One of the 'charms' (or so I thought at the time) was having a wood gassification boiler.
Claimed to be 90% + efficient, you use it to heat up the water in a large thermal store. 2000 litres in this case. The hot water from here is used to provide central heating and indirectly heat the hot water tank.
"I fill it once in the morning and once at night in the depths of winter" said the vendor.
Right.
It eats wood. I feed it in the morning, at lunchtime, in the evening and last thing at night. A wheelbarrow and a half full each time. I have shelled out nearly £200 in wood and we've only been here a couple of weeks. And the house isn't that toasty either. OK, I know I've got some woodland but I really want to see what trees actually do produce leaf before I start ramping up the chainsaw. But even then, there is a finite supply.
I had thought that I might replace it with a new wood boiler and claim the RHI but that's been watered down now that it's just not economically viable. Plus it's a right ball-ache to do the regular maintenance required. For example you have to ream out six heating tubes every month or so. Yeah, right.
So the Beast is going to be replaced by a good old fashioned oil boiler.