I wonder where they got that figure from? Pretty much all the stuff I’ve read has said they have on average a life span of between 15 - 20 years, and some recent articles have suggested up to 25 years. That’s significantly different to a max of 12 years.
I know a couple of people who’ve had large granule silos; both solutions were rather more elegant than the one illustrated.
One person uses a former underground oil tank that was beneath the courtyard between the original farmhouse and the large barn conversion in which they now live. Can’t remember how their granules reach the boiler.
The other person was restoring a hamlet of about a dozen derelict buildings, one of which was lined and used to store the granules, the boiler was in a small adjacent building and fed via an Archimedean screw. Both installations were on sloping sites that facilitated these solutions
I’d suggest it’s very much a case of doing your own research to check what’s really the best solution for you, especially given the fluctuations in pellet prices over the last few years.
Must be getting on for 10 years ago… I was part of a Group visiting a commune in a neighbouring Department…
We were given a conducted tour of a “new idea” for heating their Mairie/School/Salle des Fetes and the OAP’s Home…
A huge silo (mostly underground) was filled with “waste” wood and automatically fed it to the adjacent boilers which were pipe-linked to the aforementioned buildings.
As the commune was surrounded by woodland etc etc… it seemed a way of profiting from a never ending supply of what would have otherwise been composted/left to rot/whatever…
Presumably this was the forerunner to today’s Pellet Boilers…
It would have been a biomass boiler. When I used to live in the Creuse and the foresters had done their stuff, i.e. taking the big straight bits, the remaining branches etc (looked like good firewood to me) would be piled up ready for shredding directly into a big truck to go to the local towns communal boiler.
I had a guy come round who went on about pellets, huge amount of space needed and access for lorry…took up far too much space in my barn, which is not small, after some to in and froing I have had an air/water installed, as I have radiators. Outside against a back wall, super efficient, set to 17.50° the house is at 19. They can last up to 20 years. no deliveries of anything. The advisors all try to push the product they have some association with. Pellets must be away from humidity, I expect that big black silo in your photo would keep all dry. Huge palaver. My heat pump was installed in a day and a half, and happily for me as i have dual nationality, will be paid for by the state.
