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Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Printable Version

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Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Lightspeed - 8 April 2016

Plans for permanent living at what was originally purchased as the retreat are now in full swing. We’re in the process of completing on the sale of our city apartment, and for the first time in the many hundreds of years that its withstood the elements, our little dwelling is about to get central heating.

After much weighing up of our requirements, not least for grid-down power independence, we have at last found a solution. It’s a 25Kw solid-fuel and bio-mass boiler with an appetite for diverse fuel sources. It can auto feed wood pellets, pea coal and raw coal, but will take manually fed logs and bulk coal as well. Its quite efficient, with certified efficiency of greater than 90%. Of course all this capability is derived from electric controls, and therein lies its achillies heel. Being able to manually feed it overcomes part of this, but there are still the pumps to circulate water around the radiator circuit. (https://issuu.com/bio-nordic/docs/productsheet_fumo_english_12_25#embed )

So, of course we’ll be keeping the existing pair of multi-fuel stoves that have looked after us so well during the extended bug-in trial that we are just completing. These are very frugal fuel wise and run happily on locally harvested soft wood, of which we have a growing stock-pile. Coal will be the main fuel for the new boiler, so if there is any disruption to its supply and availability (or excessive taxing) the old stoves will be our fall-back.

Actually not only the fall-back as we’ve come to enjoy the different quality of heat the stoves radiate, ( high temperature IR) and even more so to enjoy food cooked on them, which we are convinced has a different taste to meals coked in the conventional kitchen.

We think we’re making a sensible choice. Is there anyone else on here who is living with a boiler like this who could share experience and advice with us?


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Straight Shooter - 8 April 2016

I have no knowledge of these things LS other than they are very efficient .....the circulation pump does not use much power ...might well be covered by a solar/inverter type backup....been wondering for a while....would it be possible to rig up a 12 volt motor to drive the pump....only small movement of water is required ...i have a spare pump over the garage....think i will have a play ...see if i can convert it.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - NorthernRaider - 8 April 2016

Sorry mate, nothing on these furnaces in my archive, the only bit that springs to mind is its a multi fuel system so that is a very good point, BUT is the feed Gravity or Electrical powered, if the former thats good, if the latter then you need a back up genny in reserve, but IIRC you mentioned before wanting or getting a back up genny anyway.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - NorthernRaider - 8 April 2016

FYI dunno about where you are but I just checked suppliers of pellets for this area and there was only ONE, thats bad cos you need competition to keep prices down.

One snippet from another source says they is a DIY pellet making tool / machine / device that was on sale in either Bavaria or Austria


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - NorthernRaider - 8 April 2016

http://www.dinglibiofuel.com/biomass-pellet-mill.html
http://www.pellet-press.com/Pellet-Mill-for-Home-Use.html?gclid=CIbD5tvW_8sCFRATGwodoJMA8w
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/pellet-mill


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Lightspeed - 8 April 2016

SS, yes I'm thinking along the same lines as you, either a DC pump or an inverted DC supply to deliver juice to the pump from the PV storage batteries.

NR: Agreed. I'm hoping that there may be the possibility of a gravity feed, even if only to the hot water cylinder. Meetings with plumbing virtuoso to confirm this shortly.

But Mrs LS has bought into the idea completely, even if the total grid failure option is to heat water on top of the stove she's up for it.

Also I've been tracking the cost of pelletised wood and brickettes, and as demand continues to rise, so does the cost of this material. Making your own is only viable if you have a saw mill in the back garden, and one that generates huge amounts of saw dust. i.e. a non starter. Our strategy is to use coal as the primary energy source as kilowatt for kilowatt it is substantially cheaper than pellets, and takes up a lot less storage space. Its down side is that its dirty and creates more smoke, dust and odour.


I did not have plans for a back up generator, but that may well get revised to at least give us the ability to carry on as normal even with temporary loss of electrical power, which can indeed happen for periods of up to 24 hours when snow/ice interferes with the power lines.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - T-oddity - 9 April 2016

I'm in a similar situation in that I've literally after eleven days with out any hot water or heating, fired up for the first time last night a new woodburner and boiler and a thermal store to replace the old hot water and heating system which means that along with solar electric we are pretty much self reliant for most of our power and heating.

we still have the gas boiler as back up, the down side is this new system comes with a total of three pumps and various thermastats to make it as efficient as possible and as the solar is grid tied if the grid goes down the pumps will shut down, we will still have heating from the stove and the thermal store will still work so will still have hot water, but no central heating.

My intention is to identify the electric supplies for the pumps etc and use an inverter powered from a battery bank to power the system if needs be, that way I can leave the system as standard, not sure, but think I will need to use a pure sine wave inverter as the timer etc probably uses micro processors which can be a bit finnicky when it comes to power supply from inverters.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Lightspeed - 9 April 2016

T-O

Great to hear that you're up and running.

The generator backup idea is a good one to keep the system running. Possibly the cheapest solution to overcome short term electric cuts.

We also have a big thermal store on the back of our wood burner. Its extremely effective and has surprised a good number of people how long it throws back heat.

Hope yours performs just as well.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - T-oddity - 10 April 2016

Things are looking good so far, but early days yet, the main aim with the system is to become more self reliant and to reduce our out goings on energy bills as much as possible all part of the grand plan to become urban off gridders... well a lot less reliant on the grid anyway.


RE: Biomass boiler. Advice sought - Straight Shooter - 10 April 2016

Good for you T O its always great to hear someone is moving forwards and preparing for off grid solutions ....can't wait to join you ...and LS ........if you look close in your rear view mirror......that will be me ....catching up ! watch out !