Corn in a Coal Stove

steinkebunch · Post by **steinkebunch** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 10:25 am

The guy that posted a review on Hearth.com below claims to be burning corn in his Harman TLC2000. Is that possible?

https://www.hearth.com/ratings/art.php?id=847

Steinke

Post by **coaledsweat** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 10:34 am

steinkebunch wrote:The guy that posted a review on Hearth.com below claims to be burning corn in his Harman TLC2000. Is that possible?

It can work in some stokers, tends to get gooey after a while and jams up is the story I've heard.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 10:48 am

This has been discussed quite a bit previously, I know others were asking about cherry pits, corn, pellets, etc... to see if they can burn them.....I wouldn't.

gambler · Post by **gambler** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 11:20 am

With the price of corn why would you want to.
I was a corn burner for 4 years and the price of corn is why I am now burning coal.
The first year I burned corn it was $70 a ton and the last corn I bought last year it was $156 a ton. Corn only has about 7000 btu/lb.

steinkebunch · Post by **steinkebunch** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 11:38 am

I agree with the price/cost issues. If you lived in corn country or farmed and grew your own, might be a different story. I was just surpised to hear that a hand-fired stove would do it.

Steinke

cokehead · Post by **cokehead** » Wed. Jan. 02, 2008 8:59 pm

I've burned 10 lb bags of old rice in my coal stove. I throw them in on top of an existing coal fire. It was a bad idea to shake the grates til it was consumed. I tried to give it to someone with chickens but they didn't want it. I had only payed 10 cents a lb for it years before. (bought 1020 lbs) It was no longer fit for human consumption so way the hay. I'd do it again if the rice was free!!!!

Post by **stoker-man** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2008 7:43 am

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.

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Sat. Jan. 24, 2009 6:59 pm

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.

the snowman · Post by **the snowman** » Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 7:30 am

I would be interested to know if anyone has tried burning corn in a hand fed. I have access to corn (zero cost to me). It would be nice to switch over to corn when it was a warm day and the high BTU wasn't required. This would save on my coal consumption. I'm sure the moisture content is a factor as well. The corn I can get is very low on moisture (down around 5 percent) which should burn well in a hand fed provided it can be done. I'm sure someone on this forum has tried it.

the snowman

bksaun · Post by **bksaun** » Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 9:10 am

Read below!

Bk

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 6:34 pm

bksaun wrote:Read below!
"Corn Stoves", It is morally wrong to burn something you can make into Whiskey!
Bk

Bk, I thought of your tag line when I started thinking about this. Is Makers Mark from KY corn? Not water white or yellow, out of the bottle anyway!

the snowman wrote:I would be interested to know if anyone has tried burning corn in a hand fed. ..>8 ...8<..which should burn well in a hand fed provided it can be done. I'm sure someone on this forum has tried it.
the snowman

Picked up a bushel yesterday to play with. Threw a few cups on top of the fire and the stove top temperature jumped 70 degrees! I don't know if it would be a good idea for long burn intentions. From this little experiment, it sure seems it would make a great coal fire starting aid: a little kindling fire, mix some shelled corn in with some pea and shovel it on. I'll have to try it but I'm hoping it will be a while. This fire has been going since November... been so long I'm not sure

OldAA130 · Post by **OldAA130** » Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 7:12 pm

Here's my 2 pennies...

I burned corn a couple years ago and I struggled a bit with that too. So I learned a lot about burning corn. I tend to not obsess and learn as much when things go perfectly.

My unit had a "mixer" or "agitator" in the fire pot. If the burning corn was not mixed, it would build a big clinker and plug the fire pot. The corn did burn very sticky and I learned that the type of corn that you burn is very important. I didn't know what kind I was burning because I was getting it cheep from a friend (about $2/bushel shelled). The corn was clean to keep but very dirty to burn. Comustion seemed to be poor and I had to tear the entire unit apart front to back each year to clean out the gunk. I also had to clean the fire pot every couple weeks or it would turn into a big rotating clinker. Moisture content is important, the American Hearth book says less then 12%. Most corn comes out of the field at about 20%.

I know a couple folks who heat with corn exclusively. I don't understand it but they wouldn't burn anything else. Go figure...

If you use the DOE heat calc spread sheet that many have posted elsewhere in this forum you will find that unless you are getting the corn for free... coal is king! AT 7500btu/lb for corn and coal being around 12,500btu/lb the choice is clear. You are paying about the same per unit weight but 1/2 the btu's.

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2009 10:27 am

OldAA130 wrote:Here's my 2 pennies...

I burned corn a couple years ago and I struggled a bit with that too. So I learned a lot about burning corn. I tend to not obsess and learn as much when things go perfectly.

My unit had a "mixer" or "agitator" in the fire pot. If the burning corn was not mixed, it would build a big clinker and plug the fire pot. The corn did burn very sticky and I learned that the type of corn that you burn is very important. I didn't know what kind I was burning because I was getting it cheep from a friend (about $2/bushel shelled). The corn was clean to keep but very dirty to burn. Combustion seemed to be poor and I had to tear the entire unit apart front to back each year to clean out the gunk. I also had to clean the fire pot every couple weeks or it would turn into a big rotating clinker. Moisture content is important, the American Hearth book says less then 12%. Most corn comes out of the field at about 20%.

I know a couple folks who heat with corn exclusively. I don't understand it but they wouldn't burn anything else. Go figure...

If you use the DOE heat Calv spread sheet that many have posted elsewhere in this forum you will find that unless you are getting the corn for free... coal is king! AT BTU/lb for corn and coal being around 12,500btu/lb the choice is clear. You are paying about the same per unit weight but 1/2 the btu's.

Thanks OldAA130. I was got interested in this thread when I read another about rising cost of coal. The thought struck me that coal could hit a price bubble and/or scarcity issue like petroleum products have in recent/past history. I began to wonder if coal could be cut with locally grown corn as an extender and used in a hand fired stove. A coworker heats with corn and showed me the burn operation in his corn stoker. Nice set up too. I saw the clinker too. His family crops and drys the corn for market.

From my quick and dirty test, I doubt it. Regardless of the lower BTU contend, a rapid temperature rise occurred. Not good to control a long coal burn. There are differing burn characteristics between the fuels, probably too dissimilar to control in a hand fed except a very low corn to coal ratio. From the one test, corn seems to like less air than coal as the few cups were rapidly consumed when tossed on top of the existing coal fire. In the combustion mix, the corn basically flashed off in a few minutes. There might be other uses for a blend that I'll play with later in the season. The mix seem to be more easily controlled in a stoker or underfed unit that can be adjusted to take advantage of the quickly burning corn.

Putt · Post by **Putt** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2009 1:43 pm

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...

coal berner · Post by **coal berner** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2009 2:00 pm

coaledsweat wrote:
steinkebunch wrote:The guy that posted a review on Hearth.com below claims to be burning corn in his Harman TLC2000. Is that possible?
It can work in some stokers, tends to get gooey after a while and jams up is the story I've heard.

Yea and don't forget it should be under 15% moisture content or you will have big gooey globs .