Good to go

[SidecarFlip]

Put another 7 ton of dried (10%) field corn in the GSI today and I have 3 pallets of pellets in the barn so I'm good for about 2 years now. I usually burn about a skid of pellets and 3 ton of corn per season. Bulk bin is full to the top. I was running straight pellets but it's getting colder now so I'm adding corn at a 3-1 ratio. 2 buckets corn to one bucket pellets in 30 gallon plastic garbage cans, parked by the back deck.

Life is warm.....

 

[rickwai]

For the first time, this fall I went get corn out of our wagon and it was full of bugs. Weavels ? We have always left some corn in the wagon over the summer. I have been running corn since 08 and never had bugs before. My buddy is suppose to come over and put something in there to kill them. Is there anything that you know of that we can treat it with to kill bugs? There may be 20 bu. or less in the wagon.

 

[SidecarFlip]

He'll probably use Sevin in powder form. I tend to use 2-4-D-B which I have a lot of but I keep mine in a vertical 1000 bushel grain tank. it's stove and cattle feeds.

 

[Former Farmer]

For the first time, this fall I went get corn out of our wagon and it was full of bugs. Weavels ?

This is the reason why I don't use corn anymore.

 

[FirepotPete]

For the first time, this fall I went get corn out of our wagon and it was full of bugs. Weavels ? We have always left some corn in the wagon over the summer. I have been running corn since 08 and never had bugs before. My buddy is suppose to come over and put something in there to kill them. Is there anything that you know of that we can treat it with to kill bugs? There may be 20 bu. or less in the wagon.

Treat 'em with fire.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Have to agree with Pete and Ssyko, they will bun just fine and may add additional BTU's to the fuel bed.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Well, we got measurable white precipitation last night (2" of heavy wet snow) and it's still coming down. Central furnace has yet to come on, it's 70 in the house generally (with the help of some strategically located helper fans). My corn this year has all been dried to about 11% and it shows. I have the ugly black box (6039) set on HR2 and the PPH fuel delivery at 2.5 pounds and the whole unit is very warm, even the top which is totally insulated by an air gap from the firebox, unlike my last stove where the top of the firebox was also the outside top of the unit.

That made for some interesting encounters as it burns. Now the cats plop on top and sleep. Not fond of them, wife is and I accept their presence as a mandatory detraction. Sure like to be shut of them but not gonna happen so I deal with it. I do not clean litter pans or clean up cat puke or anything else related to their cushy life here. They are hers, so she gets to deal with those chores.

Far as I'm concerned, they all need to be outside in the snow and live in the barn and keep the vermin population at bay....

Sigh.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

I always toss a little of DE (diametric earth) in the corn bin going into fall time and it tends to keep those little devils down.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Why I mix in pellets. The pellets for some reason almost eliminate the clinkers. I've found a 3-1 ratio works very well and I have not had the stove over HR2 and 2,5PPH yet. House is at 73 but I'm consuming quite a bit of water in the humidifier, around 4 gallons every 24 hours.

 

[rickwai]

DE is a great idea. This is the 1st time since 08 that we got bugs. There is a bunch of them and they are still alive. The wife would not be happy if she saw them. I ran to the elevator and bought #300 of bin corn to hold me over. It was actually pretty clean and dry enough I guess, it burns just fine. If I burn pellets in the St Croix it wants to build carbon on burn pot bottom and jams up after awhile. This stove burns perfect on straight corn. It does not like pellets. Burning pellets creates a black messy ash. Corn produces a snow white to tan colored ash. The only black is the course stuff that seems heavy. Corn at the elevator is $10/#100 no tax. not to hateful. equals $4/bag pellets out the door. That is hard to find around here.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Hard carbon is easy to remove. I pull the burn pot and put it in a pail of hot water while I clean the stove. When I'm done cleaning, I take the soaking pot out of the water and using a sharp putty knife, remove the flaking off hard carbon and finish with scotchbrite and reinstall the now clean pot, Because it's warm, it dries almost instantly. Been doing that for years. Someday I may buy a spare pot so I can rotate them, one soaking while one in service. Corn and pellets gives me some (hard carbon) but not much. Only drawback I have with corn is the amount of fluffy ash which is excessive, whereas with pellets, ash in minimal.

Just increases my cleaning interval to a clean out every garbage can full of corn-pellet mix. and I mix up 4 plastic garbage cans of pellets and corn at a time.