A l t e r na t i v e F u e l s
"Any time fuel oil prices skyrocket, everyone's looking for
alternatives," Haskell said, including boilers and stoves that burn
wood pellets.
"A pellet boiler is designed to take the place of your existing
heat system," Haskell noted. Even so, she said, "When you have a
wood boiler you're generally going to need another form of heat
as back up because the unit is only as good as the person feeding
it. You can fill your pellet boiler but when it's out of pellets you're
out of heat."
Some fully loaded pellet boilers can operate for two-anda-half to three days, Haskell said. There are pellet boilers with
an automatic feed system, but they require a large storage area
that's attached to the unit itself, Haskell said. Some units without an auto-feed system have an extra hopper available as an
add-on, she noted.
Maine Woods Pellet Co., Athens, Me., delivers wood pellets
to C.B. Haskell. "We usually get a tractor trailer load at a time,"
Haskell said. "We store them undercover."
One drawback of wood pellet boilers is high emissions of
particulate matter, according to John Batey, technical director
for the Oilheat Manufacturers Association (OMA).
"Laboratory tests of advanced wood-burning boilers are on-
"A pellet boiler is designed to take the place
of your existing heat system. When you have
a wood boiler you're generally going to need
another form of heat as back up because the
unit is only as good as the person feeding it.
You can fill your pellet boiler but when it's out
of pellets you're out of heat."
— Kim Haskell, C.B Haskell Fuel Co.
going at Brookhaven National Laboratory," Batey wrote in a May
2013 technical report to OMA. Batey said the tests showed that
wood pellet boilers in continuous (steady state) operation emit
15 times more particulate matter than No. 2 oil and 580 times
more than ultra-low-sulfur fuel oil. Emissions are many times
higher than that during normal on/off cycling, he added.
"Particulate matter (PM) emissions have become an increasingly important air pollutant for the U.S. EPA," Batey wrote,
"and oil heating equipment produces very low levels of PM
when compared to other heating fuels." l F O N
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