Frustrated by high oil prices, Tim Halliday of driftwood Greenhouses switched to wood boilers in 2006 and then to a Heizomat automated wood chip system in 2020.

Winter 2023, his annual savings were about $175,000 (81%) over oil ($1.61/litre and $92,500 (69%) over propane ($0.65/ litre) and $32,000 (44%) over his old wood boilers ($150/cord).

Due to rising fuel costs, the project payback ended up being less than the 3 year goal (even with the new boiler room).

We find the typical payback is 4-6 years.

The 1.7M BTU/hr (500kW) Heizomat boiler, heats 24,600 ft2 of greenhouse (just over half an acre) and uses about 28 loads or 364 tonnes of wood chip a year.  At $115/tonne his annual heating cost is around $42,000.

The air-dried chip is delivered every 8-10 days (in the coldest part of winter) and is dumped directly into the bunker.  Zero work is required compared to his old method of buying wood 12 months in advance and then stacking it to dry.

Asked about labour savings, Tim just laughs, “Saying more than 95% wouldn’t sound believable, so let’s just go with that”.

He has also seen an increase in yield (10% or so) thanks to more consistent heat, but his favourite part is being able to sleep through the night.  He had to fill his old boilers every night at 5pm, 10pm, 2am and 5am.  No there is none of that.