What Are Biomass Boilers And Heating Systems?

What Is Biomass Fuel?

Biomass is an environmentally considerate and renewable energy source, generated from the burning of wood, plants and organic natural materials, such as manure or household waste. 

This method releases considerably less carbon dioxide than the burning of traditional fossil fuels. Biomass boilers, like a traditional gas or oil boiler, combust their fuel to generate heat and hot water for the home. 

How Does A Biomass Boiler Work?

Biomass heating systems are fuelled by sustainably sourced wood pellets, logs or wood chips. A biomass boiler uses a wood burning stove to heat the wood fuel, which is either manually or automatically fed in depending on the type of biomass heating system.

The resultant air and hot gas produced from the burning wood, travels to a flue before being passed through a heat exchanger to heat the water residing in the properties central heating and hot water system, (excess heat may be stored in a thermal ‘buffer’ tank).

Are Biomass Boilers Efficient?

According to the Energy Savings Trust, switching to a biomass boiler from an antiquated electric boiler could prove financially beneficial, with purported savings of over £1000 per annum.

Biomass wood fuel releases the same amount of carbon emissions upon combustion it absorbed when growing as a tree, making this essentially a carbon neutral fuel.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) offers grants of up to £6000 to reduce the often high prices of replacing an existing heating system with a low carbon heating alternative in England and Wales.

Similar initiatives to promote low energy renewable heating include the ‘Renewable Heat Incentive’, which focuses on domestic dwellings as part of the second phase of its inception.

Types Of Domestic Biomass Boiler

- Wood pellet boilers, wood pellet boilers contain a pellet stove that is fed by an auger connected to a pellet hopper (small silo).

Wood pellets are made from compressed sawdust or waste wood and provide fantastic energy value upon combustion.

This type of biomass boiler requires ash removal, but this can be a good nutrient boost for a home compost heap. 

- Log Boilers, a log boiler is a system that relies on being fed small wood logs into the combustion chamber.

These biomass boiler types can reach incredibly high temperatures meaning the overall energy efficiency is an A rated 90%+. However the manual act of physically loading the logs can prove a laborious task.

Potential Drawbacks Of Biomass Boilers

As mentioned, if a biomass heating system does not have an automated supply function, the maintenance tasks such as loading the pellets or logs and cleaning out the ash residue can prove labour intensive.

Soot deposits must also be regulated in the chimney and flue pipe, to avoid backups and clogs. 

Also storage space is required to harbour the wood fuel at home, the larger the fuel demand of a biomass system the more spare storage space will be required. Wood supply costs can be significant depending on supplier distance and order size. 

A hot water cylinder is also needed which will require more free space, typically in a loft or airing cupboard. A carbon monoxide detector may also be needed to monitor the amount of hydrocarbon fuel emissions released in the home.

How Much Does a Biomass Boiler Cost?

Biomass heating systems can demand a high price tag, log burning stoves can typically cost between £500-£3000 and a wood pellet boiler depending on size and automatic feed capabilities, can range anywhere from £4000-12000!

Should You Buy A Biomass Boiler?

Biomass boilers and heating systems definitely offer some great benefits, especially for the eco conscious. However, at iHeat we offer some great space and money saving alternatives such as a compact but mighty combi boiler.

A new combination boiler offers fantastic value as they meet heating demand while occupying minimal space due to their efficient design, also a new combi boiler has an ErP rating of 93% minimum.

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