Wood pellets

Bog Butter

I was just wondering what different types of wood pellets are available. Which brand is the most popular? Or which brand is the best?

PeteHeat

Hi Malman,

There are two manufacturers of wood pellet in Ireland, Balcas In Enniskillen and D Pellet Kilkenny.

At this time I would say Balcas are the best simply because they have the experience and a good quality control system in place, also wood pellet is not their primary business so they are content with a small margin which in turn keeps the price of pellet fuel competitive.

D Pellet are a young company who have made a great start in the business.

There are a number of companies importing pellet fuel the majority sell high quality fuel or simply don't last in the business.

robtri

malman wrote: »

I was just wondering what different types of wood pellets are available. Which brand is the most popular? Or which brand is the best?

I use D-pellets myself and couldn't recommend them enough, very good service and price is ok....

PeteHeat

Hi robtri,

We have a number of customers who switched to D Pellet most are happy now.

One of the biggest services D Pellet provided was to bring true competition to the Irish market, Balcas always looked cheaper against imports now they have a local manufacturer to compete with.

A very good way to level the playing field.

Jim Martin

Importing is crazy - not sustainable!

Bog Butter

Jim Martin wrote: »

Importing is crazy - not sustainable!

Thanks for all the replies. So are we likely to see more manufacturers coming along in the future?

PeteHeat

Hi malman,

Yes I think we will see more manufacturing here.

The cost of building, fitting out and getting the quality right is not cheap by any means, now the market has been established it is possible to put a real business plan together.

I fully agree importing wood pellet is not sustainable all we would be doing is replacing oil with pellets as another imported fuel.

Bog Butter

Is there any chance that wood pellet stoves will become outdated relatively soon? I mean, is there any chance there might be advacements in other technologies which would result in the replacment of wood pellet stoves? Or are they really the way of the future?

Jim Martin

It has been argued that just burning logs is more sustainable than with all the energy used to manufacture pellets or even woodchips! (and you don't necessarily need electricity to burn them)

PeteHeat

Hi Jim,

Good topic for discussion.

All of the wood pellet manufactured by Balcas is from waste sawdust, the manufacturing process is powered by their own Combined Heat and Power Plant which is fuelled by other waste from the very large timber mill.

An example of the amount of timber waste they have can be gauged from the fact that a 40' trailer of logs goes through their gate every six minutes.

The electricity used to burn wood pellet in an efficient stove output of a 2.5 > 5 Kw output is from 60 > 100 watts, not a lot of energy used considering the work being done.

Burning logs is fine however good firewood (moisture content less than 20%) is not cheap if you have to buy it and not cheap if you are using a chainsaw and storing it for two years while it dries, you pay in either cash or sweat.

Wood pellet is now a fairly standard product when manufactured to the required standards, the moisture content is low, and the storage area can be as big or as small as needed for one year or one weeks supply.

There is a another stove available that works with both wood logs and pellet, no fans needed, no automatic ignition therefore no electricity needed.

The best of both worlds for the person who has a good, but limited supply of logs.

Jim Martin

There are problems keeping the moisture content of pellets low when stored in bulk, it seems to defeat the object if energy has to be used to dry out pellets to the required moisture content. I've heard that pellets stoves get blocked up if pellets are not dry enough!

boomshackala

malman wrote: »

Is there any chance that wood pellet stoves will become outdated relatively soon? I mean, is there any chance there might be advacements in other technologies which would result in the replacment of wood pellet stoves? Or are they really the way of the future?

Good question, Yes, but not for a good while. Processes are being developed to extract cellulosic ethanol from wood, and with refinemend will mean you can burn wood relatively cheaply in an oil boiler. However this is at least 20 years away, which corresponds to the expected lifetime of a good pellet stove or boiler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol
The US think they can run all their cars on it from crops grown on marginal land when the tech becomes economical

gizmo555

PeteHeat wrote: »

There is a another stove available that works with both wood logs and pellet, no fans needed, no automatic ignition therefore no electricity needed.

The best of both worlds for the person who has a good, but limited supply of logs.

Very interesting - could you please PM me the make of this stove and if possible details of an Irish supplier?

Thanks!

PeteHeat

Hi Jim,

I hope it is obvious that I am in the renewable energy business if not I wish to make my interest known.

I have been involved with well over 200 installations of pellet fuelled products from 5 kw stoves to 60 kw boilers, in all of those systems.

I have yet to see any problems with moisture caused by storing pellet fuel in bulk, I will admit to having seen some stores where it is amazing how water is being kept out but they are potential structural problems nothing to do with the moisture laden air I believe you are referring to.

I have seen not seen a pellet stove where it was blocked because of any minor change of moisture in the fuel.