Corn stove experience

[webbie]

I'm really liking this new corn stove - I've run for about 5 days straight.

Tried corn and pellets, but in this stove - Baby Countryside - the corn seems to work better! I have Energex pellets and they are not making me too happy....I don't know if it is the pellets or the fact that many places have stored them for a long time this year (and often outside) - it seems the pellets are not as hard as some....and that they might contain more moisture.

The corn I am using was bought as stove corn in bags - about the same price as pellets. Hopefully I will be able to find a more direct source for this.

The shop is not well sealed yet because the garage door is not properly hung and trimmed....yet, on the lowest setting it is quite toasty in there. We'll see what happens when the real winter starts but I think it will do a fine job.

So there is a question for the pellet experts here - since pellets are brought down to a very low moisture content, if they are left in regular air (unheated outdoors, etc....) wouldn't they gain moisture from the air - assuming a relatively humid environment like New England.

 

[Gibbonboy]

I'd like to know about the re-absorption of moisture, since our local hearth products dealer has pallets of them sitting outside, uncovered. Some of those bags have to leak! I looked at corn stoves, couldn't find a reasonably-priced source of corn around here. Certainly not as cheap as the stove companies would have you believe. (I heat my house with 50 cents worth of corn and a damp sponge!) I wonder what acreage you would have to plant to ensure a steady supply of corn for heat? Gotta be a ton per acre chart somewhere. Corn shellers are a couple hundred though. Glad it's working good for you. Does the exhaust smell like popcorn?

I am really interested in the switchgrass pellet study in Canada. Something like that could, if it will work without having to re-tool all the plants to use grass instead of wood.

 

[webbie]

Since my stove is for occassional space heat, the price of fuel will not be a big deal. In other words, I'll probably use a ton a year or so - $250 does not seem bad for keeping my buns warm in the shop all year!

Let's hear what folks say about excess moisture - we may have to start another topic.

There are some farms around here with big silos and fields of corn. Sooner or later, I will dig around and see what I can find - meantime, corn is the same price as pellets when bought by the bag, so not too bad. And the same per ton (in bags and perfectly clean) also.

 

[F350R]

With the right soil conditions, fertlizer, and nitrogen applied you should get as high as 225 bushels per acre average yeild way back when I used to raise a couple thousand acres of corn. As for pellets absorbing moisture I am sure they do being that your humidity is way higher than here it is the great west they probably start out higher than we have at an average of about 20%. Most pellets are shipped on shrink wrapped pallets that should keep most of the moisture out of the bags althouh the bags do have small air holes in them so a heavy rain or snow could introduce some moisture into them. If they get a direct hit of moisture they will fall apart and turn back to saw dust.

 

[Gibbonboy]

Most of the locally-grown corn around here gets turned into silage. I was just wondering if you had a couple acres, and were willing, would it be worth it or could you produce enough to heat a home? Of course, it would probably be a wash with cutting wood.

 

[homebrewz]

Re: Pellets & Moisture

I've noticed that some (maybe all?) pellet bags do have little holes in them. I was loading last year in the rain and some bags turned to sawdust.. yuk.

Anyway, this year I have a ton of Dry Creek brand stocked inside, and a ton stocked outside on a pallet and under a tarp. I just ran out of room and didn't want to collapse the floor! I'll post if there is any difference between the "indoor" and "outdoor" pellets. I haven't fired it up yet.

 

[webbie]

Most of the locally-grown corn around here gets turned into silage. I was just wondering if you had a couple acres, and were willing, would it be worth it or could you produce enough to heat a home? Of course, it would probably be a wash with cutting wood.

Educate me....does silage mean it is all chopped up? Am I wrong to assume that many fields of corn (even around here in Ma.) might be harvested and turned into dry kernels (for various uses)?

 

[Homefire]

Most of the locally-grown corn around here gets turned into silage. I was just wondering if you had a couple acres, and were willing, would it be worth it or could you produce enough to heat a home? Of course, it would probably be a wash with cutting wood.

Educate me....does silage mean it is all chopped up? Am I wrong to assume that many fields of corn (even around here in Ma.) might be harvested and turned into dry kernels (for various uses)?

Yep, all chopped up and place in piles to ferment.
The cows love it.

 

[webbie]

Wonder why they can't take the whole corn plant (after left to dry in the field), chop it up in tiny piece and then make into "corn pellets"? No waste - not that they waste it since the stalks go back to the ground in most cases anyway.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

Silage is 'chopped' earlier, when thier is stil enough moisture to ferment in the horizontal bins/bags or vertical silos.

Any corn that stands into the fall on dry stalks is going to be picked an shelled (just kernals), or left on the ears for grinding into animal feed at a later date.

I suspect strongly that if one has thier bags and ties to close the bags handy one could buy shelled corn from farms dirrectly. Just look for the large diameter 'fatter' looking silos with a 3-4 foot diameter fan on one side. Cash is always a plus.

Anyone should be able to get 100 bushels of corn out ov an acre. One can get often get someone else to plant and harvest "On the shares" half the proceeds to the land owner, half to the sharecropper. Due to costs of materials and machines this may mean tha t you net less than half the corn. If one has some acres to spare near other corn operations there may be an opportunity. Storage and crop rotation are also considerations.

ATB,
Mike P
An occasional Corn Picker

 

[struggle]

Wonder why they can't take the whole corn plant (after left to dry in the field), chop it up in tiny piece and then make into "corn pellets"? No waste - not that they waste it since the stalks go back to the ground in most cases anyway.

This sounds like a business opportunity here

 

[pelletheat]

I saw a small bag of test pellets at a PA dealer made from corn silage. They were smaller in diameter & length, dark brown in color. Interesting..........