I'm assuming that installing an oil heating boiler (and oil storage tank) is more difficult that an LPG gas boiler and storage shed for the "bottles".
but perhaps LPG when used as a CH fuel isn't delivered in bottles
tim
though unless things have changed
solid fuel boilers lack the automated control of liquid/gas fuels
tim
No 'perhaps' about it. Big tank in the garden. Although you can bury them now, if you want.
I don't know enough about them to comment how reliable they are in service but were there not hopper feed boilers available at one time, possibly still are. Need a fine fuel sold as beans, and wood chip/pellets are a solid fuel at the end of the day even though they may be wrapped in up in some eco description such as Biomass and full automatic boilers are advertised for that. But I would not dispute that once you start into needing reliable automatic fuel feed systems and ash removal the costs would rise considerably and liquid/gas appliances will be easier to maintain and nor ash to dispose of either. My reasons for having a simple system hinge on what is an other wise all electric house means relying on no damage to the overhead lines , rare but some parts around here were off for 3 days about 2 years ago. And I'm able to be around to run the multifuel stove as appropriate which would not be practical for many people who go out to work or like some nearish neighbours who having seen our stove started to think about installing one in a covered over fire place, I discouraged them as being a decade and a half older neither are really up to the manual work required anymore, a point we may well reach ourselves in time of course but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
There is also enough reason I like it as running a stove/fire is just enjoyable and satisfying.
G.Harman
Despite the alleged strategic value in covering most of North Wales with conifers, the only commercial use of locally produced timber seems to be firewood, and there is much publicised lobby to set a wood chip industry for wood fired boilers of all sizes from domestic to power stations. Very little actual commercially available hardware seems to have materialised, especially at the domestic end of the market.
The flat I lived in before had a (single) storage heater for the general living area and it worked OK. It looked quite old and probably dated from when the flats were built (probably late 80s). It had a slider on the top that allowed more hot air to come out, but by the time you might have needed it there wouldn't be much heat left in the core. There was an instant heat circuit to provide heat if it ran out of heat in the evening, though I very rarely needed it. I learnt to check the weather for the following day and adjust the heat input accordingly. I didn't bother to heat the rest of the flat (bathroom and bedroom) and closed the communicating door to concentrate heat in the living area as required.
The (Economy 7) electricity bill was £700 a year (in 2015), including an off-peak immersion heater for hot water and instant electric shower.
On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 13:00:57 +0000, snipped-for-privacy@hayter.org (Roger Hayter)
Well there is domestic and domestic I've seen some being demonstrated at Agricultural shows but what may domestic to a land owner with possibly access to forestry will not be quite the same as somebody living in a semi detached in Surburban areas. The former compared to the latter must be quite small so its understandable that at the moment it is quite a niche market. One firm I saw at a show seems to have domestic sized ones but looking at the Domestic properties section under case studies on their web page does show a leaning to the type of dwelling featured on "Homes in the Country".
No costings I can see though which usually means Costa a Lot.
OTOH you could the same about an Agra cookers though and look how they spread from where their use could be practical to where they became a lifestyle accessory despite the high cost.
I also notice the firm appears to be keen to associate itself with the green eco brigade,not sure that is a good idea as it means they may be limiting themselves to that market and putting many others off , and real eco warriors will be living in a yurt and burning damp sticks.
G.Harman
So well below the market penetration that would make distribution or stove sales anything like competitive. I would have thought the green brigade, being basically pastoralist (or whatever is the animal free version) fascists with luddite and anti-scientific tendencies, would be somewhat suspicious of the rather high tech machines needed to handle wood chip.
One of my friends from university looked seriously at getting an auger based wood chip burning hopper based system (ISTR Austrian maker) but was put off by the huge volume and high costs. It became clear that after super insulating his house a tiny wood burning stove could easily do the job. It has sophisticated heat exchangers on the air inlets and vents and an array of very high tech features. It amuses me no end that his base electricity load is responsible for all the waste heat that keeps his house warm (ie several powerful computers on 24/7).
It might have been these (or a very similar model)
Similar ones but more industrial
ISTR thanks to NI government incompetence their farmers are heating barns with them to claim subsidies that exceed the cost of the fuel!
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.