Living with a Biomass Pellet Boiler

After quite a few questions about how we are doing with our biomass heating system here is a little insight in to the ups and downs of the 'greener' option.

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[wheeldrive]

Here in the northeastern US, when installing a biomass pellet boiler, it’s generally to replace an oil fired boiler. They typically install a pellet bin in the space in the basement that used to be taken up by the oil tank. A 3 ton bin is usually enough to get you through about half of the heating season, depending on your house. Companies deliver bulk pellets in a tanker, similar looking to an oil delivery truck, and they blow the pellets into your bin from outside, with an air suction return to extract any delivery dust.

The modern pellet boilers are completely automated. They start up and shut down by themselves, usually to heat a buffer tank, and have self cleaning fire boxes. The ash bins only need dumping about once a month or less, and the entire boiler only requires annual cleaning, same as an oil fired boiler. The owner just sets a thermostat and gets the heat with no effort.

The downside is that the capital expense to upgrade the equipment is currently quite high, even with the current state rebate subsidies and federal tax credit. I priced out replacing my present, fairly new, fully functional oil fired boiler and it just doesn’t make financial sense, unless/until the oil boiler requires replacement. Otherwise, even though pellets cost half as much for the same amount of BTU energy, it’s cheaper to just keep buying oil.

[retiringinfrance]

GREAT VIDEO! We were literrally prepareing to do an install on a pellet boiler, and this video changed my mind. It is not reasonable that we can haul 2 tons of pellets to our cellar a month.. and load and clean.. I watch your videos all the time and really appriciate the honest review.

[Fractal]

I got a wood pellet boiler installed December 2020 after the one that came with my house died (Rest In Peace) in the middle of the winter.
I opted for a Windhager Biowin Lite and Verdo Heatlets pellets to support FSC forests (super quality) and i am super satisfied.
And its very true that you appreciate your heat more when you see how 'money' is burned :D

[grumpyoldman]

These are what i'm usually pulling out and installing propane or natural gas hi efficient closed loop systems to replace them. They seem to be very labor intensive and i wouldn't want to be getting into my 60 s and having to keep that unit running. Its a young persons game i think. They eat up to much space the size of it and then storage of all the pellets. Good video it was informative and honest.

[chrisanderson]

Watched most of your videos now. This one was interesting but I couldn't live with such a system myself. Far too much hassle. I'd like to say I do better things with my time but you are more productive than I am.

Keep the videos coming.

[daguardarenelsilenzio]

Lovely system, haven’t watch the whole video so I don’t know who installed it but whoever did done a very good job

[deanjamesib]

Great video!! Really useful and constructive. Thanks for sharing your insight and experience!

[janpospisilm]

Great video mate! East europe here - Czech Republic. Our pellets are top notch and we export them to whole Europe. There are however suppliers from even more eastern europe (Bulgaria, Serbia) that are terrible. They have no concept of quality.

[demarestk]

Thanks a lot for this interesting video. Our oil burner/boiler is running on its last legs and we are considering a pellet burner/boiler.

[IBuildItHome]

Great video and reality check on the work involved with the system.

[PaulEastham]

cool vid! just bought a house in denmark. its an old school with over 500 m2. We have a pellet burner and its all very new to me :) we bought 4 pallets of 15klg bags. we seem to be going through abour 3-4 bags over the day and night. is that too much? did you say you turn it off during the warmer months ?

[JP-zpic]

A ton a month is way too much. Insulation is definitely your friend if you can find a way to fit some more in to your home's structure.

I'm looking at this technology myself, but I want to use it in conjunction with a solar heating array and a very well insulated home.

Thanks for putting this together and sharing.

[deanjohnson]

I had a bio mass heating system installed in my old flat from old storage heaters by the local council it's struggled really bad in winter and broke down lots and cost so much to run topping it every day no longer live in that property x

[davidrenton]

Excellent honest warts and all long term review. Thanks a lot.

[masurianwolf]

I really enjoying your movies and you are true man - father and husband who's taking care of his family - not so "trendy" these days - but... ( and it's only my point of view ) instead of "thinking green" shouldn't you rather consider the worse case scenario: what if something bad happens to me? - Whose gonna bring those wood pallets all the way for my wife and children? Whose going to feed the boiler? You choose that option probably 'cause you young and strong, and hope it's gonna stay like that all the way, but what if not? Seeing your efforts I'm strong believer you'll solve this problem - good luck Sir. Thank you for posting these videos.

[janwillem]

Any update on this? saw you removed it (spoiler). As we have no access to gas but do have access to a blowin pellet supplier I still want to know your ultimate reasoning for the switch...

[SimonHarbour]

Really interesting stuff. I hadn't actually heard of these!

[Jim]

Interesting stuff, raising the roof sounds exciting.

[feehan]

thank you for the detailed review. great to see the practicalities involved.

[paulrichter]

Really interesting series - funny watching your earlier videos and comparing how much more at ease your presentation is even the update video, well done. I was shocked when you said you can go through a hopper of fuel (47kg) during a bad winter day, what's that about £15? Mind you, I dread to think what our gas heating bill is on an equivalent day. Did you do any comparison figures between heating with a gas and biomass boiler over a longer period, say a year? 👍