A success story at Moonfleet Farm is the installation of a 49 kW chip wood fired boiler system to supply the heating & hot water systems to the farm house and cottage. This boiler uses waste wood fuel, hedge cuttings, pruning's from the farm. The wood fuel is turned into G30 grade chip using the tractor powered TP 270 chipper.
With the ETA boiler commissioned in January 2011 the teething problems are sorted. The 2,500 litre buffer tank stores the hot water and acts as a damper when the various zones demand heat. During the periods of demand the boiler and the buffer tank release the hot water. During the quiet periods, the boiler sends hot water to the buffer tank. The boiler shuts down when the water in the tank reaches 80 deg.C. An insulated 40m "heat pipe" transports the hot water from Shed 2 to the house and cottage with only a 1°C degree drop en-route. A 4m square chip bay has been constructed to store the fuel and in addition a 15m x 6m chip storage and drying floor was completed in January 2011.
What has been learned is that the chip has to be to the required specification, outside the specification, the boiler's struggles to perform, the conformity and humidity of the chip is proved to be critically important and once achieved the operation is reliable efficient.
The chip is augured from the 4m x 4m chip bay in Shed 3 to the boiler in Shed 2. A chip drying floor has also been constructed in Shed 3. The dry chip will be prepared and delivered to the drying floor in the summer months and stored ready for use during the winter months.
