Glyngary is renowned for quality bespoke joinery manufacture, especially for its distinctive range of sash windows and casement windows and doors, which are manufactured in a wide range of natural woods. The family-owned company, established in 1985 by Colin Yates and now operated jointly by his sons Glyn and Gary Yates, undertakes all production at the company’s 19,000ft2 facility near Warrington, Cheshire.
In common with all joinery manufacturers, Glyngary Joinery creates a good deal of wood waste. Avoiding the need to dispose of this waste and instead use it to heat the business premises made sense in itself, but the DCS proposal also explained the financial benefits of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme (RHI).
This Government-funded scheme, which was launched in 2011 and managed by OFGEM, pays end users for every kW of heat generated for their business premises.
DCS predicted that the company’s capital expenditure on a suitable system could be recovered in around five years through RHI payments, but the Government’s payback period for generating heat is continuous for 20 years after installation – effectively generating additional income for up to 15 years.
Commenting on the decision to commission the new installation, Gary Yates says: “We have had a long-standing relationship with DCS; they installed our existing extraction system and have taken care of maintenance and LEV testing for many years. We have always been impressed by their professional approach and the proposal DCS put forward for the new biomass system presented compelling economic reasons for going ahead with the investment.”
Wood waste from the various machines and workstations in the factory continues to be extracted via the existing DCS filter unit but, rather than the collected wood chips, dust and shavings ending up in a waste trailer, the material is now transferred by means of a transport loop to a cyclone which is situated above a new storage silo.
The waste is discharged pressure-free from the cyclone, via a rotary valve, and drops into the storage silo below. The silo itself incorporates a mechanical agitator to ensure a consistent flow of mixed waste to a screw conveyor, which in turn delivers the wood fuel through to the boiler room. Sight windows, arranged vertically up the side of the silo, allow easy visual monitoring of wood waste levels.
The boiler room houses the new DCS 300kW biomass boiler, along with the RHI metering units which provide a real-time readout of kilowatt hours of heat produced, providing Gary Yates with a constant indicator of the revenue being generated.
The high efficiency, user-friendly boiler has automatic ignition, automatic heat exchange cleaning, and automatic de-ashing – all standard features which help to maximise efficiency and reduce downtime for maintenance. To minimise emissions from the burner, the flue is fitted with a fume scrubber which ensures the system performs well within local authority guidelines.
To make most efficient use of the hot water generated by the biomass boiler, DCS installed three separate hot water loop systems. One of the three loops exclusively serves the spraying/drying room where two heat exchangers, independently controlled by room thermostats, maintain a constant even temperature throughout the working day.
A second separately metered loop is routed through a series of six heat exchangers, strategically-sited above the remainder of the workshop area. This flexible, efficient use of the boiler ensures both the drying room and workshop are always maintained at optimum working temperatures. The third loop, connected to an externally-sited heat dissipater, is designed to operate in the unlikely event that any excess heat is generated – this loop is not metered, so receives no RHI payback, but the system is finely tuned to the factory’s requirements and the dissipater is rarely used.
To provide Glyngary with the desired heating levels, the boiler consumes up to four tonnes of wood waste each week during the cooler months of the year, but in the summer months this reduces to around one tonne. In winter, the factory doesn’t produce sufficient filtered waste to meet the demand of the boiler, but all waste wood off-cuts from the factory are collected and stored for future use.
DCS supplied a high-throughput Schuko Off-Cut Shredder which is used to recycle the stored timber when it’s required for wood fuel. Additionally, Glyngary purchases around 20 tonnes of wood chips per year to augment the supply of fuel in winter – but even burning the bought-in fuel returns a profit.
Area sales manager for DCS, Ray Townley, adds: “DCS were delighted to be awarded this contract. The system is ideally suited to Glyngary’s requirements, and working with Gary and the team is always a pleasure.”
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