Wood pellet

Momunster

We are installing a wood pellet burner into our newly renovated house and are thinking of having a wood pellet type aga to avoid having to have oil as well. Does anyone have one and what do they think of it?

richieburke01

Momunster wrote: »

We are installing a wood pellet burner into our newly renovated house and are thinking of having a wood pellet type aga to avoid having to have oil as well. Does anyone have one and what do they think of it?

What the name of the appliance
I have a wood pellet boiler/stove
It's very good on fuel

corkgsxr

Im amazed anyones still installing them. 80% just dont work. Best of luck id get a small bit of oil as backup

richieburke01

corkgsxr wrote: »

Im amazed anyones still installing them. 80% just dont work. Best of luck id get a small bit of oil as backup

I know and it's the 80% of crap sent in to this country that put people off them
But €700 running costs for the year nothing wrong with that

roy rodgers

is there anyone out there that has good reports of a wood pellet boilers???
I have seen them being replaced within 5 years because of problems from them. and the best excuses I get from the suppliers of the boilers is that the pellets were wet or not being stored in the right humidity?? we live on an island folks surrounded by water and rains 300 days a years what can you expect..

I don't have much fate in them but at least an oil aga is trial and tested...

richieburke01

roy rodgers wrote: »

is there anyone out there that has good reports of a wood pellet boilers???
I have seen them being replaced within 5 years because of problems from them. and the best excuses I get from the suppliers of the boilers is that the pellets were wet or not being stored in the right humidity?? we live on an island folks surrounded by water and rains 300 days a years what can you expect..

I don't have much fate in them but at least an oil aga is trial and tested...

It's easy for me did warranty for a couple of brands here
There is good and bad types
Worth researching

corkgsxr

I know a few people who installed them and I no no one who still has one. Turns out a gas boiler is easyer and more reliable.

Sorry Im just not a fan. On a big scale like heating 40 houses there brilliant. Heating one too much work and hassle

richieburke01

corkgsxr wrote: »

I know a few people who installed them and I no no one who still has one. Turns out a gas boiler is easyer and more reliable.

Sorry Im just not a fan. On a big scale like heating 40 houses there brilliant. Heating one too much work and hassle

I suppose the cleaning part of these can be a chore

corkgsxr

richieburke01 wrote: »

I suppose the cleaning part of these can be a chore

Yep. Thats prob the prime reason alot got rid of them. In my experience its on the wealthyer scale that get them installed as they can see past the install and buying outlay. And they have no interest in cleaning out a boiler. A dual boiler set up is a great job as a replacement for large propertys

roy rodgers

I have seen them heating about 20 apartments but there was a full time care taker to look after it and needed there too, as it had to be filled, cleaned, and kept lit all year round.
his wages was probably 25k to30k a year plus pellets.

there is a good bit of maintenance on them with cleaning them out every week..
theres a lot to be said for gas.

corkgsxr

roy rodgers wrote: »

I have seen them heating about 20 apartments but there was a full time care taker to look after it and needed there too, as it had to be filled, cleaned, and kept lit all year round.
his wages was probably 25k to30k a year plus pellets.

there is a good bit of maintenance on them with cleaning them out every week..
theres a lot to be said for gas.

I think its Holland or sweden that use them for district heating and you just pay off a heat meter

richieburke01

Fitted a energy cabin of couple of years back
Solar,wood pellet and hot water tank all in one seems good but very tight in around inside
But it was a good brand boiler and it cost a lot of money

roy rodgers

corkgsxr wrote: »

I think its Holland or sweden that use them for district heating and you just pay off a heat meter

seen them in Ireland too.
actually there is 10 million euro already spent on district heating in Ireland in the docklands Dublin. the heat source was to come from the incinerator to be build in poolbeg, but looks like that also gone down the drain..

corkgsxr

I apologise but Ireland is stupid. We need incinerators and nuclear. Perfect solution. But people object to technology that hasn't been used in 10-15 years.

roy rodgers

corkgsxr wrote: »

I apologise but Ireland is stupid. We need incinerators and nuclear. Perfect solution. But people object to technology that hasn't been used in 10-15 years.

totally agree with you. if we were a small city in Europe we would by now be burning our own rubbish and getting the surplus heat to heat home to drive down energy costs .
look at Iceland and what they have done with geo heating?? no need for oil or gas up there.

DGOBS

I apologise but Ireland is stupid. We need incinerators and nuclear. Perfect solution. But people object to technology that hasn't been used in 10-15 years.

A comment I am sure would haunt generations to come, I had a student recently from Poland, his wife had just given birth, they were off to the hospital to have the child checked in the hope that she didn't exhibit the same thyroid problems/abnormalities that have plagued her mother since Chernobyl


He had grown up as that generation, and they had lived in a section of Poland that had been effected somewhat by the winds after the incident
imagine how much of the island would be unliveable after such an incident! In a country that couldn't build a national swimming pool that didn't leak.........

To just incinerate our waste stream is also no answer, where this solution is used in mainland Europe it is also combined with closed loop recycling methods etc, not just 'chuck it all in here lads, isn't the heat grand' there is an incinerator 8 miles from me, and I see the unsorted waste trucks heading in the gate regularly, a bit sickening to be honest.

We have enough natural resources here (such as wind) that even the UK wanted to build 1000 turbine on unused bogs and export it, it reality given these and offshore wind, improvements in wave/tide generation, reduction of waste through insulation programs etc, we are said to have a surplus of non-polluting energy if we only had the will and foresight to use it. A much better use of the billion or so it would cost to build a nuclear plant, my parents lay down in Carnsore Point some years ago to prevent it, a legacy I would continue and hope I wasn't alone.

corkgsxr

DGOBS wrote: »

A comment I am sure would haunt generations to come, I had a student recently from Poland, his wife had just given birth, they were off to the hospital to have the child checked in the hope that she didn't exhibit the same thyroid problems/abnormalities that have plagued her mother since Chernobyl


He had grown up as that generation, and they had lived in a section of Poland that had been effected somewhat by the winds after the incident
imagine how much of the island would be unliveable after such an incident! In a country that couldn't build a national swimming pool that didn't leak.........

To just incinerate our waste stream is also no answer, where this solution is used in mainland Europe it is also combined with closed loop recycling methods etc, not just 'chuck it all in here lads, isn't the heat grand' there is an incinerator 8 miles from me, and I see the unsorted waste trucks heading in the gate regularly, a bit sickening to be honest.

We have enough natural resources here (such as wind) that even the UK wanted to build 1000 turbine on unused bogs and export it, it reality given these and offshore wind, improvements in wave/tide generation, reduction of waste through insulation programs etc, we are said to have a surplus of non-polluting energy if we only had the will and foresight to use it. A much better use of the billion or so it would cost to build a nuclear plant, my parents lay down in Carnsore Point some years ago to prevent it, a legacy I would continue and hope I wasn't alone.

This is precisely my point. Modern nuclear plants and chernobyl are completely different. Your objecting to a tech that isnt used anymore.

And burning waste? You can make incinerators that are 99% clean.

Afaik germany burns most of there waste.

People see incinerators as big versions of bonfires pumping out big black smoke. It just doesnt happen.

Look at india over listening to environmental people nattering on they wont do nuclear and now use old tech coal stations. Which are about the worst for pollution and have powerouts all the time as they cant produce enough

DGOBS

Nuclear power has changed?
So you'd better ring and tell the physics majors before they finish their thesis that the laws of physics have been altered!
Fission power is unchanged, improved controls, sure, better safety, sure,, did it still result in polluting Japan 3 years ago SURE!

As for incinerators, the take from nature, refine purity, chemically alter our environment, then when your finished with it just burn it to ash is madness on many levels. I hadn't referred to the pollution from incinerators.

By the way, the 1% pollution from them volume wise it a lot of very toxic pollutants!

DGOBS

Would it not be a better time to resolve these issues, not just leave a horrible legacy to the next generations?

corkgsxr

DGOBS wrote: »

Would it not be a better time to resolve these issues, not just leave a horrible legacy to the next generations?

The way they do it is different so its very very hard to have a meltdown wheres the chernobyl way is like trying to control a explosion.

So landfill is better than incinerators?

esox28

:pac: I don't know which of yez went off topic but someone should be banned.

First thing pellet boiler have gotten alot of bar publicly in the past which imo is down to seai rushing through the grant scheme for biomass boilers. When word got out about 2007 that a grant scheme was to be available to the masses every enterprising farmer and know it all venders headed to Europes pellet boiler manufacturing firms to scure sales licensing. And so it began European boilers trying to burn Irish pellet, no backup service, companies going bust and most of all your local plumber hadent a clue how to set them up when things went wrong.

I fermly believe pellet has a good future here in Ireland going forward, albit a small market.

One company in burr have nailed it IMHO, it going to play a big roll in once off housing. V-pricy at the moment but give it time .

I won't comment on the necular issue or the incinerators, i have discuss these issues on other forums, but i will say that i have much the same views as dogbs.

Dealing with waste isn't the issue the way we live is.

therealmccoy

It's very easy for those to rule out woodpellet stoves/boilers based on bad press back 6-8 years ago. They have come on leaps and bounds since then, as has the quality of woodpellets with the development of plants in Fermanagh and Laois.

The main brand I work with is Extraflame (from Italy). They have boiler/non-boiler stoves along with external boiler systems. They are very strict on who sells their products and bring the engineers over to Italy to be trained up properly. Their after-sale service is impeccable and are very responsive to any issues. They have actually made their pellet stoves purpose built for the irish climate (bearing in mind the fact we are an island!). This is not an advertisement but our company have installed over 800 pellet machines in the west of ireland since 2006 and very few (<3% have ever given trouble). Most important factor is that the end user is fully trained on how to use the machine and how to make adjustments to the likes of pellet feed and air flow if needs be - and to get it serviced annually!.

Will definitely be putting one into my house, whenever I actually get one of my own!

gramar

I don't live in Ireland but have a wood pellet boiler. Heats the house and the water. I've had it for four years and no problems. Considerably cheaper than oil
and I have got hot water 24hrs a day and the heating is always 'on' as it regulates itself.

As for cleaning...I empty the tray about once a week in winter and give it a decent clean every 3 months that takes half an hour. Hardly a reason to go back to oil.

richieburke01

therealmccoy wrote: »

It's very easy for those to rule out woodpellet stoves/boilers based on bad press back 6-8 years ago. They have come on leaps and bounds since then, as has the quality of woodpellets with the development of plants in Fermanagh and Laois.

The main brand I work with is Extraflame (from Italy). They have boiler/non-boiler stoves along with external boiler systems. They are very strict on who sells their products and bring the engineers over to Italy to be trained up properly. Their after-sale service is impeccable and are very responsive to any issues. They have actually made their pellet stoves purpose built for the irish climate (bearing in mind the fact we are an island!). This is not an advertisement but our company have installed over 800 pellet machines in the west of ireland since 2006 and very few (<3% have ever given trouble). Most important factor is that the end user is fully trained on how to use the machine and how to make adjustments to the likes of pellet feed and air flow if needs be - and to get it serviced annually!.

Will definitely be putting one into my house, whenever I actually get one of my own!

I agreed about wood pellet boiler but that brand I don't know I had a bit of an experience with them!!!

Dtp1979

richieburke01 wrote: »

I agreed about wood pellet boiler but that brand I don't know I had a bit of an experience with them!!!

Yer not the only one!

DGOBS

Sorry once more for off topic, but did I mention landfill?
Closed loop recycling and proper product packaging controls, reduce, reuse, recycle.....don't just throw away and burn (or landfill)!

I am glad you knowledge and understand of particle physics and nuclear fission in modern nuclear power plants puts you in a position to make a comment like 'they are safe now, or even safer' as neither of us would be qualified to comment in that matter. The has been accidents in modern neuter facilities (e.g. Japan) in recent years where large areas remain contaminated, and poor sods are wading through nuclear waste still to clear it up. Don't tell me it's safe, technology improves, safety improve, accidents happen regardless, not on my home soil thanks very much.

PS.. wood pellet, yeeeeaaah (see on topic)

richieburke01

I don't want to be mentioning names but the Grant Spiral is a great condensing wood pellet boiler
I wish I put one of those into my house but they weren't out then

esox28

DGOBS wrote: »

Sorry once more for off topic, but did I mention landfill?
Closed loop recycling and proper product packaging controls, reduce, reuse, recycle.....don't just throw away and burn (or landfill)!

I am glad you knowledge and understand of particle physics and nuclear fission in modern nuclear power plants puts you in a position to make a comment like 'they are safe now, or even safer' as neither of us would be qualified to comment in that matter. The has been accidents in modern neuter facilities (e.g. Japan) in recent years where large areas remain contaminated, and poor sods are wading through nuclear waste still to clear it up. Don't tell me it's safe, technology improves, safety improve, accidents happen regardless, not on my home soil thanks very much.

PS.. wood pellet, yeeeeaaah (see on topic)

That's an infraction for you, right who's next?

therealmccoy

richieburke01 wrote: »

I agreed about wood pellet boiler but that brand I don't know I had a bit of an experience with them!!!

I'd be interested to know what issues you had and with what model..