Why it’s important to clean the primary chamber in the boiler
If you have invested in a wood pellet burner or boiler, then you can look forward to up to two decades of efficient heating for your home.
Pellets are part of the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive, meaning that subsidies are available if you choose to replace your existing coal or gas heating system for a more renewable option. makes pellets an even more efficient and affordable way to heat your home.
However, as with any form of central heating, you do need to stay on top of maintenance in order to maximise both efficiency and comfort from your boiler. Just like gas boilers can break and need filters changing over time, so too can pellet boilers become dirty and clogged, affecting performance.
The main thing you need to do is to clean the primary chamber in the boiler, which is the part where the fire is. This means you are not paying to heat additional ash, thus making the boiler more efficient.
Emptying the primary chamber
If you have ever had a wood burning stove, you’ll know that the principle is the same. After every fire you need to empty the ash chamber to make sure that air flow is good and that you are not heating pre-burned material. With a wood burner, there is less mess and ash involved than traditional log burning stoves, so you need to clean the chamber less often. But it is important not to let too much debris build up in this chamber.
Along with making your boiler more efficient, cleaning also serves another, longer-term purpose. A well-installed boiler should last up to twenty years, but without regular cleaning it’s lifespan could be reduced significantly. As well as ash, the other major problem with pellet burners is that dust can get into the boiler and cause blockages. This causes damage over time, which can lead to costly repairs and longer-term inefficiencies.
Dust gets into the boiler when inferior pellets break open and expose their soft, dusty interior. Pellets have a hard outer shell, but this can crumble. In an average customer order of 5,000kg, there can be up to 50kg of dust. If this gets loaded into the boiler as part of the fuel, then this is a huge amount of material that is difficult to burn and potentially damaging.
As it is almost impossible to sort the dust from the pellets when loading, the best thing is to ensure then no dust enters the boiler in the first place. To do this you need to buy good quality, low dust pellets.
Where to buy premium wood pellets?
The Wood Pellet Delivery Company.
With up to ten times less dust in an average order, we can help you to keep your boiler clean and in good working order for years to come.
