Domestic biomass rhi

[neilharrison]

Various interesting (and depressingly familiar) points made on this thread. Despite what folks think of government departments such as DECC, the Commercial RHI is currently offering very good value for money for the government delivering carbon savings (effectively what ROC's, FIT's and RHI are paying for), so all of us in the wood heat industry should be cheering that there's support available now for domestic customers - it all translates into demand for our products. The solar and wind boys have had a crack, now it's our turn!

 

No, the domestic RHI is not as generous as the commercial equivalent, but then the market (in terms of #'s of boilers sold) is potentially far greater - 1.1m domestic oil customers in the UK for starters - so the last the government wants/needs to do is make the domestic RHI so generous that everyone is prompted to replace their oil boiler all at once - there simply isn't the industry there to deliver these sorts of numbers, or even a fraction of them. There are already enough horror stories out there - we don't need any more (although we are getting them, almost daily in our experience) from further turbocharging the market.

 

Unfortunately, like any industry, we have our fair share of cowboys, and there is currently no meaningful mechanism to address this issue - there are plans afoot from both government and the (yet to be formally launched) Wood Heat Association however (Welcome to The Wood Heat Association). Would have been better if something was in place before the RHI, but hindsight is always 20/20.

 

Selecting the right boiler does require a sound understanding of the local supply chain, the competence of the available local installer base, and of the different makes and models of equipment - something which is completely lacking in the UK. Ask yourself, how many wood-fired boilers have you ever bought? Do you know the difference between an MCZ and and ETA? No? Neither does the wider public!

 

Salesmen will promise anything to secure a sale unfortunately, and mis-selling (polite-speak for fraud) appears to be rife in our sector at present. Wild promises about income, system efficiencies, fuels that can be burnt, etc.... are are all too common.

 

If anyone has any particular horror stories, I'd be very pleased to hear them - we are currently undertaking work for DECC to understand what is happening out in the biomass heating sector. Please drop me an email : neil @ reheat.uk.com.

[difflock]

I attended a RHI briefing session, back before Christmas past.

No new information, and after "questions" had resulted in a few inane enquiries.

I asked " Was owt going to be done about the cowboys" this time after our absoulety shambolic "Clearskies" install a wheen o year ago.

"Not pertinent to this discuission I was told"

PS

5.5 m of flue instead of the min 10m.

Expansion tank plumbed in 28mm copper

5.5m of flue clearly visibly "off plumb"

leaking capillary joints.

wrong sized expansion vessel.

etc etc

From an alledged "certified" installer.

Scheesh!

[FJMatt]

Wood Heat Association (Welcome to The Wood Heat Association).

sounds to me like jobs for the boys, you pay us a membership fee and we'll come and inspect your business and tell you how to do it.

Like every other assurance scheme, not worth the paper there written on

[difflock]

Sounds about right FJMatt.

[Davescay]

Looking at one of the directors. You have wood sure accreditation. Hetas accreditation and now this new one.

 

Nothing like confusing people. You can have all the logos you like show the inspection team your best logs and then sell what you like.

 

Fully agree not worth the paper they are written on

[ArthurBottlesworth]

I'm looking at installing wood fired central heating

Cutting my own logs

 

How would this apply to me?

Does this apply to me?

Every time I look at government schemes I seem to be paying a premium price for everything, to the point where their contribution isn't worthwhile.....

Can someone convince me that I should look at this?

[StephF]

at least 25 tonnes of dry seasoned logs per year for each boiler sold

 

Thats one hell of a house you've got there then!!

 

Figures based on amounts of logs sold to customers who had a wood boiler, average 3 cubic metres per 10-14 days. I dont have one!

[woodworm]

It's cheaper to use oil then!

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Arbtalk mobile app

[difflock]

I have used (near enough) a 1/2 of a 5.1m by 10m bay, filled about 2.25 high

so 5*10*2.25/2=56m3=GULP

To heat about 3750ft2 of 1995 insulation std new build.

The living room is frequently abane 30deg of an evening mind.

PS

Rule of thumb I saw somewhere = 1.0m3 for every kW of boiler installed.

Since I have still not properly insulated the roofspace, and am running the Solarbayer sans modulating control panel,, i.e. fan blowing at 100% from start to finish.

This fig. of 40m3 wood consumption for 40kW would prob be spot on.

So what is 40m3 of softwood worth, were I to sell it.

DONT tell me

please

[Alycidon]

Hi Alycidon, sorry for the silly question that's about to come...I have googled bulk blown pellets but can't find anything, could you (or someone else) enlighten me about the difference between them and bagged pellets? As far as I can see, the only difference is in how they are delivered.

I find it strange why bulk blown is more expensive per kilo

 

also, can't you get a fuel store added to your current unit? Have you contacted the manufacturer?

 

 

 

Bulk pellets are delivered by a tanker wagon and blown into your store using 6 inch or so pipes, like animal feedstuffs.

 

My Kalorina Mini K25 is unable to work in conjunction with a bulk fuel supply but the rest of the Kalorina range can.

 

Extra costs for bulk are the delivery costs for a dedicated tanker as opposed to a pallet carrier for 20kg bags.

 

A