[AT] 50% OT: Corn furnaces

[Dallas and Kathy]

My 89 year old mother purchased a corn stove last fall, because the wood for 
the wood stove was getting to be a little too much for her. I am in charge 
of the stove. I live 5 miles away. Most of the time it works very well. One 
of the biggest drawbacks, when it is not super cold out, you can not have 
just a little heat to take the chill off. Like in the fall and spring. Even 
when the stove is turned down as low as possible, it will drive you out of 
there in no time. Her stove uses about 2 pails of corn on the really cold 
days of January. She does have propane back-up, but uses very little. The 
stove needs to be cleaned quite often. When it is cleaned, there is always a 
certain amount of fine black soot or ash spread over the room. The chimney 
should be cleaned weekly as well. The corn must be clean with very little 
debris  and it must be very dry. My nephew has a corn furnace hooked up to a 
thermostat. He had problems at first with the stove going out because of 
pieces of cob in the corn. He bought a grain cleaner to fan the corn, and 
has since had no  problems. He swears by the stove.               Dallas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hass" <gkhass at avci.net>
To: <100AcreFarming at yahoogroups.com>; <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 4:58 PM
Subject: [AT] 50% OT: Corn furnaces


> This is 1/2 on, 1/2 OT due to the fact it involves a farm product.
>
> For a couple of years I have been considering a corn furnace.  Stopped at 
> a local deal today and looked at a corn-fired boiler which would tie-in 
> with our present boiler.  Basically a nice looking unit but the price 
> scares me at $4700, not installed.  However, all of the ourdoor wood 
> furnaces I have looked at run in the range of $4500, not installed.  Did 
> the calculations, and at today's prices it would save me 2/3 of my heating 
> bill, or $1000.  At today's prices, oil would cost us $1500, assuming we 
> used the same as last year.  However, I am sometimes afraid to try new 
> technology, being afraid it will not function as advertised.  Longevity of 
> furnace, etc.  Due to the way our house is constructed, it does not lend 
> itself well to a free-standing unit in the living quarters.  Any insight 
> on this subject would be appreciated, either on-list, or through private 
> e-mail if people consider this too far off topic.
>
> Greg Hass
>
> PS our local elevator price for corn is $1.67 and unfortunately I still 
> have half of last year's crop.
>
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