For many pellet boilers are a whole new idea.

The latest pellet boilers are wonderfully reliable central heating systems very nearly as automatic as oil or propane systems. Some of them have the advantage of European design providing many features and a beautiful look.

However, there are differences among modern pellet boilers as fundamental as the differences between a rotary engine Mazda and a piston engine Mercedes. This piece will help you make informed judgments about the pellet boiler that will best serve your needs.

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1,2 Boilers, Tube Cleaning. The ÖkoFEN pellet boiler system has a steel vertical tube boiler with a 25 year design life. Its boiler tubes are automatically cleaned daily so they never require manual cleaning.

3 Certifications. ÖkoFEN boiler systems are UL listed and available in stock with either ASME stamped vessels or EN 303-5 certified vessels depending upon the code and insurance demands of your installation. (American Society of Mechanical Engineers H stamped vessels are required in many installations and can be installed in any jurisdiction in the U.S. for any application.)

4 Ash Removal. ÖkoFEN boiler systems automatically remove the ash from their fireboxes and compress it into a handy, easily emptied storage container. In typical installations, the ash container requires emptying about four times a year, a two- to three- minute process. The ash acts like lime when spread on your garden or lawn.

5 Burner. The ÖkoFEN burner is an underfed burner. This means that there are many fewer cold starts during the heating season than with other burner types, that there is never a need for the burn chamber to be emptied of ash for a restart, and that troublesome combustion by-products (sinters, clinkers, and slag) that can plague other burner types don’t build up in this burner.

6 Burner Ashscrape. There is no ashscrape cycle in ÖkoFEN products because of the underfed burner design. The burner never needs to be cooled down for cleaning, and it frequently restarts with just the application of air after a low demand period greatly reducing the number of cold starts the system makes.

7 Output Modulation. The ÖkoFEN burner modulates its power over 17 intervals between 100% output and 33% output. Because of the careful control of combustion in the unit, the boiler is very efficient and has extremely low emissions levels at all modulation levels. This makes mass thermal storage for emissions control unnecessary with ÖkoFEN boilers.

8 Mass Thermal Storage. ÖkoFEN boiler systems modulate cleanly and restart quickly so thermal mass storage is not required with ÖkoFEN boilers. If you have unusual system demands and would like to use mass thermal storage with an ÖkoFEN, of course, you can, but if your demands are typical, save your money.

9 Reliability. ÖkoFEN boilers are very reliable; they are installed world-wide as stand-alone systems. No back-up systems are recommended or required. Of course, if you have a system you want to retain as back-up, you can do that, but it isn’t necessary.

10 Maintenance. The ÖkoFEN boiler system requires only annual maintenance by service personnel.

11 On-line Operation. The ÖkoFEN boiler system comes standard with an alarm port that will trigger dialers or other alerts. An optional Ethernet port is also available to access the data that the control unit continually gathers. That data can be viewed from any Internet connected computer with this option installed.

If you’re comparing boiler systems for your home, business, or institution, feel free to copy the Pellet Boiler Comparison Chart and use it to gather data to help with your decision.

Dutch Dresser is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems LLC

While attending the Northeast Biomass Heating Expo in Saratoga
Springs, NY, I heard Carlton Owen, President of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities make some observations about the budding biomass heating industry that I thought were important. In a remark that proved to be prescient to me, he warned against “too many voices” representing the industry.

The speakers I heard during the presentations felt obliged to speak in general terms about the industry and its technology with promotion of their own products at least muted. Unfortunately, their understandings of the state-of-the-art from which to generalize were not at all the same. The curious collective result would have confused many new biomass equipment consumers and sent them scurrying.

One speaker patiently explained to the satisfaction of engineers in
the room how the equipment he represented burned efficiently and
cleanly throughout its modulation range making expensive mass thermal storage tanks an option, not a requirement. Another devoted two presentation opportunities to insisting that everyone use large accumulators to ensure clean emissions. (See an earlier accumulator discussion.)

One speaker talked about the routine total replacement of fossil fuel burning equipment using his product here and in Europe, while another insisted that fossil fuel redundancy was essential with biomass heating systems because the products weren’t always reliable and service wasn’t always readily available.

One speaker spoke about delaying customer boiler acquisition until envelope tightening had been accomplished to ensure proper load matching, while another explained to the group how his boilers had adjustable output ranges so that boilers could be fine-tuned for matching load as load changed either up or down during the life of the boiler.

After listening to such contradictions throughout the presentations, it became quite clear that everyone was being earnest and everyone was telling a truth of sorts, but that the forced generalization of their product-specific truths was creating a fog of confusion that would have startled a potential buyer. This fog was likely a bit daunting to engineers and architects present for the first time trying to learn about the new technology and its possible applications.

I was reminded of my days in the IT industry during the early development of the Internet beyond colleges and universities. There were lots of different networking products emerging and setting new standards as they emerged.

Then, as now, the customer, engineer, or architect really needed only to listen to “generalizations” a manufacturer’s representative made about how things ought to be in the industry at large to hear how that manufacturer’s products were at that moment. As with the development of IT products, the marketplace will insist upon those products that are the most useful, most robust, and least demanding, and those products will quickly become the new standards by which others are measured.

Dutch Dresser is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems, a representative of Okofen boiler products.

On March 13, 2012, the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance website reported average Massachusetts heating oil prices to be $4.12/gallon. In Maine the government website on March 12, 2012, reported a statewide average price of $3.86. Assuming these to be the new baseline oil prices from which future increases will grow, it is interesting to look at some options for ordinary homeowners.

It is common for us to get calls from people whose homes are currently burning 1200 gallons per year. It is also common for many of those people to find it difficult to manage cash payment for the installation of a new renewable energy heating system in their homes. Even with the cost of commonly available financing, the savings associated with heating those homes using wood pellet central heating systems instead of oil-fired systems are significant.

At $3.86/gallon, a house burning 1200 gallons of oil would spend $4,632 a year on oil if there were no finance or carrying charges added onto the cost of fuel.

Loose bulk wood pellets delivered by Maine Energy Systems directly to the residential storage unit would provide the same heat from 10 tons of pellets for $2,390 with a price that is guaranteed through June 30, 2014.

A 20KW MESys/OkoFEN boiler system with a 3-ton storage system would serve this home well and would cost about $18,000 all installed. For many homeowners a cash expenditure of that size would be difficult. However, if the homeowner financed the system with a 20% down payment ($3,600) at a rate of 4.5% for a 15 year term, monthly payments would be $110.16, or $1,321.92 for the year.

That makes the total annual expenditure for heating fuel and payment for the brand new heating system $3,711.92, or $911.08 less than the same heat using #2 heating oil at today’s average oil prices in the old oil-fired system.

The pellet fuel price advantage is very apt to improve over time. The Mass Energy Consumers Alliance website provides the following heating oil prices for the March 15 over the past three years:

• March 13, 2012: $4.12
• March 1, 2011: $3.77
• March 16, 2010: $2.86

Maine Energy Systems loose bulk pellet prices for the same period:

• March 2012: $239/ton ($1.99/gal oil equivalent)
• March 2011: $235/ton ($1.96/gal oil equivalent)
• March 2010: $280/ton ($2.33/gal oil equivalent)

It should be noted that the current price of $239/ton ($1.99/gal oil equivalent) is guaranteed for new MESys boiler customers through June 30, 2014.

The trendlines are clearly different.

Dutch Dresser is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel, Maine

More than twenty of Maine Energy Systems “Diamond Contractors” gathered in Bethel Monday and Tuesday of this week for advanced technical training on individual boilers and cascade systems.

Dan Wheeler, Maine Energy Systems’ engineer, and Ernst Wurm, the head engineer for OkoFEN of Austria, directed the two day event that focused expressly on topics of interest to some of the region’s most successful and most experienced pellet boiler technicians. The conversations were lively and the topics rich.

The “Diamond Contractors” were treated to a fine dinner at The Phoenix House & Well at Sunday River Monday night and a night in ski resort lodging. OkoFEN owners Herbert and Stefan Ortner were honored guests at the celebratory dinner. Following Monday night’s dinner, MESys Director Les Otten presented the annual Chairman’s Award to Dan Davis and Karl Bissex of Cutting Edge Industries, of Burke, Vermont.

Dan and Karl have been instrumental in stimulating a significant pellet central heating market in residences, municipalities, schools, and businesses in Vermont using the OkoFEN boiler. Along with a beautiful crystal award, Dan and Karl received a trip to Austria to visit the home of OkoFEN products in Niederkappel and Lembach and to enjoy the beautiful, historic country.

The last formal activity of the class was a visit to the Energy Box installed at Mt Abram Ski Area which is heating its temporary Rubb lodge.

At the close of the training, the contractors previewed new OkoFEN product lines that will be available through Maine Energy Systems later this year. Ask one of the technicians from the following companies for details:

For many years, I held various positions at a local college preparatory school, Gould Academy. The school has always had a thoughtful innovative streak, which kept my interest for 26 years.

I have been particularly pleased as the new Buildings & Grounds Director has focused sharply on heating efficiency and has recognized the advantages of pellet heat. His most recent small “district” project shows a real understanding of the capability of today’s efficient pellet boilers.

One of the very first OkoFEN boilers to be installed in the US was a 56KW unit placed in a very large 3-story office building owned by the school. Because the unit was of greater capacity than the building demanded, it was reprogrammed as a smaller boiler.

Several weeks ago, the old Burnham boiler in the 2-story family house with attached 8-student dormitory next door began to leak. The B&G Director saw an opportunity and ran heat lines underground between the two buildings to take advantage of the remaining capacity in the OkoFEN boiler already installed.

The system was put in use just as the temperatures in town went to -10F overnight. The B&G Director reported the next morning that he had 174F water throughout the systems of both buildings and the boiler had not yet been reconfigured to its full 56KW capacity. A little creativity and an understanding of the capabilities and values of pellet heat reduced both the number of boilers he has to maintain and the amount of money he has to spend on fuel annually.

As the school prepares to replace its most oil hungry boiler with a new OkoFEN, its thoughts wander to small districts heating clusters of faculty homes and smaller structures.

Having seen large and small district heat projects in Europe, I am especially pleased to see a school so important to me leading the way, once again, in the deployment of useful, sensible technologies.

In this particular case, loan money was readily available at 4.5% interest, and pellet fuel was available at a good price for a large customer.

After doing the arithmetic, the municipal official was surprised to find that changing out the building’s boiler was “better than free” in several ways. Here are excerpts from an e-mail I sent the town official after the visit.
_______________________________________________________

Dear [municipal officer,]

I did not stop by this morning to sell you a boiler. I did stop by to get your opinion on available interest rates. Thank you for your help.

At the same time, I can’t help but point out an opportunity for you that works with, or without, [grant funding]…

If I use the following assumptions:

* #2 oil use: 2500 gallons/year
* #2 oil cost: $3.80/gallon (actual current price)
* pellet cost: $210/ton
* pellet use: 20.59 tons (energy equivalent of 2500 gallons of oil)
* installed system cost: $32,000
* full system: financed at 4.5%
* payment term: 15 yrs

I arrive at the following results:

* current annual oil cost: $9,500
* annual pellet cost: $4,353.23
* annual debt service: $2,937.60
* total pellet fuel cost and debt service: $7,290.83
* net annual cash savings: $2,209.17

Obviously, if you can make a down payment on some part of the system, your savings improve noticeably. It should also be clear to anyone paying attention that oil prices will only continue to go up. Pellet prices have remained stable, or declined, over the past decade; there is no reason to expect them to increase beyond CPI increases in the foreseeable future. Maine Energy Systems will guarantee its fuel price until June 30, 2014.

This model demonstrates that you can have a brand new, renewable fuel boiler system in [your municipal building] with no immediate out of pocket expense and spend less money annually on fuel and debt service than you’re currently spending on fuel alone. We call these systems “Better than Free.”

You can confirm my figures, and play with other models, by using the calculator at

http://www.futuremetrics.com/HomeCalcTabs.html

If you’d like me to address [your elected officials] about this, I’d be delighted to do that.

—————————————————————-

November 17, 2011

Dear MESys boiler owner:

Pellet-fired central heating systems are becoming much more common in our region. This is good news for system owners and for the regional economy and environment.

New opportunities to buy pellets are following this growth. That, too, is good news for everyone. Competition will ensure that prices you pay are fair and that a reliable distribution network will grow to serve the increasing demand.

Maine Energy Systems provides bulk pellets delivered for residential, institutional, and business systems throughout the southern half of Maine. The price is $239/ton for all customers receiving loads smaller than 9 tons at one location. These prices are guaranteed through June 30, 2014, for new boiler owners who use the delivery service continually through the period.

Pellet fuel is inexpensive, reliable fuel if it is delivered to you intact. It is our hope that this information will help ensure that your ÖkoFEN boiler systems perform with the efficiency and reliability that is designed into them.

Sincerely,

“Dutch” Dresser, Director, Maine Energy Systems

Basic pellet and delivery information

• Different pellets burn differently in boiler systems. Those which are best produce very little ash and ash which doesn’t melt to form clinkers or slag.

• Pellets can be easily damaged during delivery. The dust that results from significant damage can accumulate and cause system outages. Several factors lead to excessive damage.
o Pellet manufacturing that results in pellets too soft for bulk delivery
o Pellet loading that doesn’t pre-screen pellets as they enter the delivery truck
o Pellet delivery from trucks designed for the delivery of agricultural products like grain and animal feed

• The dust from pellet loads accumulates in storage units as it flows differently from pellets. Accumulated dust can cause system outages when it flows in sudden slugs.

• Pellets are sold by weight. Upon delivery, your fuel provider should be able to present you a delivery weight slip from certified scales on the truck, just as oil delivery trucks provide a certified tally of gallons delivered.

Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the vendor have pellet source redundancy, or is the vendor a sole source provider?
a. Pellet source redundancy assures best available pellets continually
b. Pellet source redundancy assures continuous availability despite mill shutdowns
Maine Energy Systems represents up to six mills in Maine, New Hampshire, and southern Quebec Province.
2. Does the vendor have certified delivery scales for accurately reporting delivered quantities?
a. Certified delivery scales provide printed receipts for actual weight delivered
b. Certified delivery scales are type evaluated (NTEP) by the National Conference on Weights and Measures.
Maine Energy Systems’ delivery trucks have on-board scales that are NTEP certified.
3. Does the vendor test each batch of pellets by burning before delivery? Pellet quality is best confirmed by burning
a. Pellets that produce unacceptable by-products are eliminated through burn testing
Maine Energy Systems tests every load of pellets as it comes from the mill before putting them in storage for redistribution. Occasionally, loads that don’t meet our standards are returned to the mill.
4. Does the vendor remove dust from the pellets before delivery?
a. Dust in large quantities can choke fuel delivery systems
b. Pellets from mill runs typically contain a significant amount of dust which must be removed before the pellets are delivered
Maine Energy Systems “shakes” its pellets to remove dust as they’re loaded into the delivery truck.
5. Does the vendor deliver the pellets relatively dust-free using fully pneumatic equipment?
a. Pellets can be broken. Fully pneumatic equipment is easiest on pellets
b. Mechanical/pneumatic systems can cause substantial pellet breakage and dust
Maine Energy Systems has a fully pneumatic delivery truck with the latest in delivery system technology ensuring that the pellets are delivered with very low levels of dust.
6. Does the vendor stand behind the suitability of the fuel for trouble-free operation of the boiler system over time?
a. Systems choked with dust must have their storage units emptied and cleaned
b. Delivering pellet vendors are responsible for the delivered quality of their product
Maine Energy Systems stands behind the suitability of its pellets for the purposes for which they are delivered.
7. Does the vendor routinely deliver pellets in the quantities you will need?
Maine Energy Systems delivers more pellets to residential and small commercial pellet central heating systems than anyone else in the region.

If you’re reading this, your organization or institution is likely ready to actively consider biomass heating as an option for its needs. In times of significant technological change trusted advisors must be carefully considered and opportunities for overcharging are plentiful. Here are some things to consider as you prepare your move toward renewable biomass heating.

• You need basic insights: The vendors of high quality biomass heating equipment often provide training sessions for technicians, engineers, architects, and end-users. For example, http://www.maineenergysystems.com/Contractor_Training_Schedule.htm

  To give your organization a basis for sound decision-making take advantage of that training. Your organization will learn the basics of the heating technology and will have a better idea what questions to ask those who submit proposals for engineering and installation services.

• Trusted advisors change: Most institutions and businesses have engineering firms that they routinely use when they have mechanical systems questions. As you consider changing to a renewable energy source, you will want to confirm that those trusted advisors have expertise in energy sources you want to consider. Well meaning engineers with no training or experience in biomass energy systems of interest to you can provide expensive, meaningless, even counterproductive, advice.

• Vendor trustworthiness: There are ranges of renewable energy products on the market. Some are well-established products tested through years of field installation, and some are newly developed and largely untested hoping to fill emerging needs. Take the time to talk with the vendors of products you’re interested in to learn about the installed bases of their products and check with references on performance of some of their installed equipment.

• Certifications: Different state and local jurisdictions have different requirements for system certifications. All boilers installed anywhere generally require UL/CSA testing and listing. Beyond that pressure vessels might also require certification. For example, in Maine all boilers installed in schools and municipally owned buildings must be stamped as built and tested to ASME H standards (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Some installers have left systems “open,” or unpressurized as a way around that rule, but that isn’t a recommended practice. Check with your insurance underwriters before installing such a system. Some installers have suggested installation of their non-ASME boilers in unoccupied sheds, or buildings, adjacent to the buildings to be heated as a way to circumvent the pressure vessel regulation. Be aware that some States, including Maine, define boilers installed in unoccupied buildings as “outdoor wood boilers” and require them to have EPA hangtags certifying their emissions levels before they can be operated.

• Equipment specification/pricing: There are growing lists of technicians who can install and service biomass heating systems; however, the list is smaller than the list of oil or propane installers. To get the most favorable pricing on a specified installation seek competitive bids from several companies who have reasonable experience installing the products you select. This suggests that you and your well-selected trusted advisor should select the equipment you want to install prior to seeking bids from installation companies.

• Pellet supply, storage, and delivery: There are many pellet mills in the northeastern United States; they produce lots of good quality pellets. However, it is important that you understand what pellet attributes are most important for the equipment you’re considering installing. It is also very important to know how the pellets you contract for will get from the mill to your silo or storage bins. Pellet distribution in the US is still an industry in its infancy. Pellets are delivered by auger truck, by a truck with a mechanically fed Airlock, and by fully pneumatic trucks with pressurized bodies. Each delivery style is different. Make sure the delivery proposed for your system will deliver undamaged pellets quickly and quietly to the storage systems you plan to use.

There are many people who have devoted time to understanding the biomass heating industry in its entirety. Those people are generally happy to help direct you to trustworthy advice and products.Two significant trade organizations can provide such help, BTEC (Biomass Thermal Energy Council) http://biomassthermal.org and the Maine Pellet Fuels Association http://mepfa.org In the Northeast Maine Energy Systems is also a repository of information for those considering biomass fuel-switching. http://maineenergysystems.com

Dutch Dresser is a Director of Maine Energy Systems.

In the three years this young company has been in existence, it has been continuously involved in pioneering work in the introduction of fully automatic, pellet-fired central heating systems to the United States.  It has imported the world’s very best available pellet boilers, started a young, robust regional bulk pellet distribution network, facilitated the production of the first fully pnuematic bulk pellet delivery truck in the U.S., and worked with countless financial and regulatory agencies to help decision-makers understand the state-of-the-art in pellet central heating.

Today the energy box is producing an energy box.

Two heating system practices are common in Europe that haven’t yet become common in the United States–district heating and the use of “energy boxes.” District heating is the provision of heat to a number of buildings from a single boiler system; it is quite common in Western Europe.  Districts large and small efficiently serve communities from clusters of residences to whole villages and segments of cities.

Energy boxes are small structures outside the building to be heated that contain the boiler system(s) and the stored fuel.  These inconspicuous small enclosures preserve valuable space in the heated building for other uses while housing the whole boiler system just outside.

Maine Energy Systems is building the energy box of material researched and acquired from a Canadian manufacturer by Ben “BJ” Otten (standing in the doorway).  That energy box will house two OkoFEN 200,000 BTU pellet boilers and lots of pellet fuel.  In fact, there will be enough fuel in the box so that there will only need to be three, or four, deliveries made per year to fire the two-boiler system.

Energy boxes are fabricated at the Bethel facility and equipped with boilers, electrical systems, feed augers, chimneys or power vents, and all necessary piping.  They are transported to the installation site by truck, set in place on a prepared concrete slab, attached to power and the heating system of the building and fired up.

As our culture understands the value of this style of heating, these small structures will become common means of heating individual buildings and collections of buildings.

Dutch Dresser is a Director of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel, Maine.

My boiler is now in “summer mode.”  In this mode, the burner starts only when my domestic hot water tank demands heat.  The pellet boiler runs once, or twice, a day depending upon water usage in the house.  My summer pellet consumption will be very small, indeed.

Following the bag emptying, I filled the storage unit with pellets for my summer and fall use.  I received 2.5 tons for $587.50 ($235/ton).  That quantity of pellets has the energy of 300 gallons of #2 heating oil for which I would have paid $1,170.00 on the market here in Maine today ($3.899/gallon).  This load of pellets will last me deep into the fall when I will top off for the serious heating months.  I will use about 10 tons of pellets during the coming calendar year.

With Maine Energy Systems pellet prices guaranteed (for new boiler customers) at not more than $239/ton through June of 2014, customers like me can be assured of savings of 50%, or more, over #2 heating oil in Maine over the next three years.  For me that will represent a savings of approximately $7,050 over the next three calendar years, assuming oil does not exceed its current retail price.

Add to this the fact that virtually all of the $2,350/year I spend to heat my house and hot water will remain in the regional economy, and I’m feeling quite good about the heating solution I have chosen and the one I help make available to the Northeastern United States.