Switching to biomass heating as a heat source can offer numerous benefits, from sustainability to reducing costs.

Intake auger

With gas increasing by up to 35 per cent, electricity by up to 10 per cent and water due to increase by up to 10 per cent, more people are looking at alternative sources of energy to reduce running costs and lessen their carbon footprints.

More and more farm and estate owners are turning to biomass heating to replace existing oil or gas heating systems in houses, offices, commercial units and grain storage. And the benefits of biomass heating are clear: a reduction in running costs by up to 80 per cent, self sufficiency of fuel supply and a reduced impact on the environment.

Many reliefs and allowances can be applied for when businesses install qualifying energy saving equipment, including the 100 per cent Enhanced Capital Allowance. Various grants, of up to approximately 40 per cent of the cost of installation, are also available depending on the system and your location in the country.

Most systems are installed with a gas or oil back-up boiler adjacent to the biomass boiler, which serves two purposes. Firstly if the biomass boiler breaks down (for example, if the intake auger gets blocked or stuck), the backup boiler automatically kicks in and an alarm can be raised via a remote connection to pinpoint the problem to the maintenance staff. The second function of the backup boiler is to aid at peak load times. So for example, if all users were to turn their heating up on a cold morning, the back-up boiler could help the biomass boiler provide enough heat to service the demand.

The heated water can be circulated to all the consumers via a highly-insulated pipe work that only loses around 0.5ºC per 500m.

For more information contact Seb Kingsley or Henry Sale in Fisher German on 01858 410200 or visit www.fishergerman.co.uk

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