Biomass boiler. Advice sought

[Lightspeed]

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.