gerwalsh66
Registered User
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We installed a wood pellet boiler system in our newly renovated home in 2005. We have under-floor heating down stairs and radiators upstairs. (The house is approx. 100 years old) with thick stone walls throughout. The external walls upstairs have been dry- lined with insulated board. From the start, the wood pellet boiler has proven uneconomical.(900 euro for 3 -4 months of pellets), not to mention the hard labour involved. It has come to the point now that the pellets keep clogging the Augier and it constantly shuts down. We are at our wits end and need to put in a system that will be more efficient and cost effective and a lot less labour intensive. Could someone please advise as we honestly do not know what to do.
- We installed a wood pellet boiler system in our newly renovated home in 2005. We have under-floor heating down stairs and radiators upstairs. (The house is approx. 100 years old) with thick stone walls throughout. The external walls upstairs have been dry- lined with insulated board. From the start, the wood pellet boiler has proven uneconomical.(900 euro for 3 -4 months of pellets), not to mention the hard labour involved.
- It has come to the point now that the pellets keep clogging the Augier and it constantly shuts down. We are at our wits end and
- need to put in a system that will be more efficient and cost effective and a lot less labour intensive. Could someone please advise as we honestly do not know what to do.
i have spoken to two plumbers -
- one saying to go with a second hand traditional oil boiler and see how it goes regarding burning oil with the underfloor heating which will get us through this winter and then think about it when the season over.
- The other guy recommends ignoring the underfloor and installing rads downstairs.
- He didn't specify whether we would be better going for a traditional boiler or condenser.
- Anybody have any suggestions or advice on what would be the most cost-effective and efficient way to improve our current system? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
We're in rural mayo/galway though so wonder if anyone could recommend someone?
Our local plumber is great, just not familiar with wood pellet boilers so it's hard tofind a solution. Thanks in advance for your help.
Is there such a a person as a heating engineer in this country? To the best of my knowledge there is no course available in a college/university in this country that provides programs for the training of "Heating Engineers". A experienced suitably qualified plumbing/heating contractor should be well up to speed on heating system design and components
- if you installed ufh with 05 insulation standards, into a 100 year old house then that may well be the reason the pellet boiler is uneconomical. ufh need copious amounts of insulation to work efficiently, and wall insulation, including overlapping slab edge insulation
- are the pellets kept in a dry storage space? is there any chance that the floor /walls/ roof are letting in moisture through lack of damp proof course etc? is the space where the pellets are kept adequately ventilated? have you gotten it serviced by the person who supplied it or at least knows what they are looking at?
- i dont think oil, gas, solar or the various heat pumps with offer you better cost or efficiency (without assessing the above) but they will be less laborious.
- if its a solution to see you through the winter, then the cost of sticking with pellets v temporary 'second hand' oil boiler + oil: id stick with the pellets and see if you can alter the storage area to keep them dryer and fix the auger situation.
- It may be better way of delivering heat to your rooms. id consider getting a heat loss survey (thermal imaging) to see how bad the houses heat loss is.
- condenser v traditional? id dont get your meaning here? your decision on the oil/gas is dictated by whether you go with the rads imo (or expect the bills to still be at least the same as they are now)
- get a heat loss survey - to decide whether the building fabric is efficient at retaining the ufh's heat, and get a heating engineer (not a plumber) to decide if the ufh (and pellet boiler) are delivering heat efficiently & cost effectively
heating engineerIs there such a a person as a heating engineer in this country?
i wouldn't employ anyone out of college that I wasn't directly supervising.Having been involved in building/mechanical services education for the past 30 years I can definitely say that building service graduates/engineers would have little or no experience of domestic heating systems. It simply is not on the schedule of training whilst they are in college. Plumbing apprentices are given the appropriate training whilst serving their apprenticeship whether it be on the job or off it. Just my thoughts!!
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