[AT] TEST? NOW Ramble! (long)

[Greg Hass]

Charlie:
Just returned from the shop. It has now dropped to -3 F with a 25 mph wind 
added in.  Wasn't too bad out there, as I keep it heated to 42 degrees with 
an LP wall furnace.  Because I was only going to be in there for an hour I 
didn't turn it up.

The corn furnace is an closed system and is tied in with my fuel oil boiler. 
It uses the registers, thermostats and zone valves of the original system. 
I have hooked it in with shut-off valves so that by closing one valve and 
opening another, and flipping a couple of switches, I can switch from one 
boiler to the other.  Because it is a closed system you cannot let water run 
through it or it would soon fill up with mineral.  The only thing I could do 
to solve the overheating problem would be to install an interval timer on 
the main floor thermostat and set it so that on warm days it would circulate 
the water throughout the lower floor for 2 minutes out of every 10, thus 
limiting the temperature rise in the water.  The only problem then is that 
it may get the lower floor too hot, in which case one might have to open a 
window or door.

The way it works is that at the beginning of the season you light the fire 
much like you would a wood stove.  When the thermostat calls for heat the 
augers start feeding in corn and the blower comes on to make the corn burn 
hot.  When the house reaches desired temperature, the thermostat shuts off 
the blower and the augers and the fire drops to a low flame.  However, the 
augers and blowers start up for 2 minutes out of 10 to maintain the fire. 
When the house again calls for heat, the process is repeated.  Refer to: 
www.cornheat.com

I have the 100,000 btu model.  As for the problem with the overheating, I 
knew up front that this would happen so it was not a surprise.  When we were 
looking at them, we were told that basically you run it from Thanksgiving to 
April (the months where it is consistently  +40 degrees F or lower).  During 
the spring and fall changeable weather, you run your normal heat, in our 
case fuel oil.

As for cost, the last barrel of oil we got was $3.20/gal.   I raise 20+ 
acres of corn a year, which I have dried and stored at the local elevator 
and get a wagon load as needed.  I figure my cost at $4.50/bu, the amount I 
could sell it for.  Over the past 62 days, I averaged 2.25 bu/day.  One 
bushel of corn = 3.25 gal. of fuel oil.   Or ...$10.13/day for corn compare 
to $23.04 for fuel oil.  A savings of $12.91/day or $387.30 per month.  Mind 
you, we are in a much colder climate than you are.

Greg Hass
Michigan's Thumb