Wood Pellet Stove

When the grant came out for the pellet boilers, there were a lot of cowboys jumping on the bandwagon and passing themselves off as installers. Overnight successes, however disappeared as soon as people had problems. It wasn't properly regulated and shoddy installations and an unsecure, unstable fuel supply let to nationwide skepticism.

Fast forward to today, in a market which is less than 9 years old, the wood pellet boiler/stoves reputation has still not recovered, although the market has stabilized. One of the key factors is that there are a couple of different companies providing wood pellets in typically the following three forms:

1. Bagged (typically 10-20 kg)
2. Bulk Bagged (1 tonne +)
3. Bulk Blown (Pellets directly blown into a dry storage area, minimum 3 tonnes)

From my recent research, in more recent times, some of the key issues which has tarnished the reputation of this sector has been addressed:

1. The quality of the pellets has substantially increased- there were a few teething problems in relation to the amount of fines, particularly in bulk blown (Solved by using reduced air pressure). This situation was not helped by the lack of suppliers at the time. Although bulk blown offers the best value, bagged seems to offer the less hassle with regards to fines and dust.

2. Many stove/boiler manufacturers require installers to attend training sessions, also in some cases the owners are given training themselves as it is equipment they are completely inexperienced with. Many people got boilers installed from people who could barely use them and in return, the client didn't have much of a clue either.

3. Mixed reviews- there are some excellent and some terrible reviews for the noble wood pellet, however it is important to extrapolate more information than what happy/unhappy people say. People who are happy choose the lifestyle, there are savings to be made but it is more work than any other heating appliance. if kept right its a worthy investment. People who are unhappy are those who were generally misguided, had dodgy or unreliable boilers installed or failed to maintain the cleaning or maintenance required.

Many of the people I have come into contact with named these reasons as the mainstay for not getting a wood pellet boiler. So here comes advice time :

1. Get installed by a reputable installer (i.e. not Joe down the road who seen it done before)

2. Price the pellets from different sources (many suppliers are acting as agents on behalf of larger manufacturers/distributors)

3. If you may be worried about the quality of pellet, only source ENplus A1 pellets, which can be traced back to country of origin and the customer can be provided with a cert of quality and burning specifications. Two main manufacturers of A1 grade pellets all Ireland, Laois Sawmills and Balcas. Both have suppliers throughout the country. There are also imports from various countries which are of the same grade.

4. Visually inspect the pellets yourself when they arrive or when your are collecting them. You will learn to see first hand if the quality is good or whether you should look for a different brand.

5. try a couple of bags of a few brands before committing solely to one. I have heard loads of people swearing by different brands and others slating them, so it really is trial and error.

When I build, I think ill go with a pellet boiler, but also have a backup just in case. Around the Carlow area the main supplier I can think of is Leinster pellets, however do check with manufacturers to see if they have a supplier near you. Latest prices I was quoted are around €285 per tonne (min of 3 tonne) for bulk blown and €325-370 for bagged (10-20Kg bags) per tonne.

Gatoh wrote: »

Govt want us to stop using fossil fuels ,stopping peat usage is something to do with preserving the nature, wood pellets or biomass pellets while not carbon neutral still are considered as renewable energy.
Replaced my outdoor oil boiler by outdoor pellet boiler about month ago, supplied and installed by Woodco ( e-complact slim 15kw) €4200 all inclusive and comes with 5 year warranty. Current cost to run semi townhouse is approx €5.65 per day based on 3.40 per 10kg wood pellet bag price. Trying to switch over to 1 tonne bulk bag ( approx €300 delivered) and will bag myself for storage should bring cost down to €5 per day (winter).

How many hours for day the heat is on please? 5.65 euro a day is a bit expensive I think.

Just had Kalor Quarda 8 installed. Where do I get decent wood pellets at good price? I have seen prices range from 3.15-9.00 for 15kg bag.

Gatoh wrote: »

https://balcasenergy.com/online-shop/bagged-wood-pellets

x96 10kg bags ( full pallet) €270 incl VAT & Delivery

I got dem from there, fast delivery and good quality pellets.

Are they dusty? Laois Timber Products and Hayes Wood Jems were recommended to me.

Gatoh wrote: »

I found Hayes Wood pellets little "dusty" and stop using them.
Balcas pellets are good quality and very reasonable priced if you buy the whole 96 bags on the pallet.

Again, it depends how the bags has been handled and stored coming from manufacturer to resale agent and then your home.
Less handling the better, that's why I prefer directly from source and pallet-load

Edit:
Laois Timber Products pellets looks little pricey to me..

Balcas Brites the same quality as Balcas Energy?

Yes Laois Timber pellets are pricey but they are a bigger bag I think. I’ll leave the working out of the price per kilo until tomorrow, don’t want over excit myself this late in the evening.

Update: so after fiddling with the on'off timer I'm getting now (mid-summer with very little sun and lot of scattered showers 16 day's out of x6 10kg bags. Room temp average 22.8C and constant hot water for taps/shower ( 4 people) - so calculating by €3:20 per bag it works out just €1.20 a day + electricity to run the boiler.

Not bad at all