Chris Franklin, Chairman at Ranheat Engineering Ltd – a leading UK manufacturer of wood combustion equipment – continues his series of articles exclusively for Furniture and Joinery Production. This month, he writes further about the need for heating in the winter.
The long hot summer of 2026 will be remembered as a hot summer, but with winter approaching now is the time to think about heating this coming winter.
Ranheat are well known for the manufacture and installation of industrial wood – fired boilers and warm air heaters. They also offer a wide range of purpose made solutions to store the wood-waste prior to burning.
Factories come in a wide range of sizes, so a wide range of solutions is needed.
At Ranheat, we realise that every installation is different and not just “a one size fits all”. Following an enquiry from a new customer, often the first step is a site visit, once the customer is given a ‘ballpark figure’ of the likely cost.
The site visit is used to determine the best way to integrate a wood burning system with the dust extraction system or often the extraction system is new as well. After determining the heat load on the factory, we need to evaluate the type of waste (extracted or off-cuts, or often both). A warm air solution is often simpler (and cheaper) but does not give the flexibility of a boiler-based system. A boiler-based system can include an Air Handling unit for spray and drying rooms, space heating via unit heaters, air curtains in loading bays, radiators for the offices and radiant panels for specialist areas like veneer rooms.
Some manufacturers are seasonal and produce more wood-waste in the summer than in the winter. Off-cuts can be stored during the summer for use in the winter by passing them through a wood-chipper of granulator. A large storage silo means extracted waste can be stored during the summer for use in the winter. All these criteria are discussed during the initial site visit.
Ranheat can also supply purpose made steel buildings to protect your investment, for boilers and also warm air systems.
Ranheat work with all of the dust extraction system manufacturers in the UK (there are over 130 companies doing dust extraction), as well as with all of the major woodchipper manufacturers, mainly through PRW machinery.
This gives the customer a huge choice of suppliers when looking for an integrated system for dust extraction wood chipping and integrated wood-waste burning. Ranheat systems can also be used to generate electricity as well as disposal of wood-waste. They can also generate cooling for summer use.
For further information on all types and sizes of industrial woodburning equipment from 75 kW upwards, contact Ranheat on 01604 750005 or [email protected]
