It’s not just the low fuel costs and planet-friendly nature of wood chip and biomass heating that make it attractive, it’s also the automated convenience.
No longer do you have to brave blizzards and break your back tossing logs three times a day, fiddle with a fussy boiler and spend hours cleaning it, just to cut heating costs. All of that can be automated, and with some careful forethought, you can go an entire month or longer without having to think about heating.
Here are a few tips to help you achieve that goal.
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Okay, you’d be right in saying I am little biased on this point (given that we obviously sell one of the best biomass boilers out there), but we’ve also heard some stories of endless frustration from customers of lower quality systems.
As with most products, there are different quality levels. The higher in quality you go, the less problems you’ll have, the less fixing you’ll do and the longer it will last. For example, in a low-quality boiler a single piece of oversized fuel could jam the feed system or poor quality fuel could play havoc with the ash removal and the heat exchangers. Both of these are time consuming issues to resolve, and frustrating if they happen on a regular basis.
If your preference is to minimize equipment costs then make sure that you use quality fuel that is the right size (produced by a screened wood chipper designed for biomass).
Bigger augers and stronger motors allow you to handle larger fuel and contaminants with less likelihood of a jam in your bunker. If your fuel might be oversized or contaminated (bolts, gravel, etc..) and you’d like to avoid the fun of bunker diving, then upgrade to a larger auger or go with a chain feed system. You will thank me later.
The boiler needs to be able to monitor whether there is a fire in the firebox and stop the fuel supply if the fire goes out. We have heard of boilers without this feature jamming their fireboxes solid full of fuel and breaking the feed auger. This fire detection feature should be standard on any good boiler. In addition, a feature to protect all motors from over working or over heating is a great benefit for low cost operation and the longevity of your system.
Clean wood chips will work with most ash systems but if you are burning non-wood biomass that forms clinkers or have even small amounts of gravel, metal or contaminants in your fuel then you need a robust ash system designed for the job (cue shameless promotion of Heizomat’s heavy duty ash chain).
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Being able to view your boiler on your phone and receive alarms if there is an issue while you are offsite is essential if you want a truly hands-off experience. All good boilers offer this ability but not all owners actually set it up. Check with your preferred supplier for an app that allows you to connect to your boiler from any of your devices.
It should be easy to connect your boiler to any existing internet network, to a new dedicated internet service or to an internet service that uses the cellular network.
And, as an added advantage, at Heizomat Canada, we use the remote connection to proactively monitor our customer’s boilers and support them train them over real-time use.
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Think of your fuel bunker like the tank on a propane system. Filling the bunker is (or should be) where the most labour is required, so planning it well pays big dividends. Here are some tips:
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While good biomass boilers produce very little ash and automatically remove it, the ash bin still needs to be emptied. Here are a few tips on making ash management as painless as possible:
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Every good boiler has a long list of safety features to keep your buildings and operator’s safe. Here are a few additional recommendations for protecting your investment in your boiler and plumbing system:
BONUS
We take you on a tour of a working boiler system from feed system and bunker to the safety features, ash removal system and provide plenty of tips and information on ownership and maintenance.
Some of these tips come from Heizomat’s 40+ years of experience and some come from our own 10+ years of hard-learned lessons running boilers and supporting customers.
In celebration of those lessons (and hopefully to save you the pain of learning them firsthand) I put together another short article on ‘5 Biomass Blunders and What I’d Do Next Time’ that you might enjoy.
If you are planning or considering a Biomass Project, don’t hesitate to reach out at 1-877-359-0191 or www.heizomat.ca. We are happy to provide no cost advice, project planning and design support.
Thanks for reading!
