Luxury bed and breakfast Larkbeare Grange, near Exeter, is well on its way to becoming completely self-sufficient in terms of its energy needs after having a state-of-the-art pellet biomass boiler.
Charlie and Julia Hutchings - who own the stunning country house in Talaton, near Exeter - were taken aback by how much money the boiler would save the business each year and also how dramatically it would reduce the business's carbon footprint.
The business will receive more than £4,500 in commercial Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments and save almost £1,500 on its fuel bills each year.
The system was installed by local company SunGift Energy, who also fitted a 4 kWp solar PV system for them two years ago.
"What a difference our biomass boiler has made," said Charlie, "and it's already dramatically improved the way we heat many of our rooms. Last year we were cautious about running our heating for too long, as the oil for our previous boiler was very expensive, but now we can keep our heating running whenever we want, we have constant hot water, and the house and the guest rooms are kept warm and cosy at all times. For any bed and breakfast business, offering maximum comfort for guests while keeping overheads as low as possible is critically important, and our biomass boiler now plays a central role in making this possible."
Before designing their bespoke system, SunGift sent one of its specialist surveyors to Larkbeare Grange to carry out detailed heat loss calculations, to work out the size of boiler that would be needed.
"The boiler has been designed to grow with our expansion plans," added Charlie. "We've got planning permission to add a detached cottage to our grounds, so it has the capacity to provide space heating and hot water for that too when it is built."
SunGift designed and specified a 60 kW Windhager pellet boiler scheme, which took just two weeks to install. Thanks to fuel cost savings and RHI payments, the payback time for the boiler is just over six years, and the estimated profit over 20 years compared to running an oil boiler is more than £80,000. What's more, the boiler will reduce Larkbeare Grange's carbon footprint by 15 tonnes per year.
"This boiler is an excellent solution for Larkbeare Grange and other similar businesses," said Mark Howard, SunGift's biomass design engineer, "as it requires the least storage space of any biomass system, is the easiest biomass fuel to handle, and requires the least user intervention. What's more, the boiler has been designed and manufactured by Windhager, a company that not only has one of the world's strongest heritages in biomass systems but also has 85 years' experience producing high-quality boilers."
Thanks to the combination of the house's biomass boiler and its 4 kWp solar PV system (which helps power all of the business's utilities and machines during the day), Larkbeare Grange is now well on its way to become self-sufficient in terms of its energy needs. In addition to its renewable energy systems, Larkbeare Grange also takes all of its environmental responsibilities seriously, conserving energy where possible, shopping locally, reducing waste and water use to a minimum, using non-phosphate cleaning materials, and providing free-of-charge bicycles for guests.
Charlie added: "SunGift have been a pleasure to have on site. The work they've carried out has been of the highest quality, every job has been done with exceptional care and consideration, and they've left the place spotless. At Larkbeare Grange we pride ourselves on providing first-rate accommodation and giving our guests exceptional customer service, so it's refreshing to find another business that takes the same pride in their work."
