Small Waste Oil Burners – Regulations
We have received notification from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) that they intend to consult on whether the revised guidance in respect of Small Waste Oil Burners (SWOB) is clear.
Existing guidance allowed local authorities to consider them on a case by case basis and in most cases exempt them from the regulations and issue a simple permit costing less than £100 per year. This was generally referred to as being “exempt from the WID” (EU Waste Oil Directive).
The new guidance explicitly states that Small Waste Oil burners ARE within the scope of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2010. This clarification means that in order to continue to burn waste oil in a SWOB after 31st March 2016 it will be necessary to have a permit under Schedule 13A of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2010.
Although these will still be issued by local authorities, the fees will be set by DEFRA with an initial application fee of £3218 and an annual fee of £1,384. There is also likely to be additional monitoring requirements which will further increase costs.
This is likely to be cost prohibitive for most garages and the only alternative will be to burn non-waste fuel. It is important to note that the consultation does not ask whether SWOBs should continue to be exempt, only whether the revised guidance is clear.
NOTE: This change to the guidance affects England and Wales only, current guidance in Scotland and Northern Ireland already states that SWOBs are within the legislation.
If you currently have a permit issued by your local authority, it is likely that you will receive a letter from them shortly advising you of the changes.
Waste oil heaters, which really should be called multi oil heaters as they can operate on various alternative oils which do not require a licence from Defra. These units can be operated on 35 second heating oil, diesel, processed fuel oil (PFO) and bio oils such as rapeseed, linseed and other certain refined vegetable oils.
Our small waste oil heater, which is manual ignition, does not require any adjustment to burning the above oils.
Our automatic SZ range of waste oil heaters requires a simple adjustment to the compressed air pressure and the temperature settings of the pre-heat oil thermostat.
For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us via email or on 01202 822221
