forum, looking at the possibility of installing a biomass boiler , any advice/pros/cons / grants available etc etc would be greatly appreciated and also your experiences with them . TIA.

Welcome, I'm selling my biomass system. It's got about 14 years left on the commercial tariff. It comprises a fully automated chip boiler, a separate manual log boiler as a back up and a 2000 litre buffer tank. We're moving house and it won't be eligible for the tariff at the new place. It's plenty big enough to heat two large houses.

 

[snarling bee]

We have one and I am very neutral about it. It works, goes wrong occassionally, but probably with the benefit of hindsight I wouldn't bother. The admin can be really had work. OFGEM start with the view that you are trying to cheat the system and it is up to you to prove otherwise and follow ALL the rules.