Are you a homeowner with an indoor boiler system looking for insurance? Are you an insurance agent, broker or underwriter trying to understand the technical details of these systems?

Either way, this resource article is to give you the information you need.

Biothermic offers two boiler types for residential applications: firewood boilers and wood pellet boilers. Our systems are made in Austria by Fröling, the world leader in biomass heating systems with close to 70 years of manufacturing experience. Austria is at the forefront of this technology, ensuring these systems are both safe and efficient for residential and commercial use.

We have well over 200 biomass boilers in operation in Canada and all of them are insured, so you can rest assured that a Fröling system meets all Canadian safety and insurance requirements.

Yet once in a while, some of our residential customers get a refusal for coverage. In our experience, customers have trouble getting home insurance more often with firewood systems than with pellet systems.

And while it’s understandable that underwriters are cautious about any wood heat appliance (some North American models are inefficient and lack control and safety devices to ensure good operation), a refusal for a modern, safe biomass boiler like the ones we sell at Biothermic only happens because of a lack of information.

We know that modern, advanced firewood and wood pellet boilers provide a relief for homeowners from the high price of oil and propane, and they also provide a clean source of renewable energy. We also know that insurance companies want to be environmentally progressive and help their customers adopt modern, low-carbon and clean-heating technologies, and this article should help pave the way.

Is a biomass boiler a primary or a secondary heat source?

If you are seeking residential insurance for a home heated with a firewood or wood pellet, indoor, hot-water boiler system, the first question an agent or underwriter will ask is: What is the primary heat source?

The answer is that right now, as the technology is new in North America, most insurance companies consider biomass boilers an outlier and they typically approve these systems on a case-by-case basis.  In most installations, the biomass boiler will be the primary heat source.  The backup heat source of propane, oil or electricity is more expensive and customers will minimize its use.  In some cases, an insurance company will prefer to refer to the biomass boiler as the backup or secondary source to the conventional propane, electric or oil backup.

What will I need to insure the Fröling S3 firewood boiler?

The Fröling S3 firewood boiler functions similarly to a typical gas or oil boiler system. These boilers have multiple automatic safety features built in to ensure losses don’t occur.

• Electrical certification for Canada: Yes ✓
• Air intake greater than 18 inches from the floor: Yes ✓
• WETT certification ready: Yes ✓
• Professionally designed hydronic system: Yes ✓
• Multiple safety features: Yes ✓

How is the heat generated?

The Fröling S3 boiler is loaded manually with firewood and lit once or twice daily. The doors are closed and latched, and operation is automatic. The boiler heats water up to 80 degrees Celsius and then circulates to the building through conventional heating systems typical with all boiler systems. Any heat that isn’t used by the building is stored in the buffer tank for use when the fuel in the boiler is fully consumed.

The Fröling S3 boiler uses primary and secondary combustion to reach a high level of efficiency.  No smoke odour is detectable when the boiler is operating.

Watch a video of the Fröling S3 boiler:

 

Refer to the brochure for the Froling S3 firewood boiler

 

What are the Safety devices?

Temperature monitoring. Boiler temperature and flue gas temperature are constantly monitored by the boiler.  The boiler will adjust fan speed and air inlet openings to optimize combustion. It will also control boiler loading pump speed to control boiler temperature.   Should either temperature exceed a factory set default value, the boiler will slow the fan and close the air inlets to slow combustion.

Boiler overheating. The S3 has a heat exchanger in the boiler that is connected to domestic cold water. In the event that the boiler’s temperature exceeds 90 degrees Celsius, a temperature actuated valve will open and flush the boiler with cool water to reduce temperature.

Electrical outage. In the event of an electrical outage while the boiler is heating, air flow will stop as the fan will not turn. Heat will move through the boiler to the buffer tanks through convection.  Boiler temperature may rise high enough causing the supplied cold water valve to open and flush the boiler with cool water.

 

How is a backup heat source integrated?

There are several methods to provide backup heating. Customers can choose to install an additional electric or gas boiler that will take over heating if the firewood boiler is not used. The backup boiler would turn on automatically if there is not enough heat from the firewood boiler.  There are many ways to connect a backup heat source and Biothermic provides customers with schematics for most methods of connection.

[insert image of gas boiler.] Caption: This schematic shows a gas boiler connected to the same piping system as the firewood boiler. In this scenario, the gas boiler is connected by wiring and is controlled by the firewood boiler. This ensures seamless heat from the backup source if the firewood boiler is not used.

What kind of chimney is used?

All Fröling residential boilers will use 6-inch typical solid wood fuel venting that is installed similar to other wood burning appliances. The chimney can be installed following the WETT codes.

The Fröling boiler uses automatic controls to limit the flue gas temperature to a factory setpoint. Generally, chimney temperatures will not exceed 180 degrees Celsius. With proper maintenance, the efficient combustion of the boiler leaves no creosote buildup in the chimney.

We recommend annual chimney cleaning regardless to our customers.

Is there electrical certification?

Both sizes of the Fröling S3 boiler carry CSA certification as tested by OMNI test labs. This information is permanently labelled on the front of the boiler between the ignition door and the secondary combustion door.

Certifications for all Froling boilers in Canada can be found here on the OMNI Test Labs website.

Will the boilers meet emissions standards?

Easily yes!

The Fröling S3 boilers conform with US EPA 2020 particulate emissions standards. Emissions are far lower than typical efficient “airtight” wood stoves and again lower than all outdoor wood boilers.

EPA Appliance Record and emissions specifications for Froling S3 30

EPA Appliance Record and emissions specifications for Froling S3 50

 

What will I need to insure the Fröling PE1 wood pellet boiler?

The Fröling PE1 is also for residential use and most of the technical specifications detailed above for the firewood boiler apply to this boiler too.

The PE1 pellet boilers are extremely safe, so much so that it’s virtually impossible to have a runaway fire because of its safety devices and the small size of the combustion chamber. The boiler simply shuts down in the event of a fault, or just runs out of fuel if the electrical connection is lost.

Unlike the S3 firewood boiler, the PE1 pellet boiler does not have a cold water flushing safety device to cool the boiler if it overheats.  Overheating is not possible with the PE1 since the amount of fuel in the combustion chamber is too small to overheat the boiler.

Refer to the brochure for the Froling PE1 wood pellet boiler

 

Are the emissions from PE1 pellet boilers also acceptable?

Again: Yes!

Emissions from Froling pellet boilers are extremely low because of the advanced combustion control and the controlled quality of wood pellet fuel.

EPA Appliance Record and emissions specifications for Froling PE1 20

EPA Appliance Record and emissions specifications for Froling PE1 35

 

What will my insurance broker need from me?

This article should assist all homeowners in getting their systems approved for coverage. When submitting your request for coverage, remember to provide a copy of this article as well as the following information to your insurance agent or broker:

1. Copy of the WETT Certificate must be submitted to the insurer.
2. Proof that you are prepared to have chimney cleaning and/or regular maintenance done annually by a qualified professional.
3. Proof of a backup power source if the wood portion fails to keep the house heated and prevent freezing of the water. Electrical or gas is acceptable but for most companies, gas is the preferred option.  (If you are using our schematics, submit it to your broker.)
4. Photo of the sticker showing the Unit is a CSA/ULC approved unit. This is easily found on all boilers, look for the OMNI logo.
5. Proof that the unit was/will be installed to building codes by a professional(s).
6. Proof that the unit is permanently installed on a concrete floor

A reminder on customer responsibility

As the supplier, Biothermic can only give our customers the boiler, parts and a professional schematic.

It is still up to each customer to have their system installed properly, make sure the chimney is properly set up and that the boiler is placed in a safe place (for example, you shouldn’t ever put the boiler on a carpeted floor.)

Our staff are here to help answer all your questions for you and your insurance company about our systems and the safe installation of your boiler. Call or email us at any time!