Wood chip FAQs

How much does your wood chip cost?

The price of our wood chip depends on the volume you order, the particle size and moisture content you require, whether you are a fuel contract customer and, if so, how long you’ve entered into a contract with us for.

We’d love to give you a quote – just give us a call on 0115 952 0263 or 07890 022002, or send an email using our contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

How much does delivery cost?

Delivery depends on the volume you order and the distance the truck has to travel – give us a call 0115 952 0263 or 07890 022002, or send an email using our contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Where can you deliver to?

We deliver wood chip to farms, businesses and homes in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. We’re aiming to expand our business further north in 2015 – if you’re based in the Northumberland/Borders regions and would like us to let you know when we can supply your area, contact us and we’ll keep you posted.

Why is the moisture content of wood chip so important?

The level of moisture in a chip is critical.

If your wood chip is too moist, tars are released that build up on the heat exchanger, reducing efficiency and eventually causing your boiler to shut down. You’ll also find that the quality of wet chip deteriorates while it’s stored – it’s the perfect environment for bacteria so your wood chip will start to decompose, and fungal spores can build up that are extremely hazardous to lung health.

If wood chip is too dry, it will burn too fast and you’ll end up paying over the odds to meet your property’s heating demands. Dry chip also burns hotter, which leads to carbon slag build up.

Each boiler has an optimal wood chip moisture level and this can be anywhere between 15% and 50%, though it normally falls between 25% and 35%.

As a rule, Lime-Circle wood chip leaves our facility with moisture content of 25-30% – anything above 30% tends to degrade if stored for longer than a month.

Why is the ash content of wood chip so important?

The ash content of wood chip is determined by the quality of the source material – chip with a high proportion of bark or leaves will result in greater ash levels.

Too much ash is bad news for your biomass boiler – it accelerates the formation of carbon slag build-up, which leads to breakdown. It’s also not brilliant news for you, as you’ll have to empty the ash bin more often.

As part of your annual biomass boiler service, your system will be cleaned to remove the carbon build up accumulated over the year – this will need to happen more frequently if you’re burning unclean wood.

At Lime-Circle, we only supply clean, low bark chip to minimise ash production.

Why is the particle size of wood chip so important?

Biomass boilers need consistency. A consistently sized, chunky wood chip burns slowly and will flow through your fuel feed system without blockage or obstruction.

If your chip is more like flakes or shards, it can cause problems. Flakes burn faster and hotter – your boiler will get through them quickly, so the price per unit of heat will go up, and a fast, hot burn leads to carbon build up in your system. Shards get stuck in awkward places – they can block your augur and cause breakdown.

Small chips and dust can also cause problems – they compact together, causing blockages in your fuel feed system.

We go to great lengths to ensure the wood chip we supply is consistently chunky and feed system-friendly.

Which is better – virgin wood chip or recycled wood chip?

Biomass boilers perform at their peak when they receive a clean, consistent source of fuel – using virgin chip is the best way to ensure this, and it’s the only type we supply.

This isn’t to say that recycled wood chip is terrible. But it takes a lot of time, money and effort to get it up to the same level as virgin chip. We’re passionate about supporting the UK’s rural industries and landscape – as a company, we’d rather invest in the UK’s woodlands, helping to create jobs and drive sustainable woodland management and tree planting programmes.

I have a multi-fuel boiler – why use wood chip over pellets?

Simple – wood chip is more cost-effective. Each kilowatt of heat produced by a wood pellet typically costs 5.3p – the same unit of heat from a chip costs just 3.1p.

Wood pellets are great – they are convenient, and require much less storage space. But if you’ve got the space, it makes much more financial sense to feed your boiler with good quality wood chip.

Does your wood chip come from sustainable sources?

Yes. We buy our timber locally and only from FCS-approved sources.

The blossoming biomass industry is great news for the UK’s woodlands and biodiversity – as woodsmen say, “The forest that pays is the forest that stays.” By creating a demand for ethically sourced, sustainable wood chip, the industry is creating a lucrative reason to properly manage woodlands – and a properly managed, coppiced and thinned wood lets the sunlight in and allows ground flora and fauna to flourish.

The re-emergence of wood fuelled heating systems also drives the creation of new woods, opening up wildlife corridors to allow our native species to spread and protecting our landscape from soil erosion and flood risk.

You didn’t install my biomass boiler – can you service it, or offer advice?

Of course. Call us on 0115 952 0263 or 07890 022002 – we’re happy to talk biomass until the cows come home, and you can book a service.

If you’re a Lime-Circe fuel contract customer, we’ll service your boiler for free every year anyway, and provide free advice on an ongoing basis.

Are you on the DECC’s official Biomass Suppliers List?

Yes. We are authorised and registered for inclusion on the list, which is yet to be published.

The Biomass Suppliers List is the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s way of making sure that the UK’s blossoming wood fuelled heating industry is sustainable and delivers against the UK’s carbon reduction agenda. From Spring 2015, RHI payments will only be available to businesses and homes that purchase wood fuel from a BSL-registered supplier.