wrote:

On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 11:18:42 -0000, "tim..."
wrote:



Just fond this!
https://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.u...ic-fuels/fuel-
prices
my answer now is get a multi-fuel grate for the wood burner and burn coal
- by far the cheapest fuel.



Even burning an anthracite based smokeless fuel that is more expensive
than plain coal we find it is much cheaper than electric and our
Winter electric bill is considerably less than the summer one.

though unless things have changed

solid fuel boilers lack the automated control of liquid/gas fuels

tim



I don't know enough about them to comment how reliable they are in
service but were there not hopper feed boilers available at one time,
possibly still are. Need a fine fuel sold as beans, and wood
chip/pellets are a solid fuel at the end of the day even though they
may be wrapped in up in some eco description such as Biomass and full
automatic boilers are advertised for that.
But I would not dispute that once you start into needing reliable
automatic fuel feed systems and ash removal the costs would rise
considerably and liquid/gas appliances will be easier to maintain and
nor ash to dispose of either.
My reasons for having a simple system hinge on what is an other wise
all electric house means relying on no damage to the overhead lines ,
rare but some parts around here were off for 3 days about 2 years ago.
And I'm able to be around to run the multifuel stove as appropriate
which would not be practical for many people who go out to work or
like some nearish neighbours who having seen our stove started to
think about installing one in a covered over fire place, I discouraged
them as being a decade and a half older neither are really up to the
manual work required anymore, a point we may well reach ourselves in
time of course but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

There is also enough reason I like it as running a stove/fire is just
enjoyable and satisfying.

G.Harman

Despite the alleged strategic value in covering most of North Wales with
conifers, the only commercial use of locally produced timber seems to be
firewood, and there is much publicised lobby to set a wood chip industry
for wood fired boilers of all sizes from domestic to power stations.
Very little actual commercially available hardware seems to have
materialised, especially at the domestic end of the market.



--

Roger Hayter