Corn stove

[Davy Crockett]

I'm tinkering with the idea of buying a corn stove , Anyone use one or been around them ?

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Questions being, Are they feasible and user friendly

 

[Captain Ahab]

The main thing that turns me off would be having a lot of corn around would attract critters.

 

[riverview]

they were pretty popular a few years ago from what I have been told if your corn is clean they work pretty good. dirty corn messes up the feeding system.

 

[Lapper]

The constant popping would be annoying ;:;rofl

 

[Retired Educator]

Clean and DRY. Know a couple of people who used them for awhile and then the fun wore off. Hauling corn gets old for a constant heat. They are not a bad idea when it's really cold or when power goes out. Power makes a corn stove work better, (fans to move heat and power to run feeder) but will run without power.

 

[Velva_zv21]

Had one on the farm I worked at and it seemed like a good set up with a big bin outside with auger that would feed a tub about the size of a parts washing tub with an auger that would directly feed the stove.... really clean operation and not much waste and easy maintenance along with a constant heat rather than a wood stove with hot and cold fluctuation with having to 're stock the wood in the stove.... another option I saw a guy do is buy an old gravity box and use that as your storage bin....

 

[Retired-Guy]

I had heard that corn stoves lost their popularity due to higher corn prices as a result of ethanol production.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

We had one at the farm in the house. Bought it from a guy in LaMoure, ND. Worked well was set up like a stoker coal stove with a thermostat. We bought a corn cleaner that you just poured a bucket of corn in it and it have a sieve on top and i bought different sizes of sieves. Had a gravity wagon that held around 200 or so bushels and fed the stove, deer, and birds the corn all winter. Stove used around (2) 5 gallon buckets per day and the bin held 12 bushels i think. I can't remember the name of it but i know there were 2 companies and their stoves had the same name and was told NOT to buy the other companies stove as they had lot of problems with theirs. Ours worked well and we had a big rambler with a full basement and we kept it at 75 degrees. Had it tied into the forced air ducts on our propane furnace. The corn stove was very well built and heavy!
It got a build up of like creosote that you had to clean once a year. Both the inside of the furnace and the stove pipes. The stove black metal pipes lasted 2-3 years as very acidic. We liked it and got a little exercise carrying corn too. Worked best with cleaned corn and didn't want much of any stalks in it as they would get caught now and then in the stoker auger flighting. Couldn't do it now with my back the way it is.
R&B Motorsports in Jimtown used to have one in there for sale that was new and they knew the gentleman selling them. The older gentleman in Jimtown to ask would be Cordell.
Nice even constant heat and not alot of ash. Did get some "clinkers" now and then just like coal. Corn cleaner cost around 200 - 300 bucks i think. Can't remember cost of stove (you know my memory) but guessing around 2,000-2,500 can't say for sure. Don't know if the guy still sells them or not.
We tried burning wheat and soybeans in it and the soybeans worked much better than the wheat. Also had 20 gallons of pellets from the Pasta Plant in Carrington and threw that in there too and it burned that as well. But corn had the most heat and easier to regulate the feeding into the stove. If i find the name of stove or dealer i will post it.
If we ever move to the Black Hills or Payson, Az i would invest in a pellet stove as much easier and don't have to clean the pellets. Also burning wood smells better. Guessing the bag of pellets would be more expensive.
Hope this helps Davey!

 

[Kickemup]

We had one at the farm in the house. Bought it from a guy in LaMoure, ND. Worked well was set up like a stoker coal stove with a thermostat. We bought a corn cleaner that you just poured a bucket of corn in it and it have a sieve on top and i bought different sizes of sieves. Had a gravity wagon that held around 200 or so bushels and fed the stove, deer, and birds the corn all winter. Stove used around (2) 5 gallon buckets per day and the bin held 12 bushels i think. I can't remember the name of it but i know there were 2 companies and their stoves had the same name and was told NOT to buy the other companies stove as they had lot of problems with theirs. Ours worked well and we had a big rambler with a full basement and we kept it at 75 degrees. Had it tied into the forced air ducts on our propane furnace. The corn stove was very well built and heavy!
It got a build up of like creosote that you had to clean once a year. Both the inside of the furnace and the stove pipes. The stove black metal pipes lasted 2-3 years as very acidic. We liked it and got a little exercise carrying corn too. Worked best with cleaned corn and didn't want much of any stalks in it as they would get caught now and then in the stoker auger flighting. Couldn't do it now with my back the way it is.
R&B Motorsports in Jimtown used to have one in there for sale that was new and they knew the gentleman selling them. The older gentleman in Jimtown to ask would be Cordell.
Nice even constant heat and not alot of ash. Did get some "clinkers" now and then just like coal. Corn cleaner cost around 200 - 300 bucks i think. Can't remember cost of stove (you know my memory) but guessing around 2,000-2,500 can't say for sure. Don't know if the guy still sells them or not.
We tried burning wheat and soybeans in it and the soybeans worked much better than the wheat. Also had 20 gallons of pellets from the Pasta Plant in Carrington and threw that in there too and it burned that as well. But corn had the most heat and easier to regulate the feeding into the stove. If i find the name of stove or dealer i will post it.
If we ever move to the Black Hills or Payson, Az i would invest in a pellet stove as much easier and don't have to clean the pellets. Also burning wood smells better. Guessing the bag of pellets would be more expensive.
Hope this helps Davey!

Im guessing the dealer you are referring to is Muske Sales.

We we have a corn stove also. We have a st croix corn stove and haven’t had a problem. We just buy our corn cleaned and bagged at the local elevator. I live in town and don’t really want to have a gravity feeder in my yard.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Im guessing the dealer you are referring to is Muske Sales.

We we have a corn stove also. We have a st croix corn stove and haven’t had a problem. We just buy our corn cleaned and bagged at the local elevator. I live in town and don’t really want to have a gravity feeder in my yard.

Yep that was the guy. Thanks!

 

[Allen]

So the dumb question is, how is the overall cost of running a corn stove compared to gas, propane, or electric heat?

For the maintenance of coal, wood, or corn, I would be hoping it's a significant savings above the no muss and fuss other options.

 

[guywhofishes]

I can’t imagine anything comes to to nat gas for price or convenience.

Aslo - corn is dumb in so many ways - except food products.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Used (2) 5 gallon buckets of corn a day and guessing it is a bushel or a little better maybe. So $3.00 a bushel = $3.00 or whatever a bushel sells for at the time to heat your house for the day.

 

[Fishmission]

Corn =life

 

[Davy Crockett]

I didn't realize you could heat that many sq feet with them. There was a Bixby brand on craigslist a while back that was dirt cheap but needed some work, I was looking at parts for that model and a circuit board alone was over $ 700 so I backed away fast . I remember when they first came out some had a gravity feed hopper, Also some were multi fuel , I talked to a guy that burned durum but it didn't burn as clean. He also mentioned a mixture of two grains that he burned that were way hotter than corn and tough on the firebox.

 

[MULEDEER]

I had a englander stove I used wood pellets as the corn usually had to be around 12% moisture which is quite dry. Got tired of the pain of cleaning ash and reloading pellets. cleaned ash about every 72 hours started a few vacuums on fire not letting cool down enough. Just put in a propane furnace and much prefer that

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Fully agree natural gas furnace is way more cleaner and easier to go with. Natural gas is cheap right now.
Our farm house was around 4,000 square feet with the basement plus we heated the breezeway which was over 300 square feet.
When we lived there through the years i heated with wood, coal, corn, & propane. Had different furnaces and all worked fairly well and darn cheap heat but some were labor intensive. Had a much better body back then and was able to do it.
Didn't have a lot of money then either so with family first, we needed cheap heat to survive. Too darn proud to go to the Welfare office and ask for heating assistance. Worked 2 & sometimes 3 jobs at the time too. Pay wasn't big back then especially in the small town areas.

 

[Davy Crockett]

NG would be nice but not an option on the farm. I have propane for my backup but I think there would be too much moisture and condensation. This is for the garage and future sunroom and would be shut off from time to time, thought it might be a better option than wood.





Update: Does corn give off a lot of humidity when it's burned ?