Corn burning stove

tglass · Aug 19, 2006

Anyone have a corn burning stove/heater? Know it's hot out, but I've been trying to find out if they really save, difference between brands, good and bad points before it gets cold.

scesnick · Aug 19, 2006

I had an Englander pellet stove that would also allow me to burn a 50-50 mix of corn and pellets. it worked great but had to be cleaned a little more often when burning the corn mix.
My neighbor has a corn only burning sotve and he really likes it alot. I think the savings would all depend on how much you can buy the corn for.

There were 2 really bad points that caused me to get rid of it.
1.- It needs power to work. if the power goes out so does the stove.
2.- The price of pellets sky rocketed in just 2 years.

WhyNot · Aug 19, 2006

scesnick said:
1.- It needs power to work. if the power goes out so does the stove.
2.- The price of pellets sky rocketed in just 2 years.

You are not kidding I called around last week to place my order for 4 ton's and the cheapest I found was $4.43 per 40lb bag and they can't lock that price in. I hate to say it but I may just use the oil fired boiler this year.

scesnick · Aug 20, 2006

Why not check out some of the new wood stoves? The soapstone stoves are really,really nice and throw way more heat then a pellet or corn stove. And wood is either free of alot cheaper than pellets. It will also run without power.

tglass · Aug 20, 2006

Problem I have with wood is controling the heat output and cost of delivery. I have a fireplace (not a good comparison I know), but the constant feeding,heat loss when not at home, location to heat the rest of the rooms doesn't seem worth the envestment. Also another chimney. Looked at a wood pellet stove, but they wanted $2800 and the cost of pellets and future prices would be controlled by the supplier but with corn, not as easily. Thinking about corn prices from years in the past the increase is closer to the actual cost of living and don't remember too many elevators running out. Maybe I'm wrong, but heck, that's why I asked.

mjarrels · Aug 20, 2006

Buy a harman coal stove... coal is cheap, nothing burns hotter.

mark

scesnick · Aug 20, 2006

I use the a Harmon coal stove in the spring and fall when I don't want to fire up my AHS coal boiler out in the garage. It works great and yes, you can control the heat output pretty well.
The price of coal depends on where you live though. I have about 6 coal mines within 20 miles from my house and a ton of soft ( bitiminous) coal only cost $45 and it lasts me atleast 2 months. I will tell you that the radiant heat is not as high with the corn ( or pellet ) stoves as it is with a wood/coal stove. Positioning it in a central location in your house is a must but then you have to consider how you are going to vent it out of the house so it has to be on an exteral wall also.

tgglass,
In your case I think you would really like a corn stove. I know my neighbor really likes his and 100 lbs of corn runs him about $6 at the local Ag store.

lrunge · Aug 22, 2006

I have a corn stove in my shop. It does a good job of heating it up. Corn is only $90 a ton. It's more if you buy bagged corn. You can also buy it straight from a farmer. The one I use dries his to 15% which is what you need to burn. It will also burn wood pellets, cherry pits, olive pits etc. I have used wood pellets in it also as I have a wood pellet stove in my house. The biggest down side is the cost of the stove. The closer it gets to winter the higher the prices get.

tglass · Aug 22, 2006

What brand do you have and what about initial cost? From what I've seen Northern Tools and Snowflame or something like that have the best so far. Any suggestions?