Over from the Hearth Room

[jrcurto]

Greetings, I am a wood stove burner and am ready to begin planning a second stove for the other end of the house. Going with a pellet burner and want to get your input. Does a multi-fuel unit really handle different pellet types and qualities without issue? If I can get corn in bulk, store it, and burn, would that be a major deciding factor? Also, does anyone have experience with the Selkirk direct vent multi fuel system. Does the direct vent effectively preheat the intake air and is it worth it? Thanks for any advice.

Jim

 

[briansol]

Corn is corrosive... there's some pics here of venting just destoryed from it. I wouldn't consider it, honestly. Plus, here in ct, last i looked, it's more expensive than pellets in the first place. Multi-fuel isn't really about burning different pellets.... although they tend to do it better in some cases.

 

[Bioburner]

With corn going down in price,last check was below 140/ per ton it gets attention. The ending pipe with the termination catches the brunt of the corrosion because of the water vapor condensation. Can the thirty bucks or so for the last piece of venting be replaced on a bi annual basis be offset by the cheaper burning of corn or a corn blend? A stove with a straight out the wall venting with one piece of pipe is very manageable.

 

[Lousyweather]

corn can be a great deal if you are in corn country.....but....
1. Its much more corrosive than pellets...and this isn't just the pipe, but the stove itself.......folks aren't gonna clean after spring, leaving detritus in the stove...how is it on fan, bearings, steel, or the stove itself?
2. The corn has to be very low moisture
3. It doesn't "keep" well over the humid summers we get in certain parts of the country
4. Rodents.....

 

[St_Earl]

some folks burn nutshells as their "multi" fuel. snowy rivers lives out in oregon which is filbert (hazelnut) territory. and she gets them by the truckload.

i think you have to burn much more by way of volume, but in certain areas they are dirt cheap compared to pellets.

 

[Bioburner]

Corn has no more problem with picking up moisture than pellets. Probably less. Stoves seem to fair pretty well with corn. Just scrapped a 03 countryside and had more damage from the house fire than the insides had with the fire of corn. Still servicing a 2000 that eats about 150 bu per year with the stirrer bushing being replaced and exhaust fan replace 2 years ago. So only about $200 for parts in 13 years service. Rodent and bugs, steel drums with lids and a handful of moth balls keeps all the critters away.

 

[Bioburner]

some folks burn nutshells as their "multi" fuel. snowy rivers lives out in oregon which is filbert (hazelnut) territory. and she gets them by the truckload.

i think you have to burn much more by way of volume, but in certain areas they are dirt cheap compared to pellets.

Cherry pits in Michigan, Olive pits California, probably would get some Almond shells but someone is using them for making some nice caskets.

 

[briansol]

Last I looked, corn was 330 a ton here, not the 140 price point which makes it useless IMO to bother with. my stove will do up to 50% corn so at one point I wanted to try it, but I just decided not to bother.

 

[Bioburner]

Last I looked, corn was 330 a ton here, not the 140 price point which makes it useless IMO to bother with. my stove will do up to 50% corn so at one point I wanted to try it, but I just decided not to bother.

Nymex corn as of this AM is 4.25/bu and elevators pay a lot less as they have to ship etc. I just checked local price and was 3.85 if no dockages. $3.85 x 35.71(bu/per/ton)=137.49/ton if you buy some from a farmer

 

[briansol]

Maybe in the mid west.... out here, in a bag, its 330/ton

 

[Bioburner]

Its outlandish what they can get to put something in a bag. Local store gets $8 per 50lb. bag. Processed, pelleted feed for horses is only $9.50

 

[St_Earl]

^grammin' it out.

 

[Sniz]

$9.99/bag here in MD right now. Making my deer feeders very expensive.

Need to find a local farmer who will sell by the ton dumped right into my truck bed.

 

[Bioburner]

That's how to do it. Cut out the middle men. Good deer harvest here. One more weekend of firearm.