[AT] TEST? NOW Ramble! (long)

[charlie hill]

Don't worry. You don't have to remind me you are in a colder climate.  I 
don't even want to go one county further north than I am already.  Much less 
to where you live.  It's a beautiful place to visit but after living all of 
my 57 years in the south I wouldn't be able to take it.

On the hot water.  I wasn't clear in writting what I was thinking.  I was 
thinking in terms of domestic hot water instead of your boiler water.  I 
guess I assumed you heat your domestic hot water with the corn stove.  If 
that is the case you could bleed off domestic hot water to stop the 
overheating.  Anyway, I wasn't trying to tell you how to run your furnace. 
Just curious.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hass" <gkhass at avci.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:43 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] TEST? NOW Ramble! (long)


> 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
>
>
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