For those on oil with no mains gas

[Sanjøy]

https://fusionheating.wufoo.com/forms/xs2d4fn0qyjgph/

Looks like there is an initiative going on where you could be eligible for a free biomass boiler.

[pshanks76]

Looks interesting. I'm on oil heating and may be interested in this but will need to do some reading as I don't really know much about biomass.

Does anyone have first hand experience with it?

[Ferg]

My father in law did this recently. The result is excellent heat and money wise as it essentially runs for free with the payments big enough to cover fuel ( may change when winter properly takes hold) and repayment of install.

Downside is that the system has had many faults. While these have all been fixed by the installer (they are currently on the way for the most recent issue) , there is an interruption to heating and hot water. Looking online this experience is quite common. It's yet to be seen if this becomes too much of an issue. So the technology is still a bit delicate but the result is good.

[Sanjøy]

Beer tokens will be greatly appreciated

[Shug]

Require a buttload of space as well, don't they? If you want a decent hopper size anyway.

[renmure]

I have filled in the form. Will see what comes from it

[Ferg]

Require a buttload of space as well, don't they? If you want a decent hopper size anyway.

My in-laws one is housed in two garden shed sized boxes against the farmhouse wall. Maybe 8x6' each. Lots of space to find if you're in an urban area, but not if your a farm or out it t'country

[kerryxeg]

This appears to be similar to the free solar panel concept. The installer provides the system and installs it in your house, takes out a loan in your name against your house and then repays the loan over 7 years using the government payments from the renewable incentive 12p/kwh. To qualify for the government scheme you have your EPC report must not require any cavity or loft insulation and for the company who will "give" you the boiler you must have enough heat usage to generate the payments required.

A typical system is estimated to be £11.5k with a hopper feed and payback for a typical house around £2.5/yr. So if it's a good idea ie practical, you may be better just paying for it yourself.

I like the idea of the biomass boiler, it should be 30-50% cheaper than oil to run, but the boilers are pretty industrial looking, so more suited to a garage than a utility and then there is the logistics of the pellets, ash to clear etc. Certainly worth further consideration with or without a free boiler, and particularly if you are likely to use more than 20000kw/h/yr.

[douglasgdmw]

Filled out the form and the guy is coming tomorrow.

However initial contact was very Everest salesman and yep you will qualify and won't cost you anything, in your area for a small amount of time and can get you sorted tomorrow.

Initial impressions are not that great but they are coming out to the house and will see what the deal really is.

George

[renmure]

Will be interested to see how you get on. I just noticed an email in my SPAM folder from them in response to me filling out the form so will wait to see you you get on before getting back to them.

[Stephen]

Hi
I would be very cautious. Trading standards have a couple of significant investigations into this at the moment.
I have installed a boimass boiler and have had some hiccups but generally it has been good. I got a similar mob out then arranged things myself rather than using them. A quick summary of my experience is:

System cost Circa £15k
Interest free £10k loan from the energy saving trust, so I shelled out £5k
RHI Payments circa £6.5k per year for 7 years
Total cost £15K, Total payment £46.7k

I was set to make £35k but with the current cost of oil being so low that has dropped to £25k.

I would strongly recommend organising things yourself, not taking a commercial loan in lieu of the £10k that you can get from the energy saving trust and steering well clear of the Free boiler boys.

I have an excel sheet to do the calcs which I can send on to anyone who wants.
First thing to do to assess the viability is to shell out £100 and have an independent EPC and green deal done.

my 2p

Stephen

Ps it would probably work well for Sanj, Shug and Mac to name but a few

[Mikie711]

Your house must haemorrhage heat if your getting that much RHI off a Bio mass system or else you stay in a castle . Based on your figure your house is estimated to use 53278kWh/pa at the higher historical rate of 12.2p kWh so not surprised you installed alternative heating source.
If anyone does go for installing a system then make sure you end up with all the required paperwork to support the application. Green deal assessment survey, new EPC which comes as part of the survey, MCS certificate, proof of payment for the system install and the equipment bought must appear on the eligibility list on Ofgem site.

see here for more info on RHI.

Because of the RHI these systems are really a no brainer these days. They are cheaper to run and will save you money in the long term (once oil goes back up in price ) and on top of that the government is paying you to put them in and then giving you money on top for having it.
Our GSHP was £22k installed and we are getting back £42k over the next 7 years, index linked so you have to ask yourself why you wouldn't. The 3 main systems are Bio mass, Air source heat pump and ground source. The all have there advantages and disadvantages but all purportedly cheaper to run and more efficient.

[Stephen]

Close 52,420kwh for heating and 2,344kwh for water.

[douglasgdmw]

Had the guy out and they manufacturer their own bio mass systems/install.

They do a number of options which is purely to install or allow you to perform the RHI initiative. However they person did go very cold when he initially came in I said I would not be signing anything today and needed to do more investigation into the viability of the systems.

As we purchased the house within the year we had a quick look at the EPC:
Space heating (kWh/year): 39,922
Water heating (kWh/year): 2,808
Loft Installation : -2,204 (recently installed since we have moved in)
Total : 40, 526

This gives us an RHI of 40,426 * 0.07 * 7 years: £19,857.74

His indication was that the BioMass would cost approx £20k so we would break even within the 7 year period.

He did leave the literature and I did notice that if you lease the system from then there is a clause that you need to purchase the pellets from them as well. Suspect they could charge what they want for themgoing forward and have you over a barrel.

George

[Stephen]

The rate has dropped to 6.43p. Glad I got mine when I did!