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corn has its advantages and disadvantages, it should only be run in stoves designed to handle it. and yes it is harder to light , most manual lighting corn units recommend using pellets to get the unit started before the corn starts to feed. most auto light pellet stoves will struggle or fail to light straight corn, our CPM unit uses an air pump and a beefed up igniter to light corn, i believe harman's does the same.
I never tried to smoke a ham but I have seen corned beef. I hear grass pellets might catch on. Hope they don't smoke too much, it's against the law to smoke grass you know.
If you had grass pellets you would need to run the vent pipe back into the house for economy's sake, grass isnt cheap.
And was the horse on hardwood or softwood pellets? Makes a big difference, if it was softwood he probably pined away.
You already have a manure stove. Should burn fine in that beast, though you might want to ask Mike about the warranty. Can't see why it would be an issue though. Just head to the local farm and start pattying up some of those meadow muffins. (Tip: If you can make them on a south facing wall they'll dry faster. Oh, and be sure to wash hands afterward.)
Give them a month to dry and stack em in the wood shed or garage. They'll burn fine, smells a bit like old popcorn. But nothing your neighbors can't handle. :roll:
I burned a lot of corn before going to pellets last season. Corn was grand at $75 to 125/ton but soon lost its luster when pellets became cheaper. They say all over the net that corn gives nearly 2K more btu but for the life of me I never saw it at all. If anything the pellets seemed to go a lot farther per ton. Perhaps due to the fact that they hardly dry corn these days and if over 11% the values drop off. When you add the hassle of those 100 lb bags or better yet screening your own it just falls right off. It also tends to spew corn fallout all over your ceiling if you have a grinder like me. Pellets way far cleaner hands down. Last winter I made it all season on about 3 tons of Sams Club NLL pellets at a cost of 192 / ton. I sure didn't come close to that with corn the previous years though a lot of it was likely due to a fairly warm winter. Yet I didn't find it ALL THAT WARM. Going to a thermostat likely helped one hell of a lot too. Would I go back to corn, in a minute if the price went back down but thats not going to happen anytime soon. Just like the name brand or hi test versus regular debate use whats cheaper and you are often better off. I sure do appreciate having a multifuel though, the versatility leaves lots of options. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I burned a lot of corn before going to pellets last season. Corn was grand at $75 to 125/ton but soon lost its luster when pellets became cheaper. They say all over the net that corn gives nearly 2K more btu but for the life of me I never saw it at all. If anything the pellets seemed to go a lot farther per ton. Perhaps due to the fact that they hardly dry corn these days and if over 11% the values drop off. When you add the hassle of those 100 lb bags or better yet screening your own it just falls right off. It also tends to spew corn fallout all over your ceiling if you have a grinder like me. Pellets way far cleaner hands down. Last winter I made it all season on about 3 tons of Sams Club NLL pellets at a cost of 192 / ton. I sure didn't come close to that with corn the previous years though a lot of it was likely due to a fairly warm winter. Yet I didn't find it ALL THAT WARM. Going to a thermostat likely helped one hell of a lot too. Would I go back to corn, in a minute if the price went back down but thats not going to happen anytime soon. Just like the name brand or hi test versus regular debate use whats cheaper and you are often better off. I sure do appreciate having a multifuel though, the versatility leaves lots of options. I wouldn't have it any other way.
when i started researching the biomass thing, i recieved a note from u of ontario,where a lot of research was being conducted, that most if not all grains had a btu content of 6500-7000 per pound. so i think your observations are pretty nearly correct.