UKC

I'm currently looking at getting a wood pellet boiler to replace an ancient oil system (we're off the gas grid).
The quotes i've had have been butt clenchingly high (16,000 - 18,000) with the boiler itself representing 10k of that.
Has anyone else had one of these beasts installed lately and how much did it cost?
I'm aware of the RHI and overall it will be very cost effective but the initial outlay seems steep.

In reply to pasbury:
Sounds about right for an auto-feed boiler, lots depends on the fuel store, heat store, flue and feed system (hoppers are cheaper but more work, silo´s easy but big and ugly etc).

For example the German energy and water suppliers association estimated the cost of a pellet system for a typical house at €21,000 in 2009 (excluding the heating system itself).

In reply to pasbury:

We have a wood burner with a boiler on the back that feeds a heat store and then provides our heating and HW. Had the pipe work for solar thermal put in for the future.

It was 12k for the whole system going into a 2/3 bed house with no heating system. The burner was about 1.5k and a pellet boiler is quite a bit more expensive. So your quote sounds very plausible.

In reply to pasbury:

It's just because of the RHI. The greedy manufacturers charge more as you still save money over the 7 years.

In reply to pasbury:

I don't know actual cost figures, but I do know that you save considerably on the chimney pipe systems because they use such a tiny diameter (against a woodburner steel chimney).

I know otherwise that you can buy certain brands too cheap and pay more later for service and parts following breakdown so make sure theres a reliable after sales scene.

In reply to pasbury:

It all depends on size but it seems a bit steep - how powerful is the boiler?

We've got one which is around 16KW - it heats the radiator circuit and auto-feeds from the built in hopper which holds about 40kg of pellets at a time (so depths of winter needs topping up 1-2 times per day).

Something like this: http://www.edilkamin.fr/en/termostufe_a_pellet_evolution-line/termostufa_ev...

It cost around 5000EUR for the actual boiler - it replaced a solid fuel stove so not much else needed changing. It isn't heating our sanitary hot water but its fairly easy to hook up to a tank if needed.

Its only a temporary solution - we're planning a bigger system (around 45kw) which will cost around 35000EUR but that's a whole different beast - much more automated, holds several tonnes of pellets in the autofeed and will heat a 3000L water tank for both sanitary hot water and radiators.

In reply to yorkshireman:

35000EUR!!!
Obviously pays well working for a company that sells cans of sugary water!

In reply to Lusk:


Long term solution that should work well for the next 30 years. The cost per KWh is less than half that of a gas or oil boiler - we've done a full thermal study of the property (and future requirements/rennovations) and it represents the most cost-effective long-term solution.

We're also planning to pipe out hot water to two of our neighbours and sell them for the calories consumed at a rate slightly above what it costs us to generate, but less than they can get using their current systems.

You can get 0% loans in France to pay for eco-improvements to a property. So like I said, depending on what the OP is being offered, what he is being charged could be a rip off, or a bargain - depends on the system.

In reply to Philip:


That's what I thought initially but the boiler is Austrian (Windhager) so I doubt they've put up the price just for the Uk market (if they have I'll be going over in a transit!)

In reply to yorkshireman:

15Kw Windhager Biowin Exklusiv S manual pellet feed boiler i.e. you bung in a bag of pellets to the small hopper once a week or so. Apparently prevents the dust build up problems from vacuum fed hoppers.
Price of boiler on it's own is quoted at £10,909.

In reply to LeeWood:


The chimney & flue are quoted at 2.5k - new 5" liner and the twin wall flue system with other gubbins from the boiler to the chimney - chimney in question has been used for an oil boiler for past 40 yrs. This is one of my quibbles with the quote.

In reply to pasbury:

The boiler alone is around £7,500 in Germany/Austria but VAT is higher in the UK and that price is without guarantee or controls, these cost extra and since the installer writes off the installation he wants to be covered.
Of course if you´ve a quote for one with the pumps, domestic hot water, the temperature controllers for both systems, the connector kit etc etc then who knows?
Bung a bag into the small hopper sounds great but it takes 150kg which will give you ca 600kW/h so you can work out for yourself how much bunging you do and how often, I push half a ton of wood through my plant on a bad week (admittedly that´s when it´s -12 all day and I´ve a fairly big house as well).
Flues are always a problem as they must conform to the manufacturers specs for the certification to apply, if the flue doesn´t conform then the boiler is illegal. So what burnt there before is irrelevant, the dimensions (and material) must conform to the new fire. Single skin flues don´t conform as far as I know (I´ve installed 2 new ones in my house). The problem is the low gas temperature from modern boilers allows the tars to condense in the chimney which is bad news so they are generally insulated to keep the temperature up. If the exhaust gas flow isn´t correct then the lambda sensor will mess about with the fire, modern plants get their efficiency from accurate control and the exhaust gas is critical. A couple of grand doesn´t sound too bad, just the bits to build a 7m high chimney and connect to the fire cost me €2,300.

In reply to pasbury:

An external 25kw Trianco is £1k cheaper, and made in the UK (I think). It holds abou 100 kg of pellets I think.

I'm considering it for a new system when we complete our house move. Oil is a waste of money, in that it will always just be oil, air source might not be enough, ground source means a noisy pump and extra unit in the house, so that leaves wood pellet. Thinking of coupling it to a Gledhill 400-500 L tank and using that to drive radiators until future renovations lead to underfloor heating. With solar thermal and log burner coupled in later. The solar would add more RHI but the log burner would mean I needed meeting so I would probably not plumb in to the water system until the 7 years are up.