If you are considering installing a biomass boiler system there are many important things you must consider for successful project. Perhaps the three most important points are:
1. Know which fuel is suitable for your project Logs, wood chips or wood pellets.
2. Use proven technology Your project should not try to do anything that hasnt been done before!
3. Ensure you use good quality wood fuel Most problems encountered with wood heating projects tend to be caused by poor quality or incorrect wood fuel rather than the system installed.
By the end of this guide you should be able to go some way towards addressing each of these points, and with the help of the Wood Fuel South West Advice Service, we hope to ensure you have access to a reliable heat supply.
This guide is principally concerned with wood fuelled boiler systems, not room stoves (although we do provide basic information on stoves).
Typically the boilers will be fed with either wood chip or wood pellets, however smaller systems for domestic buildings may also use logs. We will refer to wood fuel boilers as biomass boilers in this guide. Biomass boiler technology is proven, reliable, clean and efficient. Modern biomass boilers are very common across Europe, particularly in Austria, Sweden and Finland. Austria has approximately 100,000 biomass boilers installed, with a reliable local wood fuel supply network in place.
Biomass boilers can operate at 92% efficiency levels, comparable with modern gas condensing boilers. Within this information pack we have included a list of suppliers and installers who are able to undertake projects in the South West. Many of these companies use technology from Austria, Sweden, Germany and other countries who have been working with biomass boilers extensively over the last 20 years. This has been demonstrated time and time again internationally.
Even with a specific form of fuel, such as wood chips, there can be major differences in characteristics. This means that while it is all eminently usable, one batch will allow a particular piece of equipment to operate according to specification, but another may cause blockages in the fuel feed line, inefficient operation, emissions, condensation in the flue, or automatic shut down of the equipment as it moves outside its design operating regime.
In different equipment, however, the second batch of fuel may be perfectly acceptable. Clear technical specifications are needed which can be incorporated into supply contracts. The European Union has developed specifications and standards CEN/TC 335 for solid biofuels. CEN/TC 335 is the technical committee developing the draft standard to describe all forms of solid biofuels within Europe, including wood chips, wood pellets and briquettes, logs, sawdust and straw bales.
james is a freelance writer who often writes on best chaise lounge chair
