Top 10 - Ten interesting facts about wood pellet fuels
Top 10 - Ten interesting facts about wood pellet fuels
1. Wood pellets are made by extruding compressed sawdust through a metal die. The compactness of woodpellets comes from a natural binder in the wood called lignin.
2. The UK biomass market offers a variety of wood pellets for sale. Diameter of pellets is typically either 6 mm or 8 mm. Pellets can be made of hardwood, softwood or a mixture of wood types - but softwood pellets are deemed to be better.
3. High quality (premium) wood pellets often offer consumers much better value even though the cost may be slightly higher than cheaper, low cost pellet counterparts.
4. Wood pellet biomass is considered to be a very ecologically sound fuel. It achieves cleaner combustion than fossil fuels and has a high heat output whilst also being kind to the environment.
5. Quality wood pellets produce very little ash when burnt and are naturally high in lignin and made without any additional binders or chemicals.
6. Wood Pellets must be stored in a dry area - free of humidity and protected from dirt and other contaminants.
7. Wood pellets are usually supplied either in small bags (10 to 20kgs) on a wooden pallet, in bulk bags (up to 1 tonne), or by blown delivery into silo / bunker storage.
8. Lower quality pellets won't burn well and it's likely that you will need to clean the internal parts, such as the grate and the combustion chamber more frequently.
9. If you use fuel of inferior quality and those not conforming to industry standard specifications may compromise the running of your stove or boiler and could lead to the termination of the guarantee and/or of the manufacturer's responsibility for the appliance.
10. Pellet stoves and boilers can be manually fed or automatically fed with a hopper. Automatic feed systems allow you to leave the home for several days at a time without having the maintain the system.
For more information, help, advice and consultancy about wood pellet fuels; Buying a wood pellet stove or boiler under the Government's Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) or if you have general questions about making the switch from a gas or oil boiler then try WoodPellets2U - one of the UK's leading suppliers of Biomass Wood Pellets and advisors on RHI.