I didn't realize that Garn boilers could also burn corn cobs, but according to the manual, you can. Has anyone ever burned cobs in a Garn before? I'd love to be able to get feedback about how it compares to wood. I need 2 knee replacements and I just can't slug wood like I used to be able to. I have no idea how much you would burn in a season, or how much corn cobs even cost....but if wood keeps going up (and it will be because no one can afford to heat their homes with anything else nowadays.) I'm wondering if it might be worth looking into. Storage and loading might be a PITA...I'd have to put some thought into that....but it would still be one heck of a lot less work than wood! Just curious! Thanks! Patti
BURNING CORN COBS IN GARN BOILERS
- Thread starter Patti
- Start date
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jblnut
Burning Hunk
It’s not a Garn but I have burnt corn cobs in my Crown Royal 7400MP before and they burn well. They are around 15-16,000,000btu/ton and take up about the same space as a cord and a half of wood. They are less energy dense than wood so you won’t be able to pack as many btus in the stove as you could with wood. Since they pack together they seem to smolder more than burn in my experience but once they get going they burn hot and fast.
The trouble with corn cobs is not many places have them as a by product anymore unless you live near a seed corn shelling facility. Not many farmers harvest cob corn and shell it later anymore. The ones that do feed the cobs or use them on the farm.
Will that Garn burn coal ? I mix coal in my boiler and it extends the burn times quite nicely.
The trouble with corn cobs is not many places have them as a by product anymore unless you live near a seed corn shelling facility. Not many farmers harvest cob corn and shell it later anymore. The ones that do feed the cobs or use them on the farm.
Will that Garn burn coal ? I mix coal in my boiler and it extends the burn times quite nicely.
Hi! I'm so sorry I didn't reply...I didn't see this message until just now. (I often don't get email notifications that there are replies and I don't know why. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. ) Anyways....Thanks for the info about the corn cobs. So in comparison, how many times would you have to stoke it if you had to stoke wood every 12 hours on really cold days? I'm not familiar with a Crown Royal (unless it's mixed with coke! hahaha), but how full do you make the burn chamber? The Garn is HUGE.....even if I only filled it 3/4 full, it would be a heck of a lot of corn cobs. When you say they 'pack together'- do you place them in individually side by side or do you just 'throw a bunch in'? I couldn't 'place them' in the Garn, I'd just be throwing them in randomly. (wouldn't they burn better that way anyways? It would allow for more air circulation around them as opposed to stacking them (If I am understanding you correctly!) What about cobs with the corn still on them? You could burn that couldn't you, because lots of stoves burn corn only (no cobs), so since the Garn can burn bare cobs, it seems like it could burn cobs with the corn on. Since they take cow corn off later in the fall, I could probably buy that directly from a farmer or somewhere like a livestock exchange auction house. Where do farmers go to buy it if they run out or don't grow it? Feed mills? Do they sell corn on the cob? (I really know nothing about corn crops!) Oh- btw- I am in Ontario....and we aren't allowed to burn coal here! I have a lot of research to do!
jblnut
Burning Hunk
I get them from a neighbor that still harvests cob corn and shells it as farmers did 50+yrs ago before combines were common. I’ll burn around 3-4 ton of cobs a year if I had to put a guess to it but he has around 30 ton doing the math coming off of what he has on farm corn cob corn storage. I like burning non wood stuff in the shoulder seasons and during the days.
I bring two 300bu gravity boxes over and he fills them heaping full and brings them back. I dump them on a concrete floor in the shed they’re stored in, scoop shovel them into a wheel barrow, scoop shovel them into the stove into a big random pile.
Whole corn cobs burn poorly for some reason unless mixed with other material. I haven’t burnt a lot as I usually feed the corn or sell of as grain but occasionally the same neighbor I get the cobs from has some moldy stuff he doesn’t want to feed and I’ve tried burning it and it doesn’t burn well.
Burning wood is honestly the best thing to put in most stoves that can burn wood. I’ve burnt all kinds of natural (and some no no things) in my stove and a wood/coal mix is the best combo I’ve found.
As far as where to find things I’d hit up some place like Facebook marketplace or Craigslist or whatever they have in a Canadian equivalent to find cobs or corn. I’m sure there are farmers out there that’d sell you grain corn but most will want to sell a large quantity. I have buddies asking to buy corn to fill their deer feeders and I usually say no unless we’re already going to be loading out soon because it’s a pain to get a small amount out of the bin. I haul 1400bu at a time to market and it comes out of my bins at 1.5bu/second so it’s tough to fill a 5gal pail lol.
Good luck with the new adventure and ask whatever other questions you may have.
I bring two 300bu gravity boxes over and he fills them heaping full and brings them back. I dump them on a concrete floor in the shed they’re stored in, scoop shovel them into a wheel barrow, scoop shovel them into the stove into a big random pile.
Whole corn cobs burn poorly for some reason unless mixed with other material. I haven’t burnt a lot as I usually feed the corn or sell of as grain but occasionally the same neighbor I get the cobs from has some moldy stuff he doesn’t want to feed and I’ve tried burning it and it doesn’t burn well.
Burning wood is honestly the best thing to put in most stoves that can burn wood. I’ve burnt all kinds of natural (and some no no things) in my stove and a wood/coal mix is the best combo I’ve found.
As far as where to find things I’d hit up some place like Facebook marketplace or Craigslist or whatever they have in a Canadian equivalent to find cobs or corn. I’m sure there are farmers out there that’d sell you grain corn but most will want to sell a large quantity. I have buddies asking to buy corn to fill their deer feeders and I usually say no unless we’re already going to be loading out soon because it’s a pain to get a small amount out of the bin. I haul 1400bu at a time to market and it comes out of my bins at 1.5bu/second so it’s tough to fill a 5gal pail lol.
Good luck with the new adventure and ask whatever other questions you may have.
