Pellet boilers prices and payback

Expect to pay 5 to 8 times more for a pellet boiler than for a gas or oil one. But you still should consider buying a pellet boiler.

Biomass Pellets

Wood Pellets: pure biomass Pellet wood fueled boilers are a relatively new offer. They burn small pellets, with a 3/8 to 1 inch length. Pellets are pure biomass: they are made from compressed sawdust, wood chips and agricultural wastes (corn kernels, soybeans, beet pulp…), waste paper and other biomass materials.

Pellet wood boiler prices

Prices of pellet-wood boilers are substantially higher than those of gas boilers and oil boilers. They vary a lot and depend on elements as brands, output, controls and specific features. But expect to pay 5 to 8 times more for a pellet boiler than for a gas or oil one. You may easily find efficient condensing gas and oil boilers in the price range of 1,500 – 3,000 USD, while many pellet boilers prices are between 13.000 and 14.000 USD.

Anyway, that’s just one side of the question: with a pellet-wood boiler you may typically cut your heating bills by a half, which will mean yearly savings of many hundreds of dollars.

Pellet wood boilers payback

The payback of a pellet wood boiler (the number of years you need to recover the initial investment) depends on your annual heating bills and on pellet-wood prices vs. oil and gas prices. If your heating costs are only some hundred dollars yearly, then pellet boilers aren’t an economic choice. But if you live in a cold climate and your annual heating bills are, say, 3,000 or 4,000 USD, then pellet boilers might be a good or even excellent investment.

With oil, say, at around $5/gallon and pellets at around $260/ton (pellet prices are very stable, and this value is very representative), if your home burns 1.000 gallons of oil/year your benefits may around $1000/year in savings. That’s why paybacks of 4 to 8 years are common, and more and more consumers are opting for pellet boilers. They are an economically advantageous option on the medium and long run, in cold climates.

Warranties

The best brands of pellet wood boilers offer a limited guaranty of 10-12 years.

Official incentives

Pellet wood boilers allow huge energy savings and are an environmentally-friendly solution, which explains the several grants provided to help consumers to install pellet fired appliances. In the UK, the governmental Energy Savings Trust, through the BERR is funding the installation of pellet boilers.

The German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control also supports the installation of pellet boilers and other heating systems based on pellets (grants amount 1,500 euro or more), while KfW Förderbank promotes loans to cover the investment (see also, for more information: Bafa).

In USA, some states, are also promoting pellet wood boilers and other biomass based appliances. The state of Maine, through Mesys and its Pellet Boiler Program, is a good example of these support programs.

Also in US, there are some incentives to high-efficient appliances. See, for information on U.S. Federal Grants: Dsireusa. For incentives in specific US states, you may consult another Dsireusa page: Dsireusa Incentives.