Gerkros Woodpecker boiler owners please read and respond...

Builderwoman!

Hi

We have a 50kw Gerkros boiler and are happy enough with it. We have had a few issues with it which have in fairness been addressed by Gerkros and the boiler has been working well. However at the end of November we received another bulk delivery from Balcas and the quality of the pellets is terrible... about 50% saw dust and 50% pellets! Previous delivery in July were of much better quality and we have no problems burning them. Of course the Woodpecker is not reponding well to the poor quality pellets...lots of sparks and smoke coming from the chimeny, boiler cutting out, sawdust needing to be cleaned out of the boiler etc. When I phoned Balcas to complain they say that all their complaints are coming from customers who have Woodpecker boilers. What fuel are you using and how efficient and good is is? Please post me back ASAP as I am trying to get to the truth of this matter. Thanks.

gears

I don't have a Gerkros boiler myself but a friend does and has had a few initial problems but again were sorted quick enough and has also been using Balcas pellets ( bought in September) without any trouble so I hope this isn't the start of something with Balcas. In fairness to the Gerkros boiler if Balcas are getting a lot of calls from Woodpecker Boiler owners it may just be due to Gerkros selling 60%-70% of pellet boilers in Ireland (so I hear) and may be just a case of passing the buck.

Musha

We are in the industry for renewable energy products. My partner has recently complete a course on biofuels. Can you check what colour your pellets are if they are darker or more speckled than your previous delivery indicates that more bark was used during production. giving a poor quality pellet. There is major pressure on pellet manufactures at this time they cannot keep up with demand either on materials or production. they could be cutting corners.:mad: try Irish Pellets in westmeath

It sounds like someone in the delivery chain is not storing the pellets correctly, they need to be stored in a dry environment.

It could be that a storage depot has a damp problem or this is old stock that has been loaded/unloaded many times or even the dregs of the silo.

You really can't blame the boiler if the fuel is cr@p:mad:

Builderwoman!

Totally agree with you dolanbaker...we are not blaming Gerkros boiler at all as it has been running fine...we are blaming poor quality pellets but Balcas are passing the book. Undertstandably if 50-60% of the market are Gerkros boilers and Balcas are getting complaints about their product, naturally enough it would seem that most complaints are coming from Gerkros boiler users....it's all about statistics really and they way they are interpreted.

We know it's the fuel that's sending the boiler crazy we are clearing out saw dust out of it all the time and getting sparks up the chimney...but Balcas will not listen and basically don't care.

I spoke to Gerkros about fuel yesterday and they say that the quality of bulk fuel at the moment is bad and nobody doing bulk delivery is meeting the DIN standards with regards to quality etc. Of course SEI are washing their hands of any responsibility regarding control over quality in this area. I spoke to Charlie the guy starting the plant in Tuam yesterday and he hopes to be un and running by the end of the month. Price yet to be confirmed but will be around 250 per tonne. They will be more expensive than Balcas but when you get so much sawdust per three tonne delivery they are really not that much cheaper at all. Not to talk of the wear and tear it's causing on the boiler. The new pellets from Tuam will meet all EU DIN standards etc. Gerkros have used them on tests and tell me they are of excellent quality. I think that we will be switching over to them.

Anyone burning wood pellets know how many kgs they are burning a week to heat their square footage and what temps, uf or rads etc. Would be interested to compare costs with others? Let me know?

Keep the info coming please!

gonk

Builderwoman! wrote:

Balcas will not listen and basically don't care

You should remind them of their responsibilities under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980, i.e., the goods they supply must be fit for purpose and of merchantable quality. From your description, I would have thought you should be entitled to a full refund, plus the cost of any consequential loss, e.g., damage to boiler, cost of emptying your silo and disposing of sub-standard pellets.

http://www.consumerassociation.ie/rights_knowrights.html

If they still won't listen, you can bring a claim for up to €2,000 damages via the Small Claims Court without any legal representation and associated costs. It would be no harm to remind them of this too . . .

gears

Just a point on the last post, as Balcas are based in the North what kind of come back would you have if any, if it did come to that.

gonk

gears wrote:

Just a point on the last post, as Balcas are based in the North what kind of come back would you have if any, if it did come to that.

As they are selling and delivering their products in the Republic, it applies to them. If the OP had bought the pellets in Enniskillen and brought them south herself, she would still have redress under the equivalent UK law.

towbar

Builderwoman we burn about 200kg of pellets per week in a Verner pellet boiler and house is 2300 sq ft heated with rads. Pellets are supplied by Robinsons somewhere North of Newry. Dust levels in recent delivery was alot higher than last delivery - wonder is it weather related? I'd say about 5-10% dust. Boiler has no problems with it but it does burn all sorts of fuels- burned oats for a week just to try it out.

Dont have bulk storage yet but buying pellets in 750kg bags and loading manually into boiler. With the reductions in oil prices I'd say our savings are small if any and certainly dont make up for extra work so wouldnt be rushing out to recommend pellet boilers at the moment.

What are your usage rates?

Builderwoman!

Thanks Towbar. You know I don't honestly know what it's burning of good pellets but it's burning a hell of a lot more in the past month of bad ones. Will have to monitor it a bit more closely and come back to you when this quality issue is sorted out. Our boiler is cutting out all the time now with the amount of saw dust we have in the pellets. Pellets should have no more than 1% sawdust so you too should complain. It sounds as though you have a bit of work on your hands loading etc. We did bags for a while when our silo was being erected etc and it was a bit of a job. I too was wondering if we were making any savings over oil but we have relatives with a similar size house to us which I think is never warm and they are flying through oil at the moment. At least (when we have good pellets!!) our house is toasty warm and we have tonnes of hot water from our solar and wbp combined when they only have a really small amount of hot water. So while sometimes I too wonder about the savings...then I visit them and find out that we have really done the right thing...plus we are greener too!

towbar

Looks like I'll be staying on bulk bags for a while as I had planned to put in a bulk store and have Balcas supply which would be about €80 cheaper per tonne also but would be nothing worse than a silo full of sawdust.


One thing worth checking is condensation in the hopper - I know you are using the villa, when I enquired about it it doesnt have any insulation. Given that your last fill would have been during warmer weather would it explain why this one is causing more problems?

Vinneyboy

towbar wrote:

Looks like I'll be staying on bulk bags for a while as I had planned to put in a bulk store and have Balcas supply which would be about €80 cheaper per tonne also but would be nothing worse than a silo full of sawdust.


One thing worth checking is condensation in the hopper - I know you are using the villa, when I enquired about it it doesnt have any insulation. Given that your last fill would have been during warmer weather would it explain why this one is causing more problems?

towbar do you get the bulk bags somewhere in donegal?

towbar

Sorry for confusion I've moved to Co. Louth and the guy delivers the bags to a shed at my homeplace.

slopey

Builderwoman,

Could you post or PM me the number for the guy due to start supplying wood pellets from Tuam

Thanks

Vinneyboy

towbar wrote:

Sorry for confusion I've moved to Co. Louth and the guy delivers the bags to a shed at my homeplace.

no problem towbar just saw your location as Donegal.

tinofapples

Builderwoman,

Could you post or PM me the number for the guy due to start supplying wood pellets from Tuam

Thanks

Can you PM me the same details as well please. Have been waiting to hear about the tuam production plant for awhile.

I guess like every product competition might spark Balcas into producing better quality.

the brickie

Builderwoman! wrote:

Totally agree with you dolanbaker...we are not blaming Gerkros boiler at all as it has been running fine...we are blaming poor quality pellets but Balcas are passing the book. Undertstandably if 50-60% of the market are Gerkros boilers and Balcas are getting complaints about their product, naturally enough it would seem that most complaints are coming from Gerkros boiler users....it's all about statistics really and they way they are interpreted.

We know it's the fuel that's sending the boiler crazy we are clearing out saw dust out of it all the time and getting sparks up the chimney...but Balcas will not listen and basically don't care.

I spoke to Gerkros about fuel yesterday and they say that the quality of bulk fuel at the moment is bad and nobody doing bulk delivery is meeting the DIN standards with regards to quality etc. Of course SEI are washing their hands of any responsibility regarding control over quality in this area. I spoke to Charlie the guy starting the plant in Tuam yesterday and he hopes to be un and running by the end of the month. Price yet to be confirmed but will be around 250 per tonne. They will be more expensive than Balcas but when you get so much sawdust per three tonne delivery they are really not that much cheaper at all. Not to talk of the wear and tear it's causing on the boiler. The new pellets from Tuam will meet all EU DIN standards etc. Gerkros have used them on tests and tell me they are of excellent quality. I think that we will be switching over to them.

Anyone burning wood pellets know how many kgs they are burning a week to heat their square footage and what temps, uf or rads etc. Would be interested to compare costs with others? Let me know?

Keep the info coming please!

builderwoman,
i have a 2300sq ft dormer, 16 rads,my termastat is set for 20c 2 hours morning and evening and 16c the rest af the day .i am using between 18 and 25kgs per day .i actually emptied my ash bin for the first time christmas day after 11 months and5 tonnes of pellets,i have an ETA pe25 wpb

towbar

the brickie wrote:

builderwoman,
i have a 2300sq ft dormer, 16 rads,my termastat is set for 20c 2 hours morning and evening and 16c the rest af the day .i am using between 18 and 25kgs per day .i actually emptied my ash bin for the first time christmas day after 11 months and5 tonnes of pellets,i have an ETA pe25 wpb

Clearly those are the sort of results I'd like to be getting. Our house is probably at 20 for longer as house occupied all day but only 2 rads are on throughout the day. Do you use a buffer tank? What temperature does your water heat up to? Whose pellets are you using?

the brickie

towbar wrote:

Clearly those are the sort of results I'd like to be getting. Our house is probably at 20 for longer as house occupied all day but only 2 rads are on throughout the day. Do you use a buffer tank? What temperature does your water heat up to? Whose pellets are you using?

towbar.i am using balcas bulk but the ETA wpb has a circular grate that is moving all the time that pellets are being burnt so this cuts out any problems with dust because it is not allowed to build up.if ashes or pellets build up there is a laser beam across the top of the grate which, when broken ,stops the boiler and turns the grate backwards and opens a flap to clean itself.thankfully this has not happened as yet.
i dont have a buffer tank because the boiler holds 55l of hot water and is so insulated it holds up to 60c for hours and when a sensor in the house or cylinder demands hot water it can send 55l immediately while the boiler starts up, this takes about 3-4mins .the only time we had a problem was going somewhere one night 4 people used the shower one after the other and the
last child got a bit of a shock near the end with some cold water .but that is not bad as the only problem in 11 months.
my hot water is 55c and it is allowed to drop to 49c, then the boiler cuts in again and heats it up to 55c again.these are my choices if i want different
i just change it on the little lcd
i probably will get solar this year andthen i will get a buffer and feed the wpb and solar into it ,this will cut down the 2-3kgs iused daily last summer heating the cylinder but every euro is better in my pocket than mr.balcas

the brickie

towbar wrote:

Clearly those are the sort of results I'd like to be getting. Our house is probably at 20 for longer as house occupied all day but only 2 rads are on throughout the day. Do you use a buffer tank? What temperature does your water heat up to? Whose pellets are you using?

towbar.i am using balcas bulk but the ETA wpb has a circular grate that is moving all the time that pellets are being burnt so this cuts out any problems with dust because it is not allowed to build up.if ashes or pellets build up there is a laser beam across the top of the grate which, when broken ,stops the boiler and turns the grate backwards and opens a flap to clean itself.thankfully this has not happened as yet.
i dont have a buffer tank because the boiler holds 55l of hot water and is so insulated it holds up to 60c for hours and when a sensor in the house or cylinder demands hot water it can send 55l immediately while the boiler starts up, this takes about 3-4mins .the only time we had a problem was going somewhere one night 4 people used the shower one after the other and the
last child got a bit of a shock near the end with some cold water .but that is not bad as the only problem in 11 months.
my hot water is 55c and it is allowed to drop to 49c, then the boiler cuts in again and heats it up to 55c again.these are my choices if i want different
i just change it on the little lcd
i probably will get solar this year andthen i will get a buffer and feed the wpb and solar into it ,this will cut down the 2-3kgs iused daily last summer heating the cylinder but every euro is better in my pocket than mr.balcas

towbar

the verner boiler we have has a grating system also thats seems to keep everything moving through as well.

so you max heat of water to radiators is 55? Is that the boiler water temp or just temperature in the hot cyclinder? seems low for radiators this time of year?

be very interested in what you decide to do re solar. We have a buffer tank but most companies are saying your wasting your time connecting solar to the buffer tank and better only using it to heat hot water. The buffer tank is useful for us as each room is a seperate zone and so requests for heating can often be very short - not sure if this an inefficient method - heating one room at a time as needed, anyway thats how it is.

I also have a system link for zone management and was wondering if you connected solar to that you could use some electronics to ensure that the hot water tank got first bite so to speak and wondering if you could reverse the flow of water so excess solar would be sent back to the buffer tank? Going way off topic here sorry builderwoman.

I would still be keen to know if condesation is causing some of the problems with the balcas pellets in the hopper

the brickie

sorry towbar.
my 55c is for the hot water taps showers etc.the boiler sends in whatever temperature it reckons the house needs to get it up to the required temp from 40c up to 65c. the austrians(ETA) have it set up to use the smallest amount of pellets to feed all demands.i have motorised mixing valves which are wired straight to the boiler so it is in complete control of water temp.eg. i have an option of priority for either rads or hot tank, so if both need heat at the same time my cylinder will be heated to 55c then the boiler opens the mixing valve and heats the rads.

Builderwoman!

Charlie is the name of the guy going into production for Woodpellets in Tuam
His number is 085 1217521. There is no point in calling him until later this week as only then will he know the date production will start price etc. He told me all is being finalised at the moment. He's very helpful and knowledgable. Hopefully like you all say that a bit of competition might make Balcas sit up and take notice. Their customer service is not up to much I phoned a week ago complaining and they still haven't come back to discuss the matter!

the brickie

i have heard there is a wood pellet factory coming on line in clara co. offaly
has anyone else heard about it?

I hope so.. that's just down the road from us:)

frankie2shoes

brickie
this eta boiler sounds great could you give us some details of where you got it/ who installed it for ya

the brickie

evergreen energy.ie

frogfoot

The company setting up in Clara is Irish pellets. But beware of product from new start up's it will take them a while to sort out production problems.
Also I got a pallet of bagged pellets a couple of months ago which are imported and the have the dust problem. They burn in my boiler (oop Scotte)
but you are loseing output and getting plenty of ash.

Builderwoman!

Irish Pellets are ready to go into production but are apparently waiting to get the quality right and get din numbers and be in a position to produce quality pellets on a constant basis which meet EU standards. So I am told anyway!

paul221

we have a gerkros boiler and have tried most of the pellet suppliers around
they cant all be bad pellets
the gerkros burner to my experiance a nightmare from blocking, failing to light error numbers that are not even in the book, to back burning cousing the tube to melt, and when i rang gerkros last about this i was told the head engineer dosnt take calls anymore, and to go to ganleys and order a new tube for it. if ganleys didnt have it i could order it and would have it in a few days whitch meant no heating for them days. mind you it would of been the cheapest weeks heating we would of got out of the dam thing

TopMan

I also have a gerkros woodpecker which gave me some trouble initially but in fairness to gerkros they sent an engineer around to assess the problem, gave me 10 bags of Firestixx pellets to try out for a week and this eliminated the problem of cutting out and leaving a clinker in the burner. I was using Kedco pellets up to that and they gave me endless trouble.

Charly in bunratty in clare is the agent for firestixx in ireland and I have got a bulk delivery from him of the most perfect dust free pellets i've seen. No problems with the boiler since.