What is a Wood Pellet Boiler?
You’re looking for more energy-efficient ways to heat your home. You’ve scoured the web and come across a solution: a wood pellet boiler. So, what is a wood pellet boiler? Are wood pellet boilers worth it?
Below, we’ll answer those questions to help you decide if a wood pellet boiler is the best option for your business.
- What Are Wood Pellet Boilers?
- How Efficient is a Wood Pellet Boiler
- Are Wood Pellet Boilers Worth It?
- What Is The Best Pellet Boiler?
- Energex Offers Quality Wood Pellets to Heat Your Home
What are Wood Pellet Boilers?
Wood pellet boilers burn compressed wood, known as pellets, to help heat homes, institutions or commercial spaces. The pellet boiler contains a burning unit for heating the pellets, a conveyance system to take pellets from storage to the boiler room and a reservoir to contain dry pellets.
How Efficient is a Wood Pellet Boiler?
When you’re heating your home or business, you want to do it as efficiently as possible. Choosing a heating source is no small choice, and you want to ensure you’re making the right one. Wood pellet boilers are a great option if you’re looking for an eco-friendly and efficient way to keep your place warm during the coldest months.
Wood pellet boilers offer efficiency for heating your home or business. Heating and burning the wood pellets has an 80% efficiency level, which means these boilers use up most of the fuel resource to heat your home. It means less goes to waste and you get more from your heating source. These wood pellet boilers operate best at full capacity, but they can still operate efficiently at a third of the capacity.
Additionally, the wood pellet boiler’s design includes features to help you increase efficiency. With many heating systems, the most inefficient part is the warm-up phase. Pellet boilers reduce this problem by using a thermal storage tank. The tank, once filled with water, heats it and keeps the water warm. It reduces the number of times your boilers need to heat up water to start, which makes it more efficient.
Overall, wood pellet boilers are extremely efficient at getting the most from your fuel source while heating your whole home or an entire business. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a heating source that provides a steady, eco-friendly and productive heat supply.
Are Wood Pellet Boilers Worth It?
Yes. Wood pellet boilers offer numerous benefits to your home or business, wallet and environment. Here are a few reasons why wood pellet boilers are worth it:
Environmentally Friendly
One of the biggest benefits of pellet wood stoves is, they’re environmentally friendly.
Pellet stoves have a low emission rate compared to other fuel sources like oil or propane. Wood pellet boilers have a high burn efficiency, as we mentioned earlier, which means they emit less harmful gases into the environment. These boilers use more of the fuel resource, which means less goes to waste. Using pellets reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 tons.
Additionally, the fuel for pellet stoves is environmentally friendly. Pellets are made using forest waste. They’re a combination of wood chips, brush, sawdust and other leftover products from lumber milling. Instead of these products going to waste, they’re used to create a fuel source.
Not only do pellets make use of lumber waste, but they also burn cleanly and emit less harmful gases into the air. It makes using a wood pellet boiler a great option if you’re looking for an eco-conscious way to heat your home or business.
Cost-Effective
Another reason to use a wood pellet boiler is that it’s cost-effective. Wood pellet boilers are worth it because they save you money in more areas than one.
The cost of the fuel is more affordable than other fuel sources. To reach 1 million British thermal units (BTU) to heat your home or business, you would spend a total of $19. To get that same output from oil or propane would require the fuel sources to price at $2.05 for the former and $1.36 per gallon for the latter. Since the cost for both is nearly double what it would need to be, heating pellets are more economically efficient.
Additionally, wood pellet boilers offer a tax break for homeowners. If you install a wood pellet boiler between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023, you’re eligible for a 26% tax credit that applies to the purchase of the unit and installation. You can get some money back on your federal taxes for using a more fuel-efficient way to heat your home.
Easy Maintenance
Wood pellet boilers are worth it just for the ease of maintenance.
The fuel for these boilers is easy to maintain and store. You don’t have to spend time chopping up wood to heat your home. Instead, you can buy wood pellets are your nearest eligible retailer and store them in your home, garage or shed. When you’re ready to use them, all you have to do is fill up your unit and you’re set.
One 40 pound bag of pellets is typically enough to heat your home for 24 hours. This number may vary depending upon your heat usage. Even if you need more than one bag of pellets for the day, it’s as simple as going to the place you store them and refilling your heating system.
Additionally, wood pellet boilers are easy to clean. If you use high-quality wood pellets, you’ll leave minimal ash in your unit. Minimal ash production means easier cleanup and maintenance for you.
What Is The Best Pellet Boiler?
If you’re interested in investing in a wood pellet boiler, you may wonder what the best pellet boiler is for your home. Finding the best pellet boiler depends on numerous factors, which we’ll look at below.
Property Size
To find the right wood pellet boiler, first, consider the size of your property. Whether you’re installing one in your home or business, you must consider how much of your property you need to heat. An 1100 square foot home won’t need as big of a pellet boiler as someone with a 3300 square foot home. Consider the size of your property to figure out what sized pellet boiler you need to efficiently warm your place.
Property Construction
Another factor to consider is how your home or business is built. Some buildings are built to maintain heat better than others, which can impact which size pellet boiler you purchase. Older buildings, like 20th century farmhouses, have less insulation, meaning heat escapes easily. Newer built homes have more insulation, so they keep more heat in the home.
You can have a professional come and conduct a home energy audit to determine any efficiencies in your home. A professional can determine if any walls, windows or doorways cause you to lose heat efficiency in your home. This information can help you address problem areas to get more out of your pellet heater while also helping you determine what size pellet boiler you need.
Peak efficiency prolongs the life of your wood pellet boiler and minimizes any wear or tear while limiting fuel usage. By addressing energy inefficiencies in your home, you ensure you get the most from your wood pellet boiler.
Hopper Size
Another factor to consider when buying your wood pellet boiler is the hopper size. The hopper is where the pellets are stored to fuel the unit. Hoppers typically hold between 20 and 60 pounds of pellets. The size of your hopper determines how often you need to refill the unit. If you don’t want to have to worry about refilling your hopper multiple times in a day, you may consider getting a boiler with a bigger hopper.
Boiler Efficiency
To help you find the best pellet boiler, consider the efficiency level of your boiler. While every boiler unit is more efficient than other heating units, the efficiency can range amongst pellet boilers. Generally, the efficiency ranges between 70% and 83% efficiency. Consider getting a higher efficiency model if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your heating.
Energex Offers Quality Wood Pellets to Heat Your Home
Finding the right wood pellet burner is the first step to efficiently heating your home. The next step is finding the right fuel. Energex provides heating pellets that are Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) certified and created through a rigorous set of quality standards. We create our pellets to give you a consistent burn and minimize ash production. Find your local retailer to fuel your home with high-quality wood pellets!
