Anyone on here heat with corn??

I do and have for around 20 years now. Used to buy my corn from the co-op and had them deliver it and auger it into one of my 2 grain tanks and from there, it went into 30 gallon plastic trash
cans , 4 at a time and those went on the back deck via one of my tractors with pallet forks on it. The cattle got their ration and my stoves got theirs. Since sold off the entire herd so no cattle to feed, just the stoves and I no longer have it augered into the grain tanks, my corn comes in 2500 pound supersacks, cleaned and dried down to 12% RM or less.

Now, I mix my corn which I get for free from the seed producer down the road, with hardwood pellets at a 2 to 1 ratio. I've found that running straight corn in my USSC 6039's (I have 2, one in the shop and one in the house), develop pretty heavy clinkers on straight corm, but mixing hardwo0od pellets with the corn eliminates that. Still get a lot of ash (corn makes a huge amount of ash that necessitates a good cleaning weekly and dumping the ash pan in the gravel drive weekly as well) (the 6039's have a large ashpan and I'm glad of that.

I usually have at least 2 Supersacks in the barn and a couple ton of hardwood pellets and my bi weekly ritual (with my wife helping), is filling the 4 plastic garbage cans with pellet and corn mix.

Looking at new stoves (both mine are at least 15 years old now), Not many sold today appear to be corn capable. My stoves are also supposed to be able to burn soybeans but I tried that a while back and they burn way too hot so I decided not to roast them. No point in destroying the stoves by overheating them with soybeans and the beans burn even dirtier than corn.

Never replaced any components on either, either. I maintain the heck out of both of them, keep the motor bearings oiled and in the spring, both get torn apart, all the venting cleaned out and put away for the summer months with a good coat of PAM in the fire boxes as corn is corrosive and will eat the steel fireboxes up if not maintained. Curious as to whether anyone else burns corn or are all of you pellet burners?

I will have to replace a couple sections of venting this spring as the corn (nitric acid vapor is eating a couple sections up but been using the same Selkirk venting for about 20 years now so I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

I considered at one time, getting a Keystoker and running rice coal but not many places around here sell rice coal so I nixed that idea. Have to have a fuel that is easy to get, cheap and abundant. Cannot get any cheaper than free corn (in exchange for helping my buddy down the road plant and harvest his seed corn. Besides, I get to operate the newest and fanciest John Deere tractors available.

It's 28 outside and 72 in the house and 70 in the shop.

 

See if you can find a used Englander 10-CPM (or sister stoves 49-SHCPM or 49-TRCPM). I had one, and burned pellets, grass pellets, coffee pellets, corn, corn/pellet mix no problem. It will also burn cherry pits, and has a steel agitator that breaks up clinkers.
Don't think they make them anymore, but they do have parts available.

 

Just like mine but mine have stainless steel agitators and stainless burn pots and they still make them if you can find one. They changed the fuel delivery method to a drop chute (which I don't really care for), but they still use the same 4 button control board that is 100% end user programmable and they have electric ignition as well for all fueling parameters from combustion fan speeds to PPH fuel feed to agitator dwell time via user accessable algorithms In reality, all the agitators do is move the clinkers around and mine will burn any biofuel as well. Mixing in pellets really mitigates the clinkers. I have 2 burn pots for each stove. I have one in the stove and the other soaking in a bucket of water (agitator as well). Soaking the burn pots allows you to easily remove any hard carbon build up. I've enlarged the holes in the burn pots to allow the burned corn to drop through the burn pots into the ash drawer. 20 years now and still run like champs and my fuel costs basically nothing other than a drive down the road with a tractor and pallet forks to fetch up Supersacks.

 

Got my soybeans from the same place I get my corn from so they were free as well. Brian don't do much in the way of seed beans, mostly corn but like I said, I tried them, I'd say 2 years ago. Just burned too hot for my liking. The corn I'm running presently (today), the RH is 9% which is really dry. It's left over from last winter and sat in my barn all summer. and cooked.

I try to use it in order of how I get it in. This stuff from last year tested at 9 like I said. I have 2 Supersacks of off grade I picked up a month ago, 2500 lbs each for 5000 total and 3 skids if Michigan Hardwood pellets I bought this year at TSC I have not even took the plastic off of yet. Mixing last year's pellets ( had almost a full skid left over), with last year's corn.

Brian has a big Amazablaze corn furnace in his main shop, seems as though we never run out, but then he has a huge operation. I never asked him how many acres he plants, I probably should but it's a lot. He has 7 full time employees and me part time and probably two and a half million in equipment not counting the drying and bagging operation. It's all computerized. Cobs go in one end, get stripped, cobs go out one side into dump trucks for feed and bedding.

The separated from the cob kernels are dried and classified by variety and stored in a line of grain tanks that are accessed by computer controlled conveyors that go to the bagging house to be bagged or put in Supersacks for the big operations. He has a pair of drive on truck scales that elevate so the trucks don't have to dump onto the conveyor into the drying plant and he cab run more than one variety at a time. I know last year, a 53 pound sack was selling for 350 bucks. Brian jokes about the fact that we have the most expensive corn stoves in Michigan. If I'm running bagged corn I can go through a bag a day per stove if it's really cold out. Got to be a substantial profit margin in it because he runs basically all new equipment. I don't believe he has one tractor or combine over 2 years old. The only older piece of equipment he has is his Pixall corn picker. Just lucky he's just down the road from me and we have been friends for many years. He's a green person like most farmers are around here. I'm the odd duck out with orange tractors..... My favorite way to get it is Supersacks but I've done bagged corn in the past too. I take it however it comes.. Free is free. I never look a gift horse in the mouth and I'm always available if he gets too busy and needs an additional hand. Problem with bagged corn is, I have to dispose of the empty bags as they aren't reusable I return the Supersacks to him and all the skids they come on unless I get them loose, then I just pick them up with my pallet forks and haul them down here to the barn. The drying plant is 3 stories high and about 250 feet long with a pair of huge squirrel cage fans in the front. He fires it on natural gas. MGU ran a 10" gas line to his farm just for the operation. I'll have to take some pictures of it. He even owns his own truck and trailer fleet for bulk deliveries. He sells corn all over, maybe even up your way, don't know about the logistics end just the planting and harvesting part. We had a wet fall and he's still taking seed corn off. You cannot get in wet fields. I have the same issue with my hay. I lost my 3rd cut because of wet ground and my hay customer isn't all that happy but, you cannot control the weather. Mother nature does what she wants to, we all have to play by her rules. Farmer next to me has at least 150 acres of beans he hasn't touched. Too wet to combine. Next time I get down there, I'll take some pictures and post them up for everyone to see. Maybe I can stick my nose in the equipment barn as well. Has some very nice and super expensive machines. Quite an operation. Him and his wife own a diesel powered RV they go on vacation in. Big tour bus.

Like I said, there has to be big bucks in it. Has a large home with in ground pool too. You'd never know it to look at him, he always dresses in overalls boots and wears a ratty baseball cap and smokes like a chimney but he'd give you the shirt off his back if he likes you which is pretty typical of folks around here. Everyone farms here or works in an agriculture related business. and a man is as good as his word is too. You play it straight around here you never need a credit cards,

We do everything on a handshake. How I buy my farm equipment too. I know the Kubota dealer here personally, his wife and his kids and everyone in the shop and just like when I bought my new round bailer last fall, everything was on a handshake. Never signed any papers or agreements until after I had it for a month. Be nice if the whole country operated that way. Too bad it don't, but then we aren't city people either. Certainly don't mind living in 'Flyover' country.

I was born and raised on the city so buying the farm and moving out here 35 years ago was quite a cultural shock for me. Actually my wife owns the farm, I'm just an employee. She's a country gal and I got educated. Was a good education actually.

Still remember my first biomass stove and buying pellets for a hundred bucks a ton. First stove I owned, I vented it through a window. Took the glass out, put in a piece of plywood, made a hole in it for the vent pipe and ran it that way for a few years. More of a novelty back then. Propane was cheap (we heat with propane no NG on this road)., and it wasn't really worth it to run pellets back then. Boy, have times changed. Propane here is pushing $2.80 a gallon presently so 200 buck a skid pellets are a deal and free corn is even a better deal. 15% old crop field corn is running about 6 bucks a bushel presently and beans are north of 11 bucks, but then diesel (off road) is at least $1.50 a gallon higher than it was last fall and inputs are way up as well (46 granulated Urea is over 25 bucks a 50 pound bag presently), so the profit isn't really there and no one is getting rich. I had to increase my price per bale 10 bucks for next year just to stay in the black. The hay thing is more of a hobby for me ands gets me outta the house and my wife's hair more than anything else. Being retired and farming keeps me active. I don't want to ever get so old I cannot do anything but sit in a chair and vegitate. Not me at all. Like to stay busy and active.

Anyway, I'll take some pictures of his operation (I will ask permission of course and if he says I can), I'll post them up. Pretty interesting.

 

Both of my P-series Harmans are capable of burning up to a 50/50 mix, but not straight corn. I'm not sure if the newer P-series is still rated for that though and the manuals don't say anything about other pelletized fuels.

 

I have a St. Croix Revolution furnace. I burned a lot of corn last winter, and was happy with the results. I'm back to wood pellets this winter, as they are cheaper at the moment, and easier to burn and deal with. Next year? Depends on pricing. I'm happy with either option.

 

The issue with corn is initial ignition. Auto light stoves (Calrod ignition) can be an issue because 15% or less corn take a substantially more amount of heat for ignition to occur, one reason I mix my corn with pellets (any type softwood or hardwood don't really matter) because once the pellets ignite, they will ignite the corn.

In my case, both of mine are manual ignition. I use pellets soaked in liquid firestarter (the stuff you use to start the charcoal in your BBQ) and I keep them in a widemouth screw on lid, in my case, one of those plastic jars that bite sized peanut butter stuffed pretzels come in.. I like them).

With both my stoves (USSC 6039's), they idle down to low fire when the thermostat isn't calling for heat but the never shut off entirely, just a 'pilot flame' is burning. The room air fan will sometimes cycle on and off depending on the temperature of the firebox. Both are on remote, millivolt thermostats, cheap manual ones. Most any stove can be put on a remote T'stat. There will be directions in the owners manual to do that but it usually entails pulling a hard jumper on the control board and replacing it with the wires (2) from the thermostat.

Corn from you local elevator will fluctuate in price depending on current market price but you always want corn that is at 15%Rm or below as corn above 15% is hard to combust and will make excessive clinkers (hard little balls that form from the combusted corn shells). Most, but not all corn capable units will have what I call an 'agitator' in the burn pot that rotates when commanded by the circuit board, the 'stirs' the corn or corn-pellet mixture to a large extent, the formation of corn clinkers.

Corn also requires more combustion air to burn properly. My stoves have a programmed in 'corn setting'. I don't use it because I mix corn and pellets and both my units have an external air source (outside air kit or OAK or whatever you want to call it that provides additional air to the underside of the burn pot and if I need additional air for combustion), which I determine by observing the flames, I add additional are vis a stove mounted damper plate.

Because the price of corn fluctuates with the market, unlike pellets, you have to 'shop' for corn and buy when the price is low.

The other issue with corn is transportation and storage. Pellets come in 40 or 50 pound plastic bags. Corn don't. Corn is sold by the bushel but in bulk so you have to have a means of transportation from the co-op or the farmer (and I don't recommend buying field corn from a farmer out of the field) because it most likely won't be at 15% RM or less, corn is usually combined anywhere from 15 to 19% and then artifically dried down to 15% or less. Corn cannot be stored in bulk (elevator) because above 15%, it gets moldy in storage. Corn from the elevator will also be screened for foreign objects like stones and metal pieces, bot of which can cause feed issues in your stove. You have to 'pick up' the corn so you'll need at least a small trailer and something to contain it on the trailer like IBC totes for instance. You need to store it in an enclosed place and keep it dry. Lots of corn burners use old gravity wagons to transport it and have a tarp over the top to keep it dry. I don't, but then I get my corn is either 2500 pound super sacks or in sealed Tyvek bags on skids and I have the equipment (farm tractors) to handle the weight.

I suspect corn will make a comeback as stove fuel because the cost of production of processed wood pellets will climb. How much is conjecture but, producing processed wood pellets is very energy intensive, consequently, as energy prices rise due to inflation, the end cost will rise as well. Corn on the other hand will be more competitive because even though fuel costs are rising, the price of corn is 100% market driven so the price will remain pretty stable. Currently, it's around 6 bucks a bushel (53 pounds) and that makes it very competitive with pellets at 200 bucks a ton as far as BTU per unit is concerned. Corn outputs substantially more BTU's per unit than pellets do.

Myself, I'm in a very unique situation as my corn is essentially free. I trade my part time labor (at my buddy's seed corn processing facility), for off grade seed corn and I basically have an unlimited supply, all I have to do is go fetch it, a mile down the road, with one of my farm tractors. I store my corn (and pellets) in a weatherproof storage barn, same barn I store my farm equipment in and I mix up (every 2 weeks), 4 large plastic refuse cans with a corn and pellet mix (2 parts corn to one part pellets) and set them on the deck with a forklift for easy access to the stove. Same with my shop stove except the refuse cans go inside the shop.

Burning corn does have a unique drawback besides the handling part and that is, corn gives of nitric acid vapor when it burns so regular and through maintenance of the stove and components is required. Corn produces a lot of ash compared to pellets so the unit(s) have to be cleaned regularly and so does the venting, but more importantly, the stove and venting must be cleared of nitric acid vapor (because nitric is extremely corrosive) and you stove is fabricated from mild steel and even the stainless (304) interior liner in the venting will corrode from it.

I run a couple bags of straight pellets on high fire in the spring, prior to shut down and then the stoves come completely apart, everything from the room air blower to the combustion fan get cleaned and the combustion fan and it's plenum get sprayed with fogging oil. Same with the interior of the stove, a liberal application of fogging oil to prevent rusting. I take my venting completely apart and was it out inside with my pressure washer and a liber application of detergent and let it dry before putting it back together. Don't expect the venting to last forever either. Traces of nitric will remain and will corrode the inner liner of the venting over time. Just replaced a couple sections this fall that were perforated from the nitric but my venting has basically ran for about 15 years now with no issue.

With corn, preventive maintenance is everything but like I said, I see a resurgence in corn as the cost of pellets climb, and they will' You get lax on maintaining a unit and run corn, that unit will corrode away in no time. Some people shut their units off in the spring and forget about them until fall. That don't play with corn well at all.

In closing, both my units get a through cleaning 2 times a week. Swept out carefully, all the fly ash removed from everywhere and the combustion fan plenum vacuumed out (I can access mine from inside my stove with a vacuum crevice tool) Rather a long post but I've been heating with corn for over 20 years (and 4 stoves) now and yes, you can wear out a stove. Worn out is when the cost of components exceeds the cost of a new unit.

I average about 4 ton of corn and pellet mix yearly and that is one helluva lot of tonnage up the stack. if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'm a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to burning corn.

 

You will see that reverse in coming seasons because the cost of pellets is about to explode, consequently, if corn is available locally and because corn prices are 100% market driven (unlike wood pellets), corn will stage a comeback in true 'multifuel' units. In reality and wood or alternate fuel fired stove (appliance) is a biomass burner.

Probably should add, the availability of corn (or other alternative biomass such as cherry pits, walnut shells, wheat or soybeans) will determine what a person's fuel choice will be. Additionally, burning soybeans because they are an oilseed, presents some unique issues as in you cannot run straight beans because they will destroy a stove (and possibly cause a fire) in pretty short order. Stoves today cannot strip the heat produced by an oilseed fast enough and consequently, stove failure will occur. The other underlying issue is the cost of Soybeans. Typically, soybeans cost about 3 times as much as field corn to purchase so that pretty much makes them a non fuel for a true multifuel stove.

 

Chose my screen name carefully. Not 'corn cob' for no reason....lol There are times when my wife would like to shove a cob up my rear but we won't get into that on here....

 

When I had cattle (I don't now, sold them off this last spring), I fed DDG (Dry distillers grain) as a food supplement. Understand, it can only be fed as a supplement not a complete ration and the local E plant closed because the government subsidy ended and no E plant can exist without being subsidized by the government. Ethanol (corn liquor) is a net looser and always has been. I takes substantially more energy to produce a gallon of corn liquor than that gallon produces. Well know fact and, if you contract with an E plant you must grow very specific stains of corn so not just any old field corn works.

Once the farmers around here came to that realization, E-corn basically became non existent here.

E-corn (DDG) pellets, maybe but maybe not. It will still take a lot of energy to produce them. I own my own pelletizer but I don't use it. Sits in the shop collecting dust. Years back, I pelletized everything from straw to corn stover. It's a PITA so I quit.

If I had been smart and looked a bit into the future (which I didn't), I would have built a round bale furnace (like is used in Europe) and roasted round bales in it. I have a certain percentage of round bales every year that aren't marketable for various reasons and I have to dispose of them, usually by roasting them when the wind isn't blowing the wrong way because burning a bale really stinks.

I don't believe you can realize the btu output of pelletized DDG, but then I never tried it. Problem with processing into pellet fuel is still the built in energy cost and energy costs are going up, everywhere for reasons we won't get into here, but you know why.

Not that I much care one way or another but, burning solid fuel, whether it's chunk wood in a wood stove or processed pellets made from forest slash or scrap pallets or flooring scraps (in the case of Somerset Pellets in Somerset Kentucky) is all carbon neutral, just like corn is.

In the case of Somerset it's almost 100% value added because they would have to dispose of their hardwood flooring scraps in a landfill, same with their forestry slash. Now they produce pellets and they use their slash and scraps to fire the boilers that dry the pellets. They are kind of unique in that process. Most extruders have to rely on external energy to process. They still use external power (electricity) to power the motors and fans and electricity is becoming incrementally more expensive by the day.

The ongoing issue in this country is, farmers combine corn. In reality, the stalk and leaves of the plant contain more starch than the kernels do but American farmers (or should I say not many farmers) take the entire plant. Most farmers take the cobs, strip off the kernels in the combine and drop the stripped cobs on the ground along with what is left of the plant or what we call corn stover. Most farmers that have livestock, use the stover for bedding. They rarely feed it. In Europe, farmers take the entire plant, chop it and send it off to an E-plant to cook it all. Not here.

Far as I'm concerned, corn alcohol don't belong in gasoline anyway. For one, it's corrosive so it cannot be transported via pipeline, it has to be trucked or railed in pure form and added to the cracked gasoline at the refinery and corn liquor mixed in pump gas attracts water which is why, if you let it sit in a carbureted engine, it gums up the carb. If you have a small engine and use E-gas in it and don't add a stabilizer, after a few months it won't start because the E-gas has attracted water and mixed with it and formed a sludge that gums the carb up.

E-Gas was (I think) an Obama band aid to relieve the dependence on Far East oil and it's hung around even though it's not any good except to the ethanol producers left that can weasel the government out of subsidies to keep operating. My opinion of it.

far as 'mini farms' are concerned, maybe as a hobby only but certainly not as a money maker. You need at least a couple hundred head to break even and even then you are at the mercy of a volatile market. I never made any money with 30 head, but I had no trouble loosing money. I have a buddy outside Ionia, Michigan that runs over 1000 head and a lot of times, he's living paycheck to paycheck and livestock farming is a 24-7-365 day a year job. You don't get vacations, or sick time or holidays off. You are there, all the time or you are paying employees to be there, one of the two. Why I prefer dirt farming or in my case forage production. Only time I HAVE to be here is to fertilize it or spray it or harvest it. I can actually have a life. With livestock, you have no life and that was the primary reason I sold all of them.

Bad enough having a dog and 10 cats. Cats are self sufficient. Dogs, not so much. When we go away, the pup comes along. The nose prints on my car windows attest to that.

 

At my buddy's seed processing facility, everything from the cobs are used. Kernels are stripped and classified as to strain, then dried and tanked for future bagging and the cobs are sold and trucked off for animal bedding. Does he make money? I never asked, none of my business, but I believe he does or at least breaks even. Sure has nice equipment and probably has payment books to match as well. I do know the seed processing facility and the warehouse and bagging operation cost over 10 mil and I don't believe that was a cash deal and neither is that 9" NG line that comes into his place either. Takes a lot of energy to process seed corn, just like pellets.

Mentioned to him the other day that he needs to start locking his diesel tanks with the price of ORD what it is. I believe he has at least 3000 gallon capacity. At $2.50 a gallon +, that is a lot of jack sitting there unlocked.

Last year, a 52 pound sack of hybrid seed corn was around 300 bucks a bag, give or take. I asked him what the price will be this year and he told me he hasn't crunched the numbers yet but I bet it will be a substantial increase because his inputs have went way up.

It's a viscous circle be it retail or wholesale or consumer or farmer. The cost of doing business and staying viable is in a steep climb today.

 

Welcome to FHC corncob I've burned a mix of corn & pellets for a few years, not this year(had no time to pick some up). The corn is from a distant farmer, uncleaned but at $200 a 1000kg is cheaper than pellets. Moisture below 20%, not sure of the %'s. He's also a corn burner. Dusty, I have to pass it through my screen/vacuum gizmo. Last year I vacuumed transfer from 500kg bag into 55 gal. drums.

 

Mine all comes clean as a baby's behind and usually below 10% RM. My only issue is I have to dispose of the bags or supersacks, whatever it comes in, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Been running a corn-pellet mix for about 10 years now. 2 parts corn to 1 part pellets of any flavor or brand. Whatever is the least costly, I go with.

 

Was down there this afternoon and asked if I could take some pictures and was told they prefer me not to, so I won't. No point in irritating them and loosing my corn supply.