Corn for coal..... is it possible?

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swyman
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Post by swyman » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 7:54 am

Well they both start with a "C"! Hello guys and gals, I'm getting anxious to start a new heating season but I have to say I'm very nervous about the future of burning coal with the current prices. My very first alternative heating system was a corn burning stove my uncle gave me because he couldn't get it to work so I thought I'd give it a shot. I ran 400 bushels through it flawlessly that season so it proved as a viable source of heat. I made an investment into a 165k BTU boiler by A-Maize-Ing heat and it worked great till my clean corn price went from $1.40 to $4.20 a bushel over a season (I had for 3 seasons), kinda like what we're seeing now with coal. That corn boiler is a under fire fed system like the EFM's so just got me thinking...... could you burn corn in one of these or has someone messed around? Only reason I ask is my neighbor (who introduced me to coal) just got in the seed corn business and said they have an over abundance of corn they can't use. I will say I'm not gonna jump ship AGAIN and go all in as who knows how long that will last. I don't think the corn would work in my Axeman due to the "clinkers" of the sugar but honestly when I would watch my corn boiler work at the time, I thought it would be a better system if the corn was fed on top of the fire instead of under. Just thinking out loud. I am extremely lucky I bought a TT load last season as I have enough coal for this season and a little of the following but I don't know what I would do if the coal market doesn't come back down?

 
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europachris
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Post by europachris » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 8:30 am

I recall that someone mentioned burning things like cherry pits in either an EFM or one of the bituminous coal underfeed stokers. It might have been Wil-Burt or one of the stokers that burn the Western coals with the rotating fire pots. It might be a trick to get the feed rate high enough and match the airflow to the burn rate so you don't slag up the pot with corn schmoo, however.

 
k-2
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Post by k-2 » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 9:58 am

I think coal will settle back down if Biden dont manage to put huge taxes and regulations on it which he has pledged to do but perhaps all that lunacy will be stopped this November. One of my coal suppliers say that is exactly what is going on. Hope its stopped in Nov. Get out and vote these lunatics out in November guys.
Last edited by k-2 on Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 10:59 am

I can't see corn working very well in the AA design. If you are worried about coal availability, order another load as soon as you have space and funds for it.


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 2:08 pm

It was recently posted that Jeddo is selling at $198 per ton.

 
k-2
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Post by k-2 » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 3:09 pm

Crude is less than $2 a gallon right now so the upward pressure on prices across the board should be easing.

 
hank2
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Post by hank2 » Sat. Sep. 24, 2022 12:28 am

I've never seen a corn burning stove. Are they all essentially a stoker set up with hopper? The daughter of a cousin of mine had used a corn burner for many years. When my uncle (her grandad) was still alive and growing crops some years ago, she had a good source. I recall corn going for as little as $2.00/bushel in some years in the 80's. Wholesale commodities price right now is $6.75/bushel. The local corn harvest around me is not good at all this year due to extended drought at the worst times.

 
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swyman
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Post by swyman » Sun. Sep. 25, 2022 9:58 am

hank2 wrote:
Sat. Sep. 24, 2022 12:28 am
I've never seen a corn burning stove. Are they all essentially a stoker set up with hopper? The daughter of a cousin of mine had used a corn burner for many years. When my uncle (her grandad) was still alive and growing crops some years ago, she had a good source. I recall corn going for as little as $2.00/bushel in some years in the 80's. Wholesale commodities price right now is $6.75/bushel. The local corn harvest around me is not good at all this year due to extended drought at the worst times.
Yes they are a stoker setup. The stove I started with had a small hopper in the rear and corn was fed onto the top of the fire. The boiler was setup like an EFM, there was a 14 bushel hopper next to the boiler unit with an auger feeding to the bottom of a burn pot that had all the airholes in it. The thing that was a pain was it had vertical heat tubes above the firepot and those would get pretty dirty and was not much room to get in there and clean. Overall I really liked the system, corn was very clean to work with and I had a vacuum transfer that would clean all the dust and fines out during the process. However, does not have the BTU's that coal does!


 
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swyman
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Post by swyman » Sun. Sep. 25, 2022 10:55 am

Lightning wrote:
Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 2:08 pm
It was recently posted that Jeddo is selling at $198 per ton.
Wow that is a really good price! I'm gonna wait and see what happens, hopefully we can elect the right people to get this country back in order!

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Fri. Oct. 07, 2022 3:23 pm

Amen to that. Bagged coal currently at $500 a ton up here in MA! :no1:

 
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Post by k-2 » Fri. Oct. 07, 2022 4:37 pm

hank2 wrote:
Sat. Sep. 24, 2022 12:28 am
I've never seen a corn burning stove.
Very similar to a pellet stove.I think harman had one that could burn either.

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