by MarkJ » Tue 12 Aug 2008, 12:09:33
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'I')t's called a pellet boiler fueled with wood pellets. Fuel is 30 to 50% cheaper. It's a big hit in Europe.
Here in the Northeast, the majority of our natural gas, propane and heating oil customer base have hydronic heat and also produce domestic hot water via a tankless boiler coil, aqua booster or indirect water heater. The adoption of pellet boilers, multi-fuel boilers and wood gasification boilers is growing, although at a very slow pace.
There are many efficient
European Biomass Boilers and Feed Systems, but many are extremely expensive, and/or they're not imported into the U.S. The production scale of Biomass Boilers is also *extremely small* in comparison to gas/propane and oil fired boilers. Even the production scale of many pellet stove models is small, hence why certain brands and models sell out in a matter of weeks and/or why future shipments are purchased in advance.
Modern three pass horizontal oil fired boilers with outdoor reset controls and/or energy managers like Viessmann, Buderus, Biasi, Burnham MPO, Energy Kinetics System 2000 and others are so efficient that people don't mess with wood, pellets or coal. The same logic applies to the gas fired modulating condensing boiler market. The set-it-and-forget-it crowd doesn't like making trips ito the basement to mess with wood boilers, coal boilers, boimass boilers etc. The cost of piping, control strategies, venting and heat exchangers required to tie a biomass boiler into an existing gas/propane/oil fired hydronic system is also very expensive.
On the other hand, the adoption of pellet stoves and multi-fuel biomass stoves and fireplaces is incredible. Many of our heating oil, kerosene and propane customers have pellet stoves for supplemental and back-up heat . In some regions, it's uncommon to see a home *without* supplemental alternative heat whether its a stove, fireplace or boiler. Multi-fuel biomass stoves are an excellent solution for the set-it-and-forget-it crowd that still need to use their primary heating system.