At the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Silz, an old and inefficient oil heating system was replaced with a modern pellet heating system. This does not only save around 26,000 liters of heating oil annually, but also freed up valuable space by eliminating the need for the old oil tank room.

“We are glad to have found a raw material sourced locally,” explains economist Sister Maria Seraphia Humpf, describing the decision to install the pellet heating system. The modernization involved removing the old oil heating system, including the disposal of the old oil tank – and installing two new Guntamatic Biocom 100 pellet boilers, along with necessary infrastructure adaptations. The entire pellet system was installed and commissioned within three weeks.

Old Oil Boiler Out– Modern Pellet Heating in

The pellet storage facility was set up in one of the existing oil tank rooms, where part of the space was re-bricked and sloped to accommodate up to 24 tons of wood pellets. A screw conveyor system transports the pellets from the new pellet storage area to the two boilers. The heat generated supplies five consumer circuits as well as the hot water system through a heat distributor. To balance the load, three buffer tanks with a capacity of 1,500 liters each were installed, ensuring optimal combustion and clean burnout.

Significant Efficiency Gains

The two new pellet boilers have a combined annual energy consumption of approximately 210,000 kWh. Since no additional electricity is required to supply hot water, a total of approximately 59,000 kWh will be saved. Based on the convent’s previous oil bill, this translates to a cost saving of roughly €6,000 for the 2023/24 heating season.