Technical Note SB81: Wood pellet heater Q&As

This document is under review

Q1: Why do pellet fires not have to include start-up in their testing when solid wood fires do?

Answer: There is different technology and different risk factors during the start up of pellet fires compared to solid wood fires.

The reason for real life testing being needed for Ultra Low Woodburners was due to the fact that historically lab testing has not related closely to real life testing.  Part of that was the impact of start up phases of a wood fire.

With the greater controls of pellet fires due to controlled air supply, controlled feed rates, pellet fuel standards and the inability to tamper with the fires gives greater certainty that test results will be similar to real life test results.  Couple this with the automated and controlled start-up process and comparatively short duration of start-up and the risk factors are not there that justify additional testing costs for pellet fire technology.