Biomass

 

Wood for Heating

As a source of domestic or commercial heating using wood has a number of significant advantages to traditional fossil fuels
Wood harvested from sustainably managed forests is virtually carbon neutral.  Wood fuel can povide a significant cost saving as an energy source.  The UK government is committed to biomass energy through the RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive).  A wood fuelled boiler is a direct replacement for a standard gas or oil boiler as a heat source for (existing) radiators or underfloor system.

Choice of Fuel

Wood fuel splits broadly into 3 types:  Wood Chip, Wood Pellet and Logs.  Wood chip is the cheapest of the three, but needs handling in bulk, making it much more suitable for commercial and agricultural applications where there is suitable handling equipment and space for storage.  Wood chip boilers are normally fully automated and are automatically fed from an auger from mass storage.  Wood Pellet is the most convenient and therefore the fuel of choice for most domestic situations.  Wood pellet boilers can be fed from a bulk fuel hopper or fed by hand to a bulk tank from 10kg bags.  Again wood pellet boilers can be fully automated, lighting under demand and supplying variable heat as required with automatic cleaning and ash expallation.  Logs are typically burned in a Log Gasification Boiler, meaning the logs are superheated and largely turned to a wood gas which is burned.  Log boilers are hand fed and will require a decent amount of storage space and a regular supply of dry wood.

Suitability

Before embarking on a wood based fuel alternative there are some specific requirements.  Wood boilers are larger than their oil or gas equivalents requiring suitable space.  There also needs to be a storage area available for keeping fuel. Premier Plumbing & Heating can assist you with a feasability study and guide you through the legislative processes.