The City of Gardiner, Maine, has replaced the defunct oil boiler in their Public Works building with a more environmentally friendly wood pellet boiler from Maine Energy Systems and installed by Heutz Oil Company, which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 40 tons per year. The move was supported by the City Council, which recently agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing the conventional oil-fired boilers in their public works buildings with the more environmentally friendly system. To fund the installation of the new system, the city has applied for a grant from the Public Building Wood to Energy Program. “Although the system cost more to install than a replacement of our current system, we are looking forward to seeing substantial cost savings on fuel and maintenance in the long term, in addition to the positive impact on the environment,” said Andy Maclean, Gardiner’s Mayor.
“It is always a pleasure to work with forward-looking people. The City of Gardiner and the City Council have set an insightful example for others who will be making similar decisions which will impact community practice for decades to come,” said Dutch Dresser, Director of Maine Energy Systems.
About Maine Energy Systems
Maine Energy Systems is proud to offer both semi-automatic and fully automated home burner and boiler equipment for your new construction or as a replacement for your existing home oil burner system. This range of offerings allows you to begin burning environmentally-friendly, renewable fuel whether you need an economical solution or the most automatic pellet boiler system available anywhere.
All systems offered by Maine Energy Systems are self-feeding. That is, both the MESys series and the AutoPelletseries all use bulk storage tanks for fuel and require no manual attention for fuel feeding. MESys trucks deliver bulk pellets to the storage bins, and the fuel feed systems ensure a continuous fuel supply to the burner whether you’re at home or on vacation in warmer climates.
Full featured systems
For those seeking all the advantages a fully automatic pellet-fired boiler system can bring, Maine Energy System is proud to offer the AutoPellet series, manufactured by Maine Eco Pellet Heating under license from OkoFEN of Austria.
The AutoPellet series of boilers is fully automated. Ash is removed from the floor of the boiler chamber by a small auger, which compresses the ash into a storage bin. The system reports when it is time to remove the ash from the storage container, which is then dumped easily into a degradable bag for disposal or spreading on the garden. This process is required infrequently, is very clean and takes but a few minutes. The boiler cleans its own tubes automatically twice a day; the system requires professional cleaning once a year.The control system on the AutoPellet series of boilers is very sophisticated allowing for precise tuning of the system to your needs. It will even integrate solar panels and other boilers into the system if you have those needs.
The AutoPellet boiler series is available in capacities from 41,000 BTU/hr to 191,000 BTU/hr with various configurations for automatic deashing and vacuum or auger pellet feed systems. For further information visit www.oekofen-usa.com
Economical systems
For those looking for modestly priced pellet-fired boilers systems that require routine, occasional deashing Maine Energy Systems offers the MESys series of boilers.
The MESys series of boilers requires routine, periodic manual ash removal from the interior of the boiler. The frequency of ash removal depends upon the ash content of the pellets used and the quantity burned. As an example, using premium quality pellets in a MESys 6000 during a Maine winter would require ash removal about every three weeks. That ash removal process takes 30-45 minutes.
The MESys boiler is currently available in three configurations, 4-section and 6-section cast iron boilers with BTU output from 50,000 BTU/hr to ~70,000 BTU/hr. These systems are based on the Bosch/Buderus Logana cast iron boiler; a limited number of these systems remains in stock. the MESys 6000C will be available early this fall as a steel tube boiler fitted with the Janfire NH burner producing 78,000 BTU/hour. This boiler will require manual deashing.
The MESys 6000C, an ASME stamped 78,000 BTU/hr unit based on an American made steel tube boiler will be available early in 2010.
For the Future
The City of Gardiner continues to evaluate all of their public buildings to find environmentally friendly solutions that will bring long-term cost savings. Future projects may include: CFL lighting; upgrades to energy efficient windows, boilers and insulation.
The Gardiner Public Works building will hold an open house on March 1, 2010 from 9 to 10 am at 197 Old Brunswick Road. The public is invited to attend, enjoy light refreshments, see the new boiler installation, and learn about the benefits of heating with a local and sustainable fuel.
Maine Energy Systems (MESys) pioneered the introduction of automatic wood pellet boiler systems and bulk pellet distribution to the U.S. beginning in June 2008.~MESys was motivated by New Englanders’ extraordinary dependence on #2 oil for home, business, and institutional heating.~Since that time, MESys has trained nearly 300 regional heating contractors to install and service automatic wood pellet boiler systems. Maine Eco Pellet Heating boilers, substantially fabricated in the U.S. and assembled in Maine under license from ÖkoFEN, are marketed by MESys as AutoPellet systems. MESys is the sole distributor of these products in the Northeastern United States. ÖkoFEN, located in Niederkappel, Austria, is Europe’s pellet heating specialist having produced the first commercially offered European pellet boiler in 1997. Today ÖkoFEN produces the world’s most sophisticated and environmentally-friendly pellet boiler systems. Visit www.mesys.net for more information.
