Knowledge: Case studies
BIOMASS
What: Somerset
couple switch from oil
to wood heating
How: Angus Orligno
200 40kW boiler
Result: Almost
£3,000 per annum of
fuel bill savings and
RHI income
BIOMASS
What: Welsh
Presbyterian Church
ditches oil for wood-
fired heating
How: Two x 56kW
OkoFEN wood pellet
boilers
Result: £12,000 cost
savings and RHI
income per annum
Richard and Tracy are now enjoying the benefits
of a wood boiler having found it increasingly
expensive to heat their five bedroom house and
office with oil, and an AGA.
Many other challenges faced them in order
to keep warm including single glazing and
solid walls in the 1914-built house. It also stood
exposed on the top of a hill.
Some preliminary measures were taken to
improve conditions including the installation of
double glazed windows, an electric cooker and
solar thermal.
After talking to Eco Angus, the couple
decided to have a Angus Orligno 200 40kW
wood boiler installed. They preferred being
able to source wood fuel from a wider range of
sources than a wood pellet option offered.
Delighted with the boiler’s performance, the
couple likened it to owning a horse.
“There are many different ways to do
things. It can take a while to get to understand
the best way. We took a little while to really
get to grips with it but now understand it well,
especially with the Eco Angus videos which we
found very informative and helpful.
The Capel Coffa Henry Rees is a 100 year old
stone chapel in Conwy, Wales which had been
heated by oil. Having reached the end of its
useful life, a committee of members reviewed all
sustainable and cost effective alternatives to the
oil boiler, before settling on a biomass system
supplied by Organic Energy.
After a competitive tender, the installation
contract was awarded to Menai Heating. The
OkoFEN 112 cascaded boiler incorporating two
56kW pellet boilers and a 1500L buffer tank was
chosen as the best solution for the chapel with a
heat exchanger to keep the boiler’s wet system
separated from the existing plumbing.
Chapel secretary, Rhys Dafis, said: “We
“It is a lifestyle choice. It’s a lifestyle which
we enjoy, sourcing wood, going in the woods,
chopping the wood, feeding the boiler. It’s like a
hobby.”
In addition to achieving a warm and
comfortable house, the financial savings have
been impressive. The cost of oil was £2,000 per
year whereas the ten tonnes of wood burned
yearly costs half that amount.
Based on this figure plus the £1,848 average
yearly payments they receive under the RHI, the
boiler will pay for itself in just under five years.
Cold calling: Richard and Tracy’s large off-gas
Somerset house and home office posed a number of
challenges to keep warm, now overcome with an
Eco Angus wood boiler
researched all options open to us – oil, LPG,
electricity, air source and biomass – and having
taken the advice of a consultant we decided that
a wood pellet boiler would suit our needs now
and in the future.
“Both the chapel and vestry are warm even
in the coldest of weathers – this isn’t something
you can always say in old stone buildings like
this. The heating is maintained at a set level 24/7
and the condensation problems that we had
faced in the past are now, thankfully, a distant
memory.”
Lee Maher of Menai Heating added:
“Probably the biggest challenge we faced was
matching the granite used on the building where
the pellet store was to be located so that it was
in keeping with the original materials used.
We successfully did this and the whole team at
Menai Heating views this project as one of the
most satisfying that we’ve worked on.”
Heaven sent: The Capel Coffa Henry Rees stone
chapel in Wales can look forward to a nine year
payback on its new biomass heating system
38 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk