Protecting Your Biomass Boiler and

RHI Incentive Maintenance and Servicing

Andrew McNab

Andrew McNab

• 22 years experience in the Heating Industry.

• Lectured at several colleges over an 8 year period.

• Quality Assurance Inspector within the Gas Industry.

• Service and Compliance Manager at VG Energy.

VG Energy Ltd

• We Service Biomass, Gas, Oil and Lpg.

• Our biomass portfolio includes over 400 boilers on a range of service contracts.

• We work for many clients in the public and private sector.

• We maintain boilers of all sizes and work closely with several manufacturers.

Todays Objective

• To inform biomass boiler owners of the importance of protecting your asset.

• To ensure we know the legislative obligations as the biomass boiler owner.

• To underline the benefits of a structured servicing strategy.

Reasons for Service

• It is a legal requirement to service your appliance annually if it’s fitted in a workplace. •Annual servicing keeps you and your property safe. •Your warranty will only be valid if your appliance has been serviced by an appropriately accredited technician.

Reasons for Service

•Servicing your appliance annually will save you money by increasing operational efficiency. •Your appliance will last longer with an annual service. •Failure to get your appliance serviced and checked each year may mean your insurance will refuse to cover in the event of a claim.

Reasons to Service (RHI)

• As an ongoing obligation, participants who own heat generating installations are required to maintain their equipment to ensure it is working effectively.

• As a general principle we (ofgem) require the equipment to be maintained in line with manufacturer instructions where available.

• Participants will need to keep any evidence of maintenance work carried out such as servicing receipts and will need provide us (ofgem) with this evidence upon request.

Why Service (RHI)

• The installation and maintenance MUST be performed by a specialist technician authorised by the manufacturer.

• An annual service must be completed by a specialist technician as well as regular maintenance completed and recorded.

Why Service

How often should a biomass boiler be serviced?

• Minimum 1 per year

• In proportion to the actual operational hours

• So the more the boiler is used the more service care it needs

What indicates that a biomass boiler needs servicing? There are a variety of signals which may mean that your boiler needs servicing. The boiler may have a few or all of these indicators: EXCESSIVE • visual levels of unburnt fuel within the ash deposit chamber • visual levels of soot within the combustion chamber • levels of clinker within the combustion chamber (clinker is solidified

ash which has been taken past its melting point and allowed to cool) • black smoke production during combustion

What indicates that a biomass boiler needs servicing? • Large yellow, wispy flames within the combustion chamber

• Excessive flue gas temperatures at exit point of boiler (indicates heat exchanger lining is coated with ash/debris and is acting as insulator, preventing correct heat exchange of flue gasses to water jacket)

• Adverse fluctuations in the O2 content of the flue gasses causing incomplete/inefficient combustion

• An engineer’s analysis of the flue gases may show incorrect combustion process

Boiler requires some attention

Quality of biomass fuel

Quality of biomass fuel

• The moisture levels can affect the boiler performance

• The quality of the fuel can affect the service intervals

• Better quality fuel will lead to a more efficient boiler

• Better quality fuel can increase the life expectancy of the boiler

How ash affects biomass boilers

Component Failure

• A poor servicing regime will lead to increased component failure

• This will lead to more spare parts required leading to additional costs

• More boiler down time affects RHI payments and leads to low confidence in Biomass as whole

What is the efficiency level of a biomass boiler before and after a service? 5% to 15%

Between Services Maintenance What you can do to protect your asset • Your Installer / Service provider should provide the

necessary training to allow you to conduct routine tasks at your boiler

• With boilers having many moving parts regular cleaning greasing and lubricating is required

• A maintenance schedule can help ensure weekly and monthly tasks are being completed

Typical Service Packages

Service Packages

• Gold packages offer complete financial piece of mind as all costs are covered in your annual fee.

• Silver packages are less inclusive as parts are not included in the cost

• Bronze packages allow for service only visit and are less inclusive they can be cost effective during the boilers early years and warranty period, however as parts can be expensive consideration to upgrading to Gold will remove the risk of down time for the boiler and unexpected expense

Service Packages

• I recommend an all inclusive service agreement because,

• NO RISK to the end user

• Clearly it is in the best interest of the service provider to ensure the boiler is maintained to the highest standard.

• The service provider wants to prevent needless call outs. The more preventative maintenance measure they can perform during a visit the less reactive repairs they will be required to attend, meaning less disturbance and down time for you the end user

Compliance

• What to look for from your service provider

• Manufacturers Training

Experienced Heating Engineers with not only the appropriate manufacturer’s training but extensive experience in Building Services Applications

Summary

Legal Requirement

RHI

Efficiency Last beyond

20 years

Reduced

Running cost

Summary

SAFETY

STAND 84 Thank you for your time

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