Pellet boiler with condensing technology

Hello everyone,

In April, the BAFA subsidy for biomass combustion (pellets, wood chips, firewood) was increased. Additionally, a so-called investment subsidy for systems with condensing technology was introduced.

Currently, I am renovating a single-family house built in 1965. A pellet boiler (classic without condensing technology) is already firmly planned as the main energy source. Now my heating engineer pointed out to me that with the new subsidy he could install a new condensing boiler (first presented at the trade fair this spring) cost-neutrally. (I’m not sure if I am allowed to post the link to the specific system here)

I am rather skeptical about this because:
- I don’t necessarily want to play product tester (like: never install the latest Windows version before the first patches)
- The technology does not seem exactly simple and risk-free to me for various reasons
- Efficiency calculations above 100% as a marketing tool annoy me and somehow indicate a lack of tangible benefits for the user. (An estimated 50-80 € fuel cost savings per year seem a bit thin to me)

My question: Has anyone already had experience (positive or negative) with pellet boilers with condensing technology? Are there good arguments in favor that I am overlooking? Maybe something will still convince me.

Regards
Olli

Hello Hello

I have no experience with PK usage but have been working for many years with solar and pellets. I share your concerns but am also open to being proven wrong. Furthermore, I can well imagine that the savings might be offset by more complex maintenance and cleaning. At the latest, with an expensive and unusable heat exchanger, the savings are gone.

I would rather rely on combustion regulated by a lambda probe.

Olli

Hello,
I am also faced with the decision of which pellet heating system suits me. €1500 additional funding is not to be dismissed, but being a test person is also a risk. How did you decide?
What is a Lamdasonde?
Regards

Lambda probe, in case you want to google it. Optimizes combustion. However, a boiler is naturally also more expensive, depending on how much technology is inside. And the more technology inside, the more can also break. It's simply a matter of taste whether you choose a cheap pellet boiler for 4000 euros or a high-tech boiler for 25k euros; with the cheap one you have to do more yourself, and you can't save that much on heating costs through the technology to ever make the 25k boiler worthwhile.
Here's a pdf on the subject of condensing and pellet from the chimney sweep guild (so profit-neutral):

Hiho, I ultimately decided on a "classic" pellet boiler without condensing technology. The main reason for me was that the saving potential is too low in my case. Since I plan a combination with collectors + wood stove chimney, the pellet consumption should stay within limits anyway (I hope). Although the additional costs for acquiring condensing technology are now very low (even neutral with the subsidy), you still have the risks of a relatively complex technology + a newly introduced system for which there are no long-term experiences.

I had already seen the article linked above from the chimney sweep guild in my research, but to be fair, it is already 6 years old. Quite a bit has happened with the technology since then, but as I said, practical experiences with the new systems are not yet available. I'm very curious what will be known in 3-5 years specifically about the maintenance efforts comparing pellet boilers with and without condensing technology...

greetings Olli

Hello,
thank you very much for the information, that was really helpful! Ökofen promotes the condensing technology very aggressively, the representative only praised this boiler and representatives simply don’t throw around disadvantages!
Regards