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Just thinking out load here. Our CH is currently heated by a 30+ year old oil boiler - it's OK but it wont last forever and I'm sceptical of new boiler longivity.
A friend has just built a massive house and has gone with a biomass boiler with RHI.
We've got a perfect space/room for a pellet boiler that's just feet from one of our barns which would have loads of space for bulk pellet storage.
What sort of cost are we looking at for the install of a decent boiler and associated bits (hoppers, feed mech, etc) for a detached 4 bedroom house with a ground floor areas of about 180sqm? Presumably this could be hooked up to our existing CH system?
lots!
Biomass is quiet at the moment so you should be able to get a good price from someone, but I'm not sure how the RHI works out at the moment. I suspect not very favourably, especially with the cost of oil at the moment.
However it could work especially if you go for a simple install, probably something hand fed as that will keep costs down considerably. You should be able to add auto feed later if you wanted to.
You should explore all heating options, including oil, and also should investigate upgrading insulation, air tightness and system controls too as they may be a better option for return of investment.
Wot the pro said ^
Mine is a dumb cheap system, my neighbour has a funky complicated one. Invite yourself over to have a show around one day if you like.
Can't help with rhi as mine was never a certified product, but TBH I've never needed it to make the pay back work.
I'd say anywhere between 12 and 30k
The pellet boilers we run at work are much of a muchness with oil. The RHI payments help cover the extra break downs the systems have, but I think that has more to do with the installer and the crap layout he went for.
Supply a fair bit of timber to chip producers, new woodfuel standard is helping guarantee quality for reliable burning as it is required to get RHI payments.
Few farms around here running batch boilers that take long logs. Still need accredited fuel to get RHI payments, but when those run out the fuel is still cheaper as less processing. They are also less fussy about moisture content. Downside is you have to manually feed once a day, or less if you have a massive thermal mass.
Hmmm. That's proper expensive isn't it! Even with the maximum RHI payments is still going to cost a lot and it just doesn't really stack up against other fuels.
Shame 🙁
Like I said, biomass is a tough sell. Plenty of houses not suited to heat pumps but will probably have them installed as financial incentives make it more viable. Seems the wrong way to do things to me but the whole RHI process is flawed.
RHI is calculated (for domestic properties) off the deemed annual kWh load from the EPC. It's about to increase in July as they cut the tariffs so much last year that they killed the industry.
you'll need an EPC done to really know what the RHI will be, and thus what you can expect the financial model to look like.
it is a tough sell as the install WILL be anything from £12-30K. from your description I'd be looking at somewhere in the middle.
It can be hooked up to your existing system.
things to look out for:
Flue - surrounding buildings and trees will affect the flue height
connecting pipework - a long dig through tarmac or concrete roads is expensive
integration into the exiting system - usually should be as near to the existing flow pipes off the current boiler.
HTH
Thanks Smudger. It's a non-starter really. The install cost would be massive (20m from the existing boiler to where a biomass boiler would go) and the maximum RHI payment over 7 years is still a fraction of the total cost.
I might be better increasing our PV from 4Kw to 16Kw and going ASHP.
Oh well.
if you have a three phase connection then you'll PROBABLY be able to do that, if single phase then you are right at the limit of what a GOOD 1Ph line will take.
you'll need a grid connection application to be made either way.
Don't forget that the heat pump will be used most when the sun isn't shining and that there will likely be some upgrades to your house required - insulation, radiator and pipe sizes - pretty much what Bear said actually!
We're in what used to be a farm and we have an unused 3ph connection to the barn where the extra PV would be fitted.
I'd possibly give thought to air-air heat pump but then I may just hook up the PV to a fairly extensive bit of electric underfloor that we're possibly fitting in the [new] kitchen.
Although we're fairly well insulated, the thought of replacing the CH pipework/rads leaves me cold (see what I did there?!). If we were doing a major refurb or new-build it would be different.