corn burner gloat

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm with Rob, learn something new every day. I've never heard of burning the kernels. My appologies, Fred!!! Makes me wonder a little about eating corn now, though....Beans I would have expected Jim

[Pat Monahan]

Pat, couldn't really tell if you were serious or not Obviously no, otherwise the burner wouldn't work

There are many different types of corn. The most common is field corn, which is mostly fed to livestock. Some is turned into fuel (ethonal) and some is burned for heat.

Popcorn is a special kind of corn, you have to plant a different kind of seed to get it

Sweetcorn is different yet, that is what we eat mostly Belive it or not, if you find the right 'ole boy, you can eat field corn at the right time of the year and it tastes almost like sweetcorn!

Finally there is seed corn, Corn that is planted, to make more seeds, to make whatever kind of corn you want

I am sure there are others, but that is all I know

Just kidding, Jeff. I haven't heard of these before but they sound like a good idea from the comments here as far as cost/heat produced/renewable energy issues.
Pat

[Michael Ballent]

Well as I said living in the desert there really is no need to worry too much about heating... Winter is our low energy month, summer on the other hand can get brutal. Never had heard of these either, and like some of the others I was thinking that you were burning the whole thing not just the kernels.... So why can't you just toss in the cob part... or do you save those so you can turn some fancy pens

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Michael, from what I have read, the reason you can't throw in the whole thing is that the cobs burn like paper, and the kernels burn more like logs, nice constant heat. If you threw in the cobs it would cause flare ups. (Just what I have read).

P.s. you can get all the cobs you want just by walking the corn fields after they have been picked

[Dan Oelke]

I pop into the "off topic forum" on a lazy friday at work - and find a topic I know a little about.... I used to work for a company that makes corn burning stoves.

Corn burners use kernels only of corn because it is a cheap comodity that can be readily obtained. Just go to any feedmill and you can get bulk corn for less than $2/bu right now. Corn has a pretty good density and BTU/lb rating. The cobs are much less dense and produce more ash/clinker per pound than just the corn. Corn and wood pellets are pretty similar with pellets having a few more BTU's/lb than corn. Wood pellets are about 8000 BTU/lb for hardwood and 9000 BTU/lb for softwood (softwoods generally have a lot more resin/pitch which is high in energy). Corn has about 7100 BTU/lb for normal corn.

Now corn is harder to get started burning than wood pellets, but both burn pretty good once you have a hot fire going.

You *could* use the cobs - but they would have to be broken into small chunks about the size of individual kernels to work through the mechanism that feeds the corn into the burn chamber, and you might need to adjust the stove to handle the greater volume of ash. The biggest problem is that you would have to collect a lot of them somehow - combines already do a wonderful job of collecting just the kernels.

There are some people that are looking into using the cobs and corn stalks and other field refuse - but they usually will collect it and then pelletize it. The pelletization process is like a giant meat grinder (with a 200HP motor) that takes shredded cellulose material and pushes it through a die with 1/4" holes. A little water along with the heat and pressure generally makes the material stick to itself - but some materials (like some grasses) require a binder to keep the pellets from falling apart into dust. Once pelletized the material generally has a similar density and burning characteristics.

For what it's worth I have a corn burner stove in my basement - and I am still working on finishing off that room. I used a little over 100 bu of corn last winter, and reduced my propane bill by well over $500 - I still haven't looked up old bills to get a real accurate cost savings, so that estimate might be low. The stove could not heat the entire house on a really cold windy day, but it did most of the time keep up, and even on the cold days the furnace rarely kicked in.

Nice thing about corn burners is that they are less work than a wood burner - no wood to cut - buy it from the neighbor farmer - no bark/chips on the floor. I use about 3 buckets (5gal) of corn a day that I bring in from the garage. Every other day I empty the ash drawer. Twice a day I fill the hopper and the rest of the time it just keeps burning away. Maybe I'll get that thermostat hooked up this winter..... but mostly I was able to regulate the heat in the house ok manually.

[Andy Hoyt]

Have to admit I love the smell of woodsmoke. So what does this stuff smell like, when it's burning that is? Popcorn maybe?

[Dan Oelke]

Smell - kind of like a wood smoke smell - but not quite. Definetly not a popcorn smell or burnt popcorn smell either. Maybe a smoke smell, that smells a little like a corn dryer running. (those big bins with BIG fans and gas burners farmers use to get combined corn down to proper storage moisture). I am probably the worst person in the world to describe a smell or taste. Just ask my wife - she says I have no taste (ba-dump clunk). I just have a hard time describing a smell or imagining a smell from someone else's words.

I find that in the house you don't have much if any smell because you don't need to open the firebox to add fuel. When I take out the ash I sometimes shut it down and open up the front door to clean the ash off the glass door. Then I might get a little smoke in the house - but not much. My corn burner is like most in that it has a fan forcing the exhaust out the vent pipe. That means that the firbox is always under negative pressure and gives very little chance for smoke to go out into the room.

[Thomas Prondzinski]

Well I checked today and the 20 corn burners they had ordered are here. I will pick mine up next week. They have sold approx. 25 in a month. Was told good thing I ordered because they may not get any more until Dec.



Tom

[Bob Weisner]

What was the cost?

[Stuart Johnson]

As they say there is no such thing as a dumb question. This one just might push the envelope but how do you light it and get it going at the proper feed rate?

[Dan Oelke]

No stupid questions - just goofy answers.

Most corn burners have a burn "pot" where all the action takes place. The burn pot in my stove is a 4" diameter pipe about 6" high, with some holes in the bottom and sides. Others have a small trough that the corn goes into.

My corn burner (a Bixby) has built in ignition. I just push the on button and walk away. It has a control board (read a small microprocessor) that feeds so much corn in and then starts a small air compressor that blows air through a heater coil that generates very hot air blowing into the bottom of the burn pot. After about 30 seconds the corn starts turning black and smoking and within 1-2 minutes there is flame. After 10 minutes or a little less the heaters cut out as enough corn is burning and the steel hot enough to sustain the fire. The air compressor then is shut down, and just the exhaust fan pulls air through the burn pot to keep the fire going.

On some stoves you need to start it with wood pellets and/or starting gel. The wood pellets ignite easier than corn, but you can't just put a match to them to get them going. The starting gel is basically jellied alcohol. Each manufacturer has their own instructions - but the general process is that you put a handful of pellets or corn into the burn pot followed by a good squirt of two of the starting gel. There might be a button you can press so that the auger puts that initial corn/pellets in the pot for you. Then you use a match/lighter to start the gel. A little more corn/pellets fed in on top of this once it starts going. Then after 5-10 minutes it should be burning well enough to let it going in "normal" mode.

I have also successfully started a stove using some wadded up newspaper and wood pellets - BUT it was touch and go. There just isn't enough space in the small burn pot for enough newspaper to burn long enough to get the wood pellets going really well.

As for the proper feed rate - the stoves are generally programed with that by the manufacturer, and often with several different heat levels. Each heat level has a different feed rate for the fuel, and possibly a different exhaust fan speed. Now that being said - every manufacturer also has a couple of trim-pots that let you adjust that level a little. (+/- 20% or so). The differences in the fuel, or the altitude you are at, or the amount of stove pipe you have to push it through all affect how well the stove will burn. You just need to check on the stove every 10-20 minutes and see if the fuel is piling up faster than it's burning - then adjust the feed or fan rate accordingly. The biggest thing is to make an adjustment and then LEAVE IT ALONE for at least a half hour to see how it reacts. It takes a while for these changes to stablilize and operators tend to adjust too much and too often. A good dealer can answer the questions about how to adjust the stove. In general a little tweak or two might be needed but not much.

As for cost - it ranges depending on who's stove you get, and what size it is. I think that most are from $2000 to $4000 total cost - that is the stove plus stove pipe, termination caps, etc.

[Fred Voorhees]

I'm with Rob, learn something new every day. I've never heard of burning the kernels. My appologies, Fred!!! Makes me wonder a little about eating corn now, though....Beans I would have expected Jim

Jesus, no harm no foul!! Beleive me, when I saw my first one, I was floored also. I can attest to the heat they throw though. Absolutely amazing!! Me, I have a fireplace woodstove insert here at my home. Which reminds me that once I come back from my vacation to Syracuse next week, I have to begin to think about getting the wood splitter out and begin that annual task. DRAT!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thomas Prondzinski]

Dan is correct the Harmon that we are getting is fully automated,it has automatic ignition,no starting gels ,no wood pellets just corn. cost is in the range that Dan states.


Tom