Quality in the wood heating industry

Gondwana has been in the wood heating industry for well over a decade, with in-house experience of every kind of wood-fired system — from the humble cast-iron or steel stove, through masonry heaters, to pellet, chip and log boilers, pellet stoves and boiler stoves. We have watched the industry change, and not all of it for the better.

What went wrong

With wood-burning stoves very much in vogue and no sign of a decline, showrooms have multiplied, and vans advertising wood-burning credentials are everywhere — many of them with little or no qualification or experience. Double-glazing companies and cavity-wall installers now sell and install stoves and biomass boilers.

That is not to say that qualifications and experience are required, at least in Scotland. With no self-certification scheme accepted or valued by the Scottish Government, this is a largely unregulated industry, which leaves homeowners open to potentially dangerous installations.

Nor is the industry entirely ignored: some councils take more interest in stoves and boilers than others, and you will often get different answers from different people in the same building control department, which we find frustrating. It is also worth knowing that an installation overseen by a building control officer is not necessarily safe, or up to standard. A building control officer is a generalist, and the finer points of wood heating are a specialism.

How the industry could be improved

The only way we can see is proper self-certification — through the existing HETAS scheme or another like it. HETAS works in England the way Gas Safe works across the UK: the installer registers each new installation with the organisation, which notifies building control. There is no reason a Scottish company cannot be HETAS registered, but in Scotland it has no legal standing and generally carries no weight with building control. That is changing: as building control offices become aware of the gaps in knowledge, some are now asking for HETAS certificates or spillage-test certificates.

We are HETAS trained and registered ourselves, and get a substantial amount of work through membership, along with technical training and support.

The renewable heating industry has seen enormous interest in the past few years, with companies appearing and disappearing just as quickly. Biomass — pellet, chip and log boilers — took off on the back of the Renewable Heat Incentive, which made it a very good financial proposition for homeowners and close to a no-brainer for commercial installations. With the RHI came MCS and the Renewable Energy Consumer Code, which exist to look after the customer. A good idea; but somewhere along the road they became bogged down in paperwork rather than in making sure customers got good, safe installations. In our experience, certification alone is no guarantee of a good installation: a scheme led by paperwork rather than by technical knowledge lets companies with little practical experience into the industry, provided they can file well.

What to look for in a wood heating company

1. Somebody recommends them.
2. They have engineers, not sales staff.
3. They are not a large company — as a rule, the bigger the company, the worse the service.
4. They are HETAS registered. It is not mandatory in Scotland, but it shows commitment to, and understanding of, wood-fuelled heating.
5. If you want a system fitted with a view to government funding, MCS and RECC certification is essential. Look for an MCS contractor who is also HETAS registered, for a practical understanding of biomass alongside the paperwork.
6. They have been around a while.
7. They have real installations you can look at — and, more importantly, past customers you can talk to.

What to be wary of

1. Sales staff with no experience of the industry.
2. A large company.
3. Subcontracting the physical work. This is becoming common: office staff win the work, process the grant and the MCS paperwork and take the money, and the company is closed down every few years to avoid warranty claims.
4. A large showroom with sales staff and an in-house architect.
5. A showroom that also sells double glazing, or flat-roof coatings.
6. A cold call, or a flyer through the door.
7. MCS certification without HETAS registration.