Pellet boilers prices and payback

Expect to pay two or three times more for a pellet boiler over a gas or oil one. But your energy bills can also be reduced by half with a pellet boiler...

Biomass Pellets

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

See: Pellets

Pellet wood boiler prices

The prices of pellet boilers vary a lot with brands, output, controls and specific features, but they are substantially higher than those of gas and oil boilers, or furnaces ($3,000-$6,000).

You may find condensing gas and oil boilers in the 2,000–3,000 USD range, while pellet boilers prices can amount to $13,000 or $14,000.

But on the other hand a pellet-wood boiler can represent huge reductions in your heating bills...

Pellet wood boilers payback

If your yearly heating bills are only some hundred dollars, then pellet boilers aren’t an economical 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 should be considered.

The payback period of a pellet wood boiler (the number of years you need to recover the initial investment) depends basically on your annual heating bills (and on pellet-wood prices vs. oil and gas prices). Paybacks of 6 to 10 years for pellet boilers are common, in very cold climates.

With oil, say, at around $5/gallon and pellets at around $260/ton (pellet prices are very stable), a pellet boiler can provide around $1,000/year in energy savings over a oil boiler, for needs involving 1.000 gallons of oil/year.

Warranties

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

Tax Credits and Rebates

The high initial investment of a pellet boiler can be significantly reduce by possible tax credits and other grants, making the investment much more interesting than it initially seemed.

See: Boiler and Water Heaters Tax Credits and Rebates