M55 and corn

[phile]

I'm not sure I like corn. It is not dried down to 12%. More like 14.5% which I know is a little damp. I am mixing it 50/50 with good pellets, feed trim is down to 1,convection fan on 4,heat setting 3. It's putting out awesome heat, on premium it doesn't stir enough. It got down to -8 last night and I turned it up to heat setting 4. in about an hour the burn pot was filled and was close to the feed shoot. turned it to the bad pellet setting and now it doesn't look like eveything is burning all the way. multi-fuel setting stirs way to much. Is this purely just to wet corn? No problems with just pellets so I know it's the corn. Is 2.5% that big of a difference. this is my first year and I don't want to give up on corn because it's cheap where I live. any advice is appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

[FirepotPete]

I'm not sure I like corn. It is not dried down to 12%. More like 14.5% which I know is a little damp. I am mixing it 50/50 with good pellets, feed trim is down to 1,convection fan on 4,heat setting 3. It's putting out awesome heat, on premium it doesn't stir enough. It got down to -8 last night and I turned it up to heat setting 4. in about an hour the burn pot was filled and was close to the feed shoot. turned it to the bad pellet setting and now it doesn't look like eveything is burning all the way. multi-fuel setting stirs way to much. Is this purely just to wet corn? No problems with just pellets so I know it's the corn. Is 2.5% that big of a difference. this is my first year and I don't want to give up on corn because it's cheap where I live. any advice is appreciated. thanks in advance.

I don't know your stove so I won't attempt to tell you how to adjust it. I guess I would try a different ratio of pellets/corn. You should be able to get the corn burning you just need more heat to get it going.

 

[rickwai]

I burn straight corn in my St Croix, no pellets. I have burned probably 12 tons thru it over the years. We get corn from a farmer out of the bin and store it in a wagon tarped over under a lean too roof. By the time we empty the wagon in the spring there is some moldy corn in the very bottom. Which is from moisture and condensation I assume. I have never tested moisture and I have never had corn that did not burn. Maybe the St Croix is not as temperamental and the M55. I love burning corn!!

 

[rona]

Is your stove classified as a multi fuel stove or is it a pellet stove that the dealer said you could blend corn with pellets?
Corn is typically dried down to 15% and in most multifuel stoves that is all you have to do. If it is a little wetter you can add some pellets and get by.
Did you take a sample of your corn to a grain elevator and have it tested for moisture content? If the stove is made for burning corn most stoves have no problems burning 15% corn. Having said that Harmans PC45 likes corn at 13.5 but if you add a little pellets to the mix like one gallon of pellets to 4 gallons of corn it should work.
I think you could google your stove model asking how to burn corn in a ????? would help you.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Like rickwai I burn straight corn from a grain wagon the local farmer fills for me. Normally I just ask the farmer before he fills the wagon what the combine is telling him for the moisture content. This year it was around 14 percent moisture.

It has been burning good. The stove is a St Croix Auburn stove. Don't know your stove so can't really help with that. Just know for my stove it runs much better at setting 4 (out of 5 ).

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Might want to try burning straight corn. Get it started with pellets then switch to corn. I tried to blend early on and decided it wasn't worth the effort when corn burned so good by it self.

 

[ohbix]

I have the same stove. I burn pellets/corn in mine on the premium setting, but by weight the ratio is approx 30-40%corn to pellets. I'd suggest trying a 3:1 pellet/corn mix; then if that is successful, gradually increase the corn %. For each bag of pellets I dump in 1/3 to 1/2 of a 5 gal bucket of corn and mix. Corn requires more air to burn. If I get the corn percent too high while using the same settings as all pellets, the fuel will begin to build in the center of the burn pot liner, and it gets close to the top holes shortly before the agitator turns. You can make slight changes by adjusting your damper (to change air) and adjusting the auger chute cover in the hopper (to change feed rate). For corn/other biofuels the stove should be run on multifuel, as on that setting the fan and feed rates are different than on pellets. fyi I purchase corn from a local farmer who has an outdoor corn boiler; he said the corn is approx. 14% moisture.

 

[phile]

I have the same stove. I burn pellets/corn in mine on the premium setting, but by weight the ratio is approx 30-40%corn to pellets. I'd suggest trying a 3:1 pellet/corn mix; then if that is successful, gradually increase the corn %. For each bag of pellets I dump in 1/3 to 1/2 of a 5 gal bucket of corn and mix. Corn requires more air to burn. If I get the corn percent too high while using the same settings as all pellets, the fuel will begin to build in the center of the burn pot liner, and it gets close to the top holes shortly before the agitator turns. You can make slight changes by adjusting your damper (to change air) and adjusting the auger chute cover in the hopper (to change feed rate). For corn/other biofuels the stove should be run on multifuel, as on that setting the fan and feed rates are different than on pellets. fyi I purchase corn from a local farmer who has an outdoor corn boiler; he said the corn is approx. 14% moisture.

thanx ohbix, that's the problem I was having. burn pot filling up. I was mixing about a third corn to pellets in a 5 gallon bucket. to much corn. I will give your mixture a try.