| Scheme: | System take over and upgrade of heating system installation |
| Boiler and plant: | 2xETA PC70 kW pellet boilers with distribution to 36 individual properties |
| Fuel | Wood pellets |
| Fuel storage | Internal pellet storage built into plant room. |
| Grant /Funding | The installation was initially funded by the PSDS (Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme) |
| Savings /Investment | The savings will come in the form of reliability and better efficiency from the boilers |
| Carried out | Aug 2024 and ongoing |
Getting biomass right
Project overview.
Housing 21 are a large retirement and care housing operator, with over 25,000 properties throughout the UK. Dunster were asked to look at an install in Oswestry due to ongoing issues.
A biomass system was installed in 2021 but had proved to be really unreliable and a real headache for the onsite team. The boilers used were good, however the system design was very poor, causing the boilers to cycle constantly. This has resulted in serious damage to the internals of the boilers, new grates, new combustion chambers and dozens of breakdowns have resulted.
Dunster set up monitoring of the system using the ETA MeinETA system, recording what was happening in order to be able to identify the issues. It became very obvious that the hydronic design was the culprit and a new design was drawn up.
A re-piping of the plant room was required, adding control of the flow rates and ensuring distribution pumps were not starved. Heat meters were added, cascade controls to the boilers installed and ensuring everything was commissioned correctly was all undertaken in 1 day in January 2025 (as residents needed the heat back on).
So far the system has proved to be significantly more reliable, and fuel usage has gone down. It proves again that biomass is a reliable, efficient low carbon heat source, but it is essential that correct design and implementation is undertaken or else it can be a nightmare for the customer.
We received Housing 21’s contractor of the year certification for the works we have done, transforming the system by doing what was needed in the first place. Next on the list is replacement fuel stores to expand the capacity, reducing the fuel deliveries to site.
