Anyone familiar with these animals?
http://www.grainburningstoves.ca/
http://www.grainstovesinc.com/products.php
I’m about a week away from installing another chimney and hooking up a wood burner in my basement. A friend tells me yesterday about people burning grain in special pellet style stoves, 90% efficiency, direct vent, no chimney. To produce the same amount of heat, grain is 600% cheaper than fuel oil, 300% cheaper than logs and no splitting, stacking, or 3am furnace feedings.
This has got to be too good to be true. A web search has turned up little information. I may have to explore this one on the ground.
What have you got on the subject?
Edited 10/10/2005 5:15 am ET by gordsco
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There was some talk in the paper of farmers burning corn for heat.
Thats how I got wind of it.
I came across this web site several years ago. It has info on corn stoves and corn furnaces. Also, has info on pellet stoves and such. I was researching for a new stove for a future weekend cabin. I've not built the cabin as of yet but I did enjoy the research on the stoves.
http://www.wesellflames.com/corn_stove.htm
As I remember from my studies that corn burning was preferable to pellet stoves. There was something about the fact that grain tends to be much cheaper and easier to get. The corn stoves use feed corn which can be gotten at many feed stores around the country. Pellet stoves work best with certain types of pellets and there was a problem with storage. You don't want the pellets to stick together because of improper storage.
There was some interesting info about a corn burning furnace. You could load it and forget it. Seems to be a much better deal. However, with either stoves you don't get the romance that you get from a wood burner. However, wood can be expensive and a lot of work.
I hope this was useful info......
Just my 2 cents......
My friend, who sells feed, has taken an interest in a couple of clients who are burning rye wheat. He says it burns hotter and more completely than corn and you can burn corn or pellets in a wheat stove, but not the other way around. With the ridiculously low prices of grain and no change in sight, I'm liking the idea.
They've been around for 20-30 years. Basic variation on the pellet stoves. How worthwhile they are depends a bit on what grain prices are.
Probably not worth it unless you raise the grain yourself or have ready access to grain locally, as the cost of hauling the grain in small amounts (or buying it packaged) will destroy the economics.
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