Wood pellets have become a popular fuel to heat homes and businesses. They’re sustainable and cost-effective, and pellet boilers have made burning them as efficient and clean as possible.
Let us explore what wood pellets contain, their main advantages, and most importantly, how to determine how many bags you need this year for a comfortable, warm home on a budget.
WHAT ARE WOOD PELLETS AND HOW ARE THEY MADE?
Wood pellets are biomass fuel. Biomass pellets are made from either wood residue (sawdust, shavings and offcuts, which are by-products of wood processing), or from freshly cut timber especially felled for the production of wood pellets. This includes compressed biomass matter, usually attained by recycling by-products from the milling of lumber, construction, and agriculture, such as chips, shavings, and sawdust. Producing much less carbon than fossil fuels, wood pellets are considered a sustainable and renewable energy source. They’re also more efficient than raw biomass due to the low moisture content and higher density. ery high temperatures are used to dry the material and it is then compacted in a pelletizer. The naturally occurring organic binders (lignin) in the wood are being utilized in the process, meaning that no artificial additives are needed.
The final product is a uniform pellet, usually 6mm in diameter for use in domestic situations. This size makes this biomass fuel product easy to transport, handle, and store. The wood pellet moisture content is usually less than 8%.
The wood pellets sold by the Luxury Wood Company are made from virgin softwood harvested in a sustainable manner.
WHAT ARE WOOD PELLETS USED FOR?
Wood pellets can be used instead of charcoal, firewood, oil and gas in heating, cooking, boiler and power plants. An alternative use for wood pellets is animal bedding such as in horse stalls, and all of our pellets are excellent for this.
BENEFITS OF WOOD PELLETS
Using wood pellets to heat your home has a number of benefits, both economic and environmental.
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This type of fuel is more cost-effective than other types of fuel, such as oil and gas. And compared to standard electric heating, a biomass boiler can save homeowners up to £600 a year.
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This calculator allows you to compare the cost of using wood pellets to other home heating fuels, including fuel oil #2, natural gas, propane, electricity, and hardwood. It allows you to enter your up-to-date local prices and gives you Cost per million BTU (British Thermal Units) for each fuel.
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Wood pellets produce a soft and consistent heat over long periods of time with minimum effort.
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Wood pellets are carbon-neutral. The carbon dioxide released when they’re burned equals the one taken from the atmosphere by trees in photosynthesis. For example, every ton of pellets used vs. oil reduces CO2 emissions by about 1.5 tons. This allows you to considerably reduce your carbon footprint.
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By using residues and co-products to produce, it diverts waste from landfills, reduces disposal costs, and saves landfill resources.
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Due to their high burn efficiency and density, pellets produce low particulate emissions and atmospheric pollutants.
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Modern biomass boiler systems are clean, efficient, and easy to adjust.
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Pellets are easily and cleanly stored and transported in convenient bags.
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Wood pellets and materials that are locally sourced or produced provide employment and business opportunities to local communities in manufacturing facilities, trucking, logging, etc.
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When stored properly away from moisture and humidity (ideally indoors or in airtight containers), wood pellets last indefinitely.
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Biomass boilers are eligible for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, which aims to promote the use of renewable energy in households by providing financial support.
TYPES OF WOOD PELLETS
Based on their specifics and purpose, there are several types of pellets:
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Premium wood pellets - Superior heating pellets that contain less than 0.5 percent organic ash content and typically do not contain bark. They are more durable and must have a low moisture content within specific limits.
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Standard wood pellets - Pellets that contain an organic ash content higher than 0.5 percent and are generally made from industrial forestry waste.
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Food-grade wood pellets - These cooking pellets are intended for pellet grills (e.g. for smoking meat) and do not give food a bad flavour. They contain no additives or binding agents and can be either premium or standard.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST PELLETS?
There are various standards and certifications in place to guarantee the quality of wood pellets. To ensure you’re purchasing high-quality pellets, consider the following:
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ENplus® pellets standard - Divided into Class A1 and Class A2, where A1 is the premium quality used in private household boilers or stoves, while A2 is used in larger installations and produces more ash.
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Biomass Supplier List (BSL) authorisation - this is also a requirement for eligibility under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)
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Produced from sustainable forestry
HOW MANY WOOD PELLETS DO I NEED TO HEAT MY HOME?
GRANTS FOR POOD PELLET STOVES AND BOILERS
There are several factors that determine how many kg of wood pellets you should purchase. The first thing to consider is the specifics of your biomass fuel boiler.
Biomass fuel boilers are currently the most common and most efficient newly installed heat solutions. To choose the right size and design of your boiler, take into consideration the size of your home and your energy consumption. Domestic biomass boilers generally provide output from 15 to 56 kilowatts (kW). A larger home will require a boiler with a higher output, while a 15Kw boiler will suffice for a one- or two-bedroom home. Make sure you select a model with a high-efficiency rating.
Wood pellet boilers come with manual and automatic feeding options. Automatically-fed boilers have an integrated auger, which pulls pellets from an adjacent storage container, known as a hopper, with a capacity of a few hundred kilogrammes. Other factors to consider when choosing your boiler include level of maintenance (manual vs. self-cleaning), controls, warranty, etc.
Depending on the specific model in question, a biomass boiler costs form £5,000 to £25,000.
Next, how many wood pellets you need depends on your overall energy consumption. A way to do this is to look at your energy bill per year and determine how many kWh you’re using. For example, a small house or flat might have a gas usage of 8,000kWh and an electricity usage of 2,000kWh. On average, a medium house uses 12,500kWh in gas and 3,100kWh in electricity, while a large house uses 18,000kWh in gas and 4,600kWh in electricity.
As a rough guideline, we can say that 1 kg of wood pellets will produce around 4.8-5kWh of heat (or 4,800-5,000 kWh per tonne). Some premium pellets such as our high energy brand have an energy output as high as 5.5kWh/kg.
This formula can help you determine how many wood pellets you need for winter or for the whole year. Dividing the overall energy consumption by the heat produced by pellets shows that an average house in the UK may need 2-3 tonnes of pellets per year.
One kilo of pellets (or 5kWh) could be considered sufficient to heat a 50 square metres room for one hour. Thus, some sources estimate that if your wood pellet boiler operates throughout the day, you’ll need to use between 10 to 15 kilos of pellets.
Another commonly asked question: 1 ton of pellets equals how many cords of wood? It is equivalent to approximately 1.5 cords of firewood.
TIPS TO MAKE YOUR PELLETS LAST LONGER
Your annual wood pellet needs depend on a number of things such as the weather or climate in your region, insulation, and of course, your personal preferences. To optimize your pellet use, you can use the following tips:
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Consider improving the energy efficiency of your house. Things like draft excluders and good wall insulation can help minimize heat loss. Heat lost through poor insulation means you’ll need to produce more energy through burning wood pellets.
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Use a thermostat for your wood pellet boiler to adjust the heat setting depending on the time of day. This can help you avoid heating the house excessively at night or when everyone is out of the house for work or school. At the same time, a thermostat can have the house heated up just when it’s time for the family to return.
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Keep in mind that biomass boilers and stoves have 5 levels of heating output or modes, which determines how much heat is produced and how fast pellets are burned.
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