Hydronic Heating with Pellet Boiler

Quantumcat on 18/07/2020 - 09:07

Tl;Dr does anyone have a wood pellet boiler either on its own or as part of a hydronic system that can give me an idea on how many kg of pellets you go through in a winter?

I moved into my current house in January this year (4 bed 177 sq m). It has gas central heating (vents on ceiling) but electric everything else - basic water tank, electric cooking, etc. And evaporative cooling (using the same vents as the heating).

My previous house had a gas wall furnace which did a great job (was only a small house ~100 sq m) with very reasonable gas bills considering it also had gas instant hot water and gas cooking.

Got my first gas central heating bill recently which was pretty insane. I'm trying to lessen the next bill by keeping it at a lower temperature and using some oil heaters in the room/s we're in.

So I've been reading about alternative heating methods and have become quite attached to hydronic heating with radiators. If it is powered by gas apparently it uses about 2/3 as much gas to run plus will be a more pleasant radiative heat. But very expensive to install (around $15k) so would take many years for the savings to start.

An alternative is being powered by a pellet boiler. This has a few advantages - can get off gas entirely (no more daily supply charge) as nothing in the house besides the heating uses gas. Gas prices are only going to go up so would be good to not be dependent on it in future. The boiler can sit in the lounge room to provide heat there and look pretty. I would love a wood heater but I know it isn't very practical, but a pellet boiler looks nearly as nice with like 10% of the effort. Disadvantages are having to fill it every few days with pellets and organise to get them delivered and store them, but there's a good sized garage so that's not so hard.

The only thing that's missing is finding out the numbers. I found out I can get a pallet of bags (990kg) delivered for $990 plus freight. How long will that last though? If we need two pallets then there's not really any savings, plus the install cost.

I'd love to know if anyone else has one (whether on its own or in a hydronic system) and how they find it? How much does it cost in pellets, where do you get them from and how much do they cost to be delivered, and do you think it is worth it? Or am I crazy for looking into this? Should I get a gas hydronic system and still stay dependent on gas? Or maybe just invest my money in thicker better curtains with pelmets and add insulation, and keep the central heating?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • spal on 18/07/2020 - 09:50

    Have you thought about using used hydronic heating system. They would cost about 20% of a new system, plus installation. Challenge is to find a plumber who would install a used system for you.

    • Quantumcat on 18/07/2020 - 10:06

      That's interesting I didn't know you could do that - I've never seen a used system for sale. Maybe you need to have the right contacts (eg builders that do demolition work)?

  • JimmyF on 18/07/2020 - 10:05

    Got my first gas central heating bill recently which was pretty insane.

    What is insane? Welcome to covid, you are home all the time at the moment with the heater on, so you need to factor that in too. Your old place was 'cheaper' but heating a smaller area and at a guess not home 24x7.

    My gas bill is larger this year too from increased usage.

    The only thing that's missing is finding out the numbers. I found out I can get a pallet of bags (990kg) delivered for $990 plus freight. How long will that last though? If we need two pallets then there's not really any savings, plus the install cost.

    I did the math a few years back and it was 3-6k in fuel needed based on the burn rates etc, that was $1/kg back then, so 3-6 tons.

    This has a few advantages - can get off gas entirely

    Install split systems and use them for heating, remove gas

    Or maybe just invest my money in thicker better curtains with pelmets and add insulation, and keep the central heating?

    This…. as this will help you with your bills all year round. Cooler house in summer means less AC usage, less heat leaking in winter, means less heater usage smaller gas bills.

    Go around on a cold night and feel for the drafts, seal them up. You'll be surprised at the savings.

    Your other option is how old is your central heating? It might be time to update it with a new unit, but if your aim is remove the gas supply then go splits as the cost is around the same.

    • Quantumcat on 18/07/2020 - 10:12

      Being home isn't the reason as my partner has always worked from home, and has a much lower tolerance to cold than I do (I'm often in a t shirt when he is in long sleeved shirt and two jumpers). I don't really want a split system as it dries out my eyes, makes them really hurt. The central heating should do the same theoretically but maybe I don't notice cause less hot air comes out of many more locations.

      Ok maybe working on insulation and drafts is better. I'll do what you suggest and look for leaks tonight and see what I can do about them. I think the central heating needs a service definitely, it likes to just randomly turn off sometimes and not listen to the timer.

  • conan2000 on 18/07/2020 - 10:40
    +1

    I would have thought oil column heaters would be a false economy as the electricity price to run those would be more than the cost of gas heating.

    I'll double the comments about insulation, door seals, roof insulation (wall/underfloor will help as well, but not to the same extent), curtains/blinds.

    What do you consider insane? Our last gas bill for two months as a point of reference was ~$330 for two months, that's everyone working from home and we have house about 340m2, heating is set to keep the house at 23c on the ground floor (I'd happily have it lower but my other half would have it higher, so that seems to be an acceptable medium). We leave upstairs at 21c as we are rarely up there during the day but have a 1 year old that naps once or twice a day. We also have solar hot water with a gas backup and a gas stove.

  • CheapandUsed on 18/07/2020 - 11:01

    Interesting that the current system has the vents in the ceiling, I've only ever seen them in the floor.

    Do you have celling fans with a winter mode to push the hot air around the room?

    Assuming you own the place based on the other options you mentioned I would:
    1. Check and if needed add insulation to the ceiling (,incl. sarking)
    2. If the house is on pillars, insulate the floor
    3. Heavier curtains
    4. Cut back any trees shading you from the winter sun (within reason, don't make summer worse)
    5. Determine what is the lowest temp you can tolerate having the heating set at

    From there I would reassess in a couple of weeks. Although noting the coldest part of winter is (supposedly) still to come.

    • lgacb08 on 19/07/2020 - 20:10
      +1

      the ceiling vent is more often in house that were retrofitted with ducted heating because it was easier to install it from top on old house.

  • SimbaGirl on 18/07/2020 - 11:12
    +1

    I live in southern Tasmania and with winter now well and truly here, there's been a lot of discussion on local FB community pages about pellet heaters, as people look to try to improve their home heating and/or reduce costs. I don't have a pellet heater, we have a wood heater which we use regularly, and a reverse cycle (or heat pump, as they call them here) in the lounge room which we rarely use.

    Most of the people who have pellet heaters have said they go through a bag every 2-3 days. TBH, I haven't seen too many positive comments about the heaters - most people say they are noisy, as they have two fans (sometimes three) which run all the time whilst the heater is operating (although I think there may be some newer ones where the fans only run at high temperatures), and there's also the "tink tink" noise of the pellets being dropped into the firepot at regular intervals. The heaters require electricity for ignition and to run the fans, so if the power goes off, the heater won't operate. There also seems to be a wide variation in effectiveness, some find their heaters work well, others say that whilst the heater looks nice, you practically have to stand over it to get any warmth. A work colleague had a pellet heater in the house she was renting, and she said it barely even took the chill off the air.

  • mskeggs on 19/07/2020 - 09:23

    Can you run hydronic from a heat pump? Then just max out solar panels and run it during daylight to get everything warm for the evening.

    • Quantumcat on 19/07/2020 - 19:08

      Unfortunately heat pump can only go to about 50 degrees, hydronic needs 70 degrees. Possible to run 2 heat pumps together apparently.

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