How to choose a pellet burner?

[DELOMOSNE]

I want to replace my oil burner with a pellet burner on an old boiler Chappée (wood / coal) 1965 27kw. (200m2 to heat)


Not easy to choose among the multitude of pellet burners.

Can someone guide me to guide my choice to answer:

Performance
Easy installation
Easy maintenance
Reliability
Price

[dirk pitt]

Well, tell me, it's an ancestor, this one.
I hope she is in a room used because it must be a good radiator because of the total lack of insulation.

[dede2002]

Ha yes we do not often see a boiler naked, it reminds me of one in which my grandfather had taught me to forge!

I think ash collection is an important point, are there pellet burners with built-in ash pan?

[DELOMOSNE]

After the comments, we should take action ...
What information do you have about pellet burners?

cordially

[Tikteklak]

Hello, I am owner for a little over a year of a wood boiler (ferroli sfl 3) and a pellet burner (sun p7).
This burner is worth about 1300 € and provides a power of up to 32 kw. Assembly mounted in replacement of a viessmann oil boiler of 30 years. Previously 1300l of fuel, today about 2.5 - 3t of pellets. Easy installation (at the same time, burner supplied with installation kit specific to the boiler). Easy maintenance (on my boiler wood which therefore has an ash tray). I do a quick cleaning (5 min) every ten days and empty the ashtray on this occasion. Silo 135kg allowing me to have a battery life of about 1 week. Reliability, a little hard to say given the decline, but satisfied for the moment.
If it was again, I would do the same.
Sincerely,

[DELOMOSNE]

Hello Tikteklak,

Thank you for sharing your satisfaction with the SUN P7 burner.

From what I read on the internet the optimum setting of the pellet burner is quite delicate between the flow of pellets and ventilation.
Do you think it is possible to install and adjust the pellet burner without going through a professional, just by using the documentation supplied with the burner?

Your pellet tray (135 kg) allows you a battery life of one week, can you tell me if during the week you do not intervene at all at the level of the tray or must it be maintained filled?
I read that users have problems with the pellet tray, such as breaking the feeding of pellets of the worm (formation of a funnel) which forces to keep the tray well filled, crumbling granules which causes jamming of the pellets in the worm, problem with pellet dust at the bottom of the pellet tray etc ...
Have you encountered such problems, if so, have you found the solutions to remedy them?

Kind regards.

[Tikteklak]

For my part, I installed everything myself, from the boiler to the burner through the casing. In terms of settings, I moved very little from factory settings. I measured the quantity of pellets delivered in one hour by the worm and thus bring me closer to the necessary 22kw (taking into account the theoretical performance of the burner). For ventilation, I made judging by looking at the color of the flame and the state of the ashes. A measurement of the flue gas temperature, a draft check (depressometer) and a combustion analysis were performed using pro tools.
These measurements gave correct results but we showed a pb of overstepping set since the addition of a moderator of draw.
For the pellet tray, the capacity is 135kg but I never use the entire bin due to the presence of a single inclined pan in the silo (it is poorly designed). This is the reason why only 90kg pellets are actually usable. For the rest, this is related to the quality of pellets and there is actually a drink and eat ... I bought several different pellets in small quantities (ten bags per brand) and compared them to equivalent settings. I eliminated those for which I had concerns of worm (two marks contained pellets up to 9cm), those leaving a residue in the crucible (presence of starch). For the dust I noticed that it was related to the number of manipulations during the deliveries, storage, put in store ... Therefore I turned to a local dealer very close who provides me a good pellet at a good price. Well there is still dust, so the silo is emptied and cleaned twice a season.
For the future, ie this winter, I planned to build a silo adapted to my situation and to store a ton. This silo will of course be equipped with 4 inclined faces (45 or 50 °) and a sieve in the bottom for dust.
Sincerely.

[DELOMOSNE]

You had knowledge of central heating to have everything installed yourself or someone guided you.

I wish to have some clarification.

Is the oil connection kit necessary for connection to convert an oil boiler to pellets?

Is the SUN P7 Burner Control Panel easy to program and easy to understand for adjustment?

For the burner setting you have a formula?
- Quantity of pellets delivered in one hour by the worm
- Theoretical performance of the burner
- If my boiler does 27 kw

What is the formula and the good value to get for a good setting?

-Ventilation to judge it is not precise,

-Flue gas temperature : the right temperature?
- The print to the depressometer: the good value?
- What a pro tool forcombustion analysis ? and what desirable results?

In fact for someone who does not know it, it's not so simple and in addition you have to have pro gear for measurements.

The moderator I already have it on my fireplace.

For the pellet tray visibly the one supplied with the boiler is not ideal. A silo 4 pans and a dust sieve in the bottom to collect dust is preferable ..
Is the auger supplied with the burner connected to the bottom of the four-sided silo?
How do you see the silo-worm connection receptacle?
Do you have a production plan for your ideal silo?

For granules,
- without starch (how is the presence of starch detected?)
- The least manipulation possible so directly at the manufacturer is the best.
- Draining and cleaning the silo 1 times every 2 months for dust.
- to respect the size of the granules recommended for the burner is imperative to avoid the locking in the worm.

Thank you for all this information, once the details given where I put?
They will be very useful to all DIYers who want to install a pellet burner, to avoid small misery.

Have you studied other pellet burners before choosing this one?
What led you to choose this one?

cordially

M @ x

[Tikteklak]

Sincerely as the base. Then blogs and forums... and then at the same time it's not that complicated. A little elec, a little math, a little logic, honestly nothing more.
For the fuel kit, I do not know. Me it is a boiler wood and a kit provided for this boiler exists (door pierced to size for the burner).
For the control panel, it boils down to a small display and 5 buttons. So there is a game like "press for 5sec" "press for 10sec". It did not bother me more than that, it must be said that I control everything with a room thermostat.
For power, no formula but logic. Yield pellet 5kw / kg / h so for 22 kw 4.2 kg of pellets. Then test to determine auger capacity: continuous connection during 5 min / 3 identical tests / extrapolation = sequence number and operating time of the screw. Looking at the factory settings I then modified them to get as close as possible to mine (I did not have to change much).

Fume temperature: I bought a smoke thermometer (30 euro) placed through the casing at 50 cm from the boiler outlet. From my readings, 200 -250 ° C is not bad, warmer, wasting calories. I am about 220.
Draft: I set the moderator according to the recommendations of the burner is - 0,2 mbar and then checked with a deprimometer.
A combustion analyzer has verified that the O2 and CO values ​​are in the correct range (between 5 and 9% for O2 and between 150 and 1000 ppm for the other).
These two devices come from my beauf who deals with DPE, asbestos diagnosis ... But all the heating companies have, and it is praised. It is not very complex material to use.
Yes the tray is not top but the worm will go perfectly on the new. Currently she plunges into the tray. For the next I see it rather in a small receptacle open on the top and thus communicating with the funnel 4 pans. In this way, I think to use all the capacity of the silo (slope to 45-50). For the plan I try to finalize mine under sketchup and then post it.
For the starch it is written on the bag (when there is, never more than 1% - in my case bioforest pellets).
I only studied wood-burner pellet solutions because my boiler was dead and also the ashtray. There was not a huge choice. The difficulties to access the boiler room have kept me the most compact ... and a wholesaler selling my product is 50 km. At the time the duo Viadrus - burner b max (see on esc wholesaler) was not yet available, otherwise I would have hesitated for a long time.

Hoping not to have forgotten anything

[DELOMOSNE]

Thank you Tikteklak for all these details.

I put my project aside for now because I still have fuel in my tank for several winters.

I keep your advice under the elbow.

Between B-Max and SUN P7 what are the differences: advantages and disadvantages?