Oil Boiler or Solid Fuel Boiler? What would you do?

[Woody12]

We currently have a Grant oil boiler (around 2 years old, which we bought last year secondhand for next to nowt). It runs around 12 double rads and a bathroom via an indirect cylinder. We currently have one large stove, one small stove and an open fire.

Current total floor area over both floors is around 230m2. It's a 3 bed old stone farmhouse.

Next year, all being well, we are hoping to extend. It will then have 5 beds and have 2 extra bathrooms.

The new floor area will be around 340m2. Of this, 86m2 (grd floor of the extension) will have underfloor heating.

There will be approx 16 rads in total.

Our dilemma is what fuel should our new boiler run on to suit our new system? Wood & coal and/or oil?

Unfortunately mains gas isn't an option. British Gas quoted us to have mains gas supplied to our home(the mains runs around 100yrds from our house). The quote was over £16k! I can buy lots of logs/coal and oil for £16k!

We currently don't have any out buildings available to use has a boiler room, so the boiler would have it's own room inside the house.

My initial thoughts are:

http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/angus_evo_boiler.html

+

No idea what size I'd need...



OR


Go for another oil burning boiler

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Wood burning stove with back boiler

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a vented cylinder (I think?)


We've got around 3 acres of land, with quite a few trees, so should be ok for logs for at least the next 7 years.

Plans are to plant more trees as and when we chop them down.

What would you do?

Cheers,

W.

 

[Agile]

Unfortunately mains gas isn't an option. British Gas quoted us to have mains gas supplied to our home(the mains runs around 100yrds from our house). The quote was over £16k! I can buy lots of logs/coal and oil for £16k!

What is between the street main and your property? With the relevant distances!

You have been quoted the BG price!

 

[Woody12]

Should I have contacted National Grid directly?

The mains gas runs along the main road, which is at the bottom of the lane we live on. We are around 100 yards up the lane.

 

[Corgigrouch]

What you have to consider with these boilers is that someone has to load it with logs..... Not a problem if someone is at home for most of the time but if you and your other half are out for most of the day then it can be a pain in the backside..... Don't forget that the logs that you cut today will need to season for a couple of years before you can burn them..... Don't get me wrong, I like Biomass....A lot but since this will be a considerable investment then you have to be sure that it is right for you.... If you were sure that a log boiler is right for you, then perhaps a log gassifier may be a better option and store your heat in an accumulator (Of considerable size) If you are out all day and would prefer the convienience of an automatic system, then perhaps a pellet boiler may be a better option... Spread over 20 years, then you will show a considerable saving over your much cheaper to install oil boiler...

I would suggest that it would be worth while to build a dedicated boiler house because with the quantities of fuel that you will be using there will be considerable mess though pellets would be cleaner...

The sizing of the system needs to be done very carefully to ensure that the system is correctly sized..

 

[Agile]

But who owns "your lane" ?

More to the point who owns the land either side of the lane?

What is the land used for?

Tony

 

[Corgigrouch]

By the way, You need to clarify what type of coal can be used in the boiler shown as I would suggest that smokeless coal would be the order of the day unless you want your chimney sweep to be your best friend

House coal, as far as I know should never be used in these boilers..

 

[Woody12]

Agile - looks like I edited my reply at the same time you responded.

There are two properties along the public lane before you get to ours.

However, there is a 1m wide grass verge on each side of the lane, which I assume is publically owned.

 

[Woody12]

Thanks for the reply Corgi.

Really don't want to use pellets as they are too expensive. We'd rather use our own seasoned wood as it's free fuel.

I didn't realise about the coal, so thanks for pointing that out. Will add that to my list of questions to the boiler manufacturers.

 

[Agile]

Everything belongs to someone.

Assuming its an adopted highway then the local council. They don't usually like private pipes under their highways but you could always ask.

The obvious answer is to share the cost of a new supply with those other two properties if they have the money.

What I would be seeking is private land between the public road and your property over which with a suitable wayleave you can lay your own gas supply pipe.

100m of 125 mm outside diameter tube should be under £3,000

Do you have a map showing the properties?

Tony

 

[Corgigrouch]

if you are abe to attend to the boiler through the day, then your own logs would indeed be the cheapest option but just bear in mind that fetching in logs at 6am with the snow blowing up your dressing gown is a lifestyle choice.

I would suggest that you use your boiler to either feed an accumulator with a plate heat exchanger on it or a thermal store... If you want to heat an unvented directly off the boiler, then you need to ask the spplier if there is a heat quench system on it to prevent overheating the unvented if you intend to have a sealed system else you would need to go open vented

 

[Agile]

My friend in France has about 3.5 hectares of woodland.

He has a wood stove running seven rads and a water cylinder.

It takes about 30min with a chainsaw to cut down 1200mm logs to fit inside the stove. They will last for about THREE hours and keep the house warm for the evening ( if you don't stay up too late )

Multiply that by eight so you are cutting the logs for FOUR hours a day!

Pay yourself min wage of £6 and its about £10,000 pa.

But you have to get up twice at night to refill the stove!

But that's only using 1200 mm logs. It take longer to fell some trees and cut them up into the 1200 mm lengths.

It rapidly becomes almost a full time job to just process the wood to keep yourself warm all day.

 

[Agile]

Pellets get a lot of "green" publicity!

In an ideal world they would be made from wood offcuts from wood machining.

In the real world the operatives at the firms with wood offcuts take them home to aid heating their homes.

So you are faced with growing trees to make the pellets!

Process them and transport them and they become more expensive than gas or oil.

Bit like running your diesel car on used chip fat oil. There is no supply chain! All the old chip oil is just used by the chippie and his family!

Or you could have a thorium powered boiler!

Tony

 

[David937]

Pellets get a lot of "green" publicity!

In an ideal world they would be made from wood offcuts from wood machining.

In the real world the operatives at the firms with wood offcuts take them home to aid heating their homes.

So you are faced with growing trees to make the pellets!


Tony

There is a school I know of with a biomass boiler, the pellets for it come all the way from Norway. Some logic there!

 

[Corgigrouch]

I can get them from seven miles up the road at 26pence per Kilo producing 5kWh of energy per Kilo.... Delivered next working day. British made.

1kg of oil produces 10.2kWh of energy at about 64p per kg (56p per litre)

 

[Woody12]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

There is a lot to consider.

The first house on the lane has mains gas (they are basically on the junction of the lane and main road). The next house along, which is my nextdoor neighbour doesn't. They are very unlikely to want gas, as they are elderly and have had oil since day dot.

We could always ask though I suppose.

Mains gas would be our preferred choice.

We wouldn't mind loading the boilers up say in the morning, then again in the evening, as we already load our stoves like this.

It's the amount of wood we'd use that worries me and this is what I need to calculate. Does anyone on here use multi fuel burning boilers like the one in my initial post and how much wood/coal do you use?

Why aren't things simple?