I have a Baby Magnum corn stove. When starting it get a clump that fills up the pot. It is relatively hard clum and is a combination of very light ash with half burned pieces of corn. I have tried less air, more air, more feed, less feed, corn cleaned with a vacuum, corn right out of the corn bin, different corn, and cleaned the stove with an air compressor. If I remove the clump and let the stove continue to run it runs fine for days. It is just that clump that is created when it is started that stops it. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do about this? Thanks for any help!
Weird ash buildup when starting corn stove
- Thread starter bbells
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Tonyray
Minister of Fire
biomass burner
New Member
Bioburner
Moderator
I would have to agree with biomass. The corn is probably around 15% and once stove gets warm enough can digest the corn with a higher ignition point. I used to service Countryside and would bring some of my own corn to at least leave a properly running stove. They really like corn around 13% or less.
Lake Girl
Moderator
As others have said a cold stove or that stove needs drier corn. Some companies stress 12-12.5% moisture for proper burning. Half burned pieces of corn are proof. Once the stove gets hot enough it will be OK . Mixing a little pellets will also help.
Sorry about the delay, I clicked the site to notify me when there are replies, but didn't receive any notification. I tried a couple different batches of corn, and this corn works fine in the same brand and model of stove in my barn. I guess I will try mixing in some pellets, and moving my burn pot frm the barn to the house. That one I modified about 6 years ago to burn pellets, not corn, better. I used small bolts to fill in the top 3 rows of vent holes. Maybe that solves the problem with the corn? I will post with results of both tries. Thanks for the responses.
Here is how I fixed it. The corn is obviously fine since there is no problem with my same brand and model stove out in the barn. First I cleaned the entire stove with an air compressor again. Didn't fix it. Next, I replaced the seal around all the doors. Didn't fix it. Then I did 2 things that did fix it. 1) Added a switch to manually turn the feed auger on. Without this the auger was starting 30 seconds after the stove was turned on. This was way too soon for the pellets to start and do their job. I now activate the auger feed after 7-10 minutes. 2) I took a moto-tool and ground down the lip where the corn feeds into the pot. Doing this helped the corn to drop straight down into the burn pot instead of bouncing to the front where the clump was created. Now it runs fine.
Lake Girl
Moderator
Bioburner
Moderator
What was the time before feed on the other stove without issues? Just trying to figure out if the stove had a to low of pof switch or something wrong with the board
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