Corn in a Coal Stove

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:

stoker-man wrote:Back in the 70's, efm tested the burning of coal in its stoker. A 50/50 mix of rice coal and corn worked well and 100% corn also worked, but the stoker had to run 24/7, but as others noted, with the price of corn, who would do it? Some farmers use 50/50 right now.

Does anyone have experience with a mix in a hand fired? I've been thinking about giving this a try nearer to spring when I won't need the full BTU output. Never know what the future holds in store.

That is what the first Post is about Burning corn in a Harman TLC hand fed stove

Putt wrote:I have been burning corn for around 5 years now... You DO need a burner with an agitator in the burn pot to break up the clinker.
The other thing that you can do is mix about 3/4 of ground up oyster shells per bushel to keep clinkers from forming.
Right now, for me, corn is cheaper than coal.. Corn would have to get up to over 4 bucks a bushel before it would
be a break-even with coal situation... I empty my ash drawer maybe once a week, and clean out the stove maybe once
a month. The stove runs 24/7 from October to April. I use wood pellets in the spring and fall, they do not put off
the heat that the corn does..

Putt...

I guess that would depend on the wood pellets and the Moisture content of the corn . I have burned both wood Pellets
can run for 8000 8500 BTU per lb Corn is 6800 to 7000 Per lb . It depends what or who's lab testing your read .

Putt wrote: The other thing that you can do is mix about 3/4 of ground up oyster shells per bushel to keep clinkers from forming.
Putt...

Interesting.
How do oyster shells keep corn clinkers from forming? Do the shell bits burn or do they just keep the corn ash from sticking together?

rockwood wrote:

Putt wrote: The other thing that you can do is mix about 3/4 of ground up oyster shells per bushel to keep clinkers from forming.
Putt...

Interesting.
How do oyster shells keep corn clinkers from forming? Do the shell bits burn or do they just keep the corn ash from sticking together?

Keeps everything from sticking together.. Instead of forming a clinker, the corn just burns to a fine ash (ash particles are about the size of maybe #6 shot) that drops thru the burn pot to the ash bin..

Putt...

Putt wrote:I have been burning corn for around 5 years now... You DO need a burner with an agitator in the burn pot to break up the clinker.
The other thing that you can do is mix about 3/4 cup of ground up oyster shells per bushel to keep clinkers from forming.
Right now, for me, corn is cheaper than coal.. Corn would have to get up to over 4 bucks a bushel before it would
be a break-even with coal situation... I empty my ash drawer maybe once a week, and clean out the stove maybe once
a month. The stove runs 24/7 from October to April. I use wood pellets in the spring and fall, they do not put off
the heat that the corn does..

Putt...

According to the DOE Heat Calc (yahoo search DOE heat calc) the break even point for corn is around $2.30/bushel. Remember, corn only has slightly more than half the BTU content of coal.

Here's at $4/bushel for corn and $140/ton for coal. I'm not sure of your local availability for coal or the price.

Corn (kernels) Ton $140.00 15,000,000 $9.33 Room Heater (Vented) Estimate 68.0 68% $13.73
Coal Ton $140.00 24,916,000 $5.62 Furnace/Boiler/Stove Estimate 70.0 70% $8.03

the underlined is the cost per million btu's.

coal berner wrote:

VigIIPeaBurner wrote: Does anyone have experience with a mix in a hand fired? I've been thinking about giving this a try nearer to spring when I won't need the full BTU output. Never know what the future holds in store.

That is what the first Post is about Burning corn in a Harman TLC hand fed stove

Geesh - smak meself on the forhead - I never read the link! Got all busy reading the posts! Heading off to really read it now

Don't get me wrong... I really liked the idea of burning corn. I researched and found various types and sizes of corn boilers but I settled with a American corn/pellet stove. It ended up being a bad deal. Was it the corn? Was it the stove? Was it me? Not sure really. But it didn't work out and I had to send the stove packin'.

In the midst of it all, I talked to my buddy who had been burning coal in a Anthratube. I wanted him to run a trial of mixed corn/coal and straight corn in his anthratube. In hindsight, I don't think it would've worked becuase the Anthratube only provides air when the unit is firing for water temp or on time. Corn needs a constant supply of air or it will go out very quickly. Other stoker stoves may work but with out the "pot" configuration and the mixer I'd be doubtful.

It's worth a try! Corn is pretty cheep and you can buy it by the bag.

Used 1/2 corn 1/2 rice coal had no problem on alaska coal stove the reason had 3 tons junk corn cannot use straight corn crystals will plug some combustion holes

Why would you want to burn your food? I realize that burning corn has been done for quite some time, but I still find myself asking why you'd want to burn a good food source? It'll do you a lot better in your stomach than in your stove! LOL!

musikfan1968 wrote: ↑

Thu. Nov. 17, 2022 8:57 pm

Why would you want to burn your food? I realize that burning corn has been done for quite some time, but I still find myself asking why you'd want to burn a good food source? It'll do you a lot better in your stomach than in your stove! LOL!

He said it was junk. It could have been contaminated in some way. Perhaps moldy. Might as well get warm from it rather than pour it in the compost pile.

waytomany?s wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 18, 2022 6:39 am

He said it was junk. It could have been contaminated in some way. Perhaps moldy. Might as well get warm from it rather than pour it in the compost pile.

That makes sense. I hadn't thought about that possibility. Glad you mentioned it.

They will Never burn corn in Kentucky because it is morally wrong to burn anything that can be made into whiskey.