outdoor pellet boiler

[timberframe]

Hello,
I have been hesitant in putting in a pellet boiler because of the added cost of a chimney install. Now I am thinking about taking advantage of a insulated outdoor 12x12 shed to put the boiler in. Is that a good idea? How far would be the ideal distance to place the shed from the house. Which pellet boiler would you recommend for a 3500 sq. ft house.
Also would a pellet boiler be a much better choice here in Mid Michigan as opposed to a high effiency air heat pump? thanks for your insight

 

[GENECOP]

By the time you build the shed, then pipe to the house, there will not be much savings..

 

[bholler]

You would also need to check the requirements of the boiler. If it is designed for use with a chimney you may not be able to simply put a short stack on it

 

[Tennman]

LOVE our Windhager. It's ~150' from house. Wouldn't change a thing.

 

[heaterman]

If you would like to speak with a guy heating a 6,400 sq ft building using the exact scenario you describe, I can get you in touch with him.
He owns the first Windhager BioWin ever installed in the US.

 

[foamit up]

Hello,
I have been hesitant in putting in a pellet boiler because of the added cost of a chimney install. Now I am thinking about taking advantage of a insulated outdoor 12x12 shed to put the boiler in. Is that a good idea? How far would be the ideal distance to place the shed from the house. Which pellet boiler would you recommend for a 3500 sq. ft house.
Also would a pellet boiler be a much better choice here in Mid Michigan as opposed to a high effiency air heat pump? thanks for your insight

I put BioWin in a shed, heating 4 units. Love it. Search foamit up as there are pictures on here. Burn about 16 ton a year. Foamit Up

 

[Tennman]

Timber... I was going to hook you up with Hearterman.

 

[Tennman]

... Heaterman. IPad glitch. HM is who you need to meet. You can PM me if you like.

 

[Kristen]

My boiler (and storage tanks) used to be in the garage - attached to the house so it was a relatively short run. I have since moved the boiler/tanks into the house (built an extension where the garage used to be). The benefit from the "waste heat" being inside the house is significant. Any heat escaping from the boiler / tanks now contributes to "space heating" within the house. Personally if I was doing it again I'd find a way to get the boiler inside the house ... and a log store good for 2 or 3 weeks - I have made a "hatch" in the outside wall that I can throw a trailer load of logs through and then stack in the indoor log store, which is within easy reach for loading the boiler (but is separately by a fore-resistant wall as required by insurance company)

 

[maple1]

I think I would only consider putting a pellet boiler in an outbuilding, if I could also use that outbuilding for other things. So the heat loss from it would serve to heat something I might be thinking of heating anyway. Like, a shop of some sort. Or a garage if the insurance company is OK with it in a garage.

 

[Tennman]

We already had the boiler barn and wanted the pellet boiler to tie it into our storage system so we could burn wood or pellets. We do not have pellet delivery in our region so we're presently buying 1 ton pallets of 40# bags and placing the pallet near our pellet bin. The BioWIN is totally clean with very little waste heat coming off the cladding. Unlike our BioMass, I can imagine the possibility of living with it in our home if that was physically possible. But since it requires so little tending there is no inconvenience visiting the boiler barn to check the bin, admire, scroll down thru the run statistics, and listen to it click and whir. You really need to visit HM in Falmouth, MI and get the roast beef and gravy sandwich at the diner. I'd say a 12'x12' outbuilding would work (if you go the outbuilding route), but eventually you'll wish it was bigger to use for dual purposes. I would place more value on how you'd handle bulk pellets vs the benefit of waste heat regarding where to place the boiler.

 

[Kristen]

I would place more value on how you'd handle bulk pellets

I have no experience of pellets, but can they not be "blown" along a tube (to where the boiler is) allowing some separation of the two?

I am presuming that the diameter of the pipe would be large, and maybe its max length would be limited? which might mean there are some limitations to location?

 

[Tennman]

You basically have it. The suction turbine needs to be no more than 10' from the boiler. But the pressure and suction lines from the turbine can be substantially longer. The pellet auto feed system is basically a closed loop. It blows air to the pickup to loosen the pellets for the suction port that is also in the pickup. Distances from the suction pump are a function of the max rise, but 30-40' is easy. Ours is ~8' from the suction turbine. The pellet feed lines are 2" in dia with a grounding wire to get rid of static electricity generated during the feed operation.