Heating Broiler Barns with a Wood Pellet Furnace

The primary goal of this project is to concurrently monitor heating fuel energy use in broiler production barns that are using two different primary heating fuel sources over a full year of production. Heating system 1 consists entirely of natural gas fired radiant and forced air heaters that are typically used in the broiler industry. Heating system 2 uses wood pellet furnaces as the primary heat source with backup heating provided by the same natural gas fired equipment as used in system 1. A secondary goal is to monitor operation of the minimum rate ventilation equipment to determine if the heating systems generate differences in ventilation rate and/or environmental conditions within the barns.