Hi @ ,
briefly my experience regarding pellet heating:
I had a similar starting point before I switched to a pellet heating system around 2019:
- House built in 1984 (not an ideal outer shell [windows, walls, insulation, etc.]
- Oil heating (unfortunately rusted through between Christmas and New Year, a replacement had to be found quickly)
- Oil tank (room under the garage, can actually not be used for anything else)
- Solar thermal for hot water available
Since I was also interested in pellet technology, I chose a heating installer for a pellet heating system and had it installed.
The following own services I was able to contribute to reduce costs:
- Remove old oil heating
- Remove old oil tank (plastic + sheet metal tanks)
- Installed pellet storage with suction probes (the standard at that time was a screw conveyor to feed the pellets from the storage to the heating system. I found the costs for this mechanical transport immense at that time and also the technical effort alarming. I often read on the internet about problems with screw conveyors so I went with suction probes. The effort was relatively low and works perfectly. If information is needed please contact me.
- I connected the existing solar thermal circuit to the new buffer storage myself at the end + replaced the control.
Positive:
- At that time the fastest option for me (no gas line available, house not insulated [not ideal for heat pump], oil tank cellar not usable for anything else)
- Pellets are renewable
- There was funding for pellet heating at that time, which was even massively increased one year later :-( . I do not know the current status.
Negative:
- Space requirement (not critical for me)
- Wear and tear (I was shocked when the heating installer came for the first annual maintenance. The wear inside the heating system was enormous, the soot deposits are also alarming)
- Many mechanical components that can break. For example, 2 screws inside the heating system etc.
- Chimney sweep interval higher than for gas heating (which of course also costs more)
- Costs compared to a gas burner are high. I always think if a gas burner is broken, you just buy a new one for about €5-7... (I don’t know current inflation prices)
Additional thoughts:
- Generally, it makes sense before renewing the heating system to first reduce the required heating capacity by optimizing walls, roof, doors, and windows. This way you can install a somewhat smaller, more economical heating system and save money. For example, I needed 16kW heating capacity in my house and therefore had to install a 20kW heating system. By optimizing the house, you might get down to 10kW heating capacity and would then only need a 12kW heating system (example figures). Due to my emergency heating replacement, I am currently doing this in the wrong order. I installed a large heating system and am now gradually modernizing facades, windows, etc. Left behind is then an oversized heating system.
- Consider annual effort (maintenance, chimney sweep). I think other types are much cheaper here.
My costs around 2018/2019 were about €20k but also included additional work such as replacing all underfloor heating controllers etc.
Best regards
Haus_Number3