Wood Pellet Stove

No first hand experience with wood pellet boilers or stoves.

However a friend and plumber who spent time installing wood pellet boilers and has one himself - has stopped using his.

He said he could not get consistent pellets for the boiler - this caused issues with the boiler getting clogged. I think for boilers you have a big hopper and auger effectively ensuring a constant supply but you need the space for the 1-2000kg of pellets.

It may not be such an issue for the stove not sure.

Can you get stoves that simmer so it could be on but at a low level thereby keeping hit in the house for when you get home etc!?

I suppose if the stoves were a viable alternative - you'd imagine they'd be a bit more popular though wouldn't we?

Maybe they are more popular in other countries?

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.

Hi zoom cool is your stove the kind where you lift the lid and pour the pellets in at the top, more suited to being installed in the inside of a house or the more industrial type usually found in a garage /outhouse. During the winter if you had it in how much pellets where you going through.

declan52 wrote: »

Hi zoom cool is your stove the kind where you lift the lid and pour the pellets in at the top, more suited to being installed in the inside of a house or the more industrial type usually found in a garage /outhouse. During the winter if you had it in how much pellets where you going through.

Yea you lift the lid and pour the pellets in at top its a inside stove heater not a boiler no issue with moisture as the pellets in sealed bags but I would not store them outside they would need to be keep in a garage. From Oct to March I would use about 40 bags approx maybe a bit less it all depends on what temp u set stove at.

By the way Villain, I don't know your location but I can buy 10kg bags for 2.95 each.

I am looking for a small woodpellet boiler stove about 15KW. Most seem to be about 11KW to water/central heating anf 4KW to room. I am only imterested in the ones that have there own internal hopper that takes 20ish KG's at a time.

Anyone any reccomendations. Was suprised at some of the prices quoted as this technology is around a long time. Would have expected this technology to be droping in price. Looking at it from a cost point oil heating would be a cheaper option even connsidering day to day costs. Over a 10 year period factoring in cost of boiler oil would be cheaper however I am interested in the wood pellet for flexibility.

Villain wrote: »

Something like http://www.doyles.ie/index/products/product/K%20STOVE%208015%2015KW%20HYDRO%20PELLET%20STOVE%20NEW%20-%20SL8015/category/Wood+Pellet+Stoves/brand/K-Stove+wood+pellet+stoves/?productId=57527

15KW and 25kg hopper

Yes somthing like that. there seems to be a lot around priced around that range. However I consider them expensive at that. Would have taught that a stove like that would be available in or around the 2K mark.

Just an observation. Think a lot of suppliers are making a killing off what are one off sales.

Villain wrote: »

I had a mate drill the hole and did the install myself.

There are building regs http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,37240,en.pdf that govern the installation of a chimney. I'm sure you did a good job, but I would strongly recommend a carbon monoxide alarm if you don't already have one. They are a bit bigger/more expensive than a smoke alarm.
It would be worth checking whether your chimney might be an issue when you come to sell the house.

Have done a bit of reserch since. I am veering away from the pellet stove. Looking at an oil stove in the Kitchen and a logburning stove or casset in the sitting room.Yes I intend to put in a Carbon monoxide alarm and a fire alarm.

galwaytt wrote: »

..imho..the problem with oil stoves is, as they get older, they're inclined to get a bit smelly, and there's nothing worse than the smell of 'diesel' in your house. Look at the amount of people that have moved their boilers outdoors or to garages for that very reason.

Just my 0.02 as they say.

In fairness, any such odours emitted into a room could only be from a ( leaky)rope door seals etc or poor up draught design and would be a similar risk/ problem on any (ageing) solid fuel stoves.
At least with kerosene, you would smell it promptly and take remedial action.

Recently relocated a 8 yr old Nestor Martin 10kw unit into current sitting room.
Superb, absolutely delighted.
At 1/2 setting room is toasty - burns <5 litres in 10 hours @ around 70 cents a litre, that's approx 3,50 euro per day.
Oil prices are heading 'further south' for near future but you know, even if it was 1 euro per litre, I still like it.
Instant heat, clean - no scuttles& implements around hearthstone. No dust in room or ash pans to clean out daily or constant stoking.

Do people really calculate the true cost of solid fuel daily with firelighters, fire logs, starters and then hauling wagon loads of turf or logs or coal in through your property seasonally plus the constant chores of cleaning and loading up.? Beats me.