Have any of you found a source or a way to convert a woodburning stove to a cornburner? I know the combustion chamber is quite a bit smaller and there needs to be more inlets/outlets, but I would think it could be accomplished. Any advice would greatly be appreciated (the old chain saw blade is dull and I've got more corn than I know what to do with!)

-- Joey Hajda (jhajda@esu10.org), September 17, 2001

Answers

Joey:

Read through the Older Messages (by category) for Heat (Other). Might be something to help you. My initial reaction is you would spend far more money in trying to force a wood burner to do something it was not designed to do than to just find a corn burner and go from there.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 17, 2001.

You didnt say if you want to convert a wood pellet stove or regular wood stove. I've never messed with pellet stove or grain stove. Think they are very simular. As to burning grain in a regular box stove, some farmers in midwest burned full ears of corn in wood stove during depression. dont know how well it worked. Also Real Goods sells a stainless steel basket in several sizes (for different firebox sizes) that is suppose to allow one to burn wood pellets efficiently in regular wood stove. Might also work to burn grain? I doubt any conversion would be as efficient as a specifically designed grain burning stove, however might be interesting to experiment.

-- Hermit John (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), September 18, 2001.

I would not try to do it. It will probably cost more than just purcahesing the Countryside multifuel stove. The thing is that a pellet stove is different than a corn stove. The Corn burning stove gets much hotter and has a different volume of air required to make the corn burn. Remember you might save a couple hundred bucks trying to convert an old pellet stove to burn corn, but can you feel save at night wondering if it will work correctly. Best case senario is the stove goes out, worst case it burns the house down.

-- (stevekinstler@yahoo.com), September 27, 2001.

Hi. The above answers to your question seem rediculous. I'm not sure any of them have any experience in what you're asking. Here in St Joseph, MO we (friends and I) have been experimenting with this for 2 years now. We all live in mansions (beautiful town) that would be millions on the coasts but very affordable in Missouri. That is until winter heating bills come to heat our 10,000 sq ft places. Anyhow last year with soaring gas prices and an awful winter (coupled by the fact that pellets became unavailable) we began burning corn or anything we could do to keep heating bills down. Wood pellet stoves won't burn corn by itself. The corn tends to glue itself into globs when it gets hot and eventually stop up the auger shoot which stops up the fuel from entering the burn box. Thus no fuel, temp drops, stove turns off auger if temp drops too low. It will not burn down your house as the earlier reply suggested. Mixing the corn with wood pellets though gives a more even burn and seems to work on a clean burn box. I mix 2 part corn to 1 part pellet. It will burn for 12- 24 hours and then go out as the burn box is not as clean. I've tried to find a larger burn box (which I believe would solve the problem) but they are not made and would require building your own. This is something I might try actually. Some mix in oyster shells. I haven't tried this yet, but it is suppose to work. Also, you'll have to turn down the auger speed with corn. It burns hotter and more slowly it seems. So you really do stretch out the pellet burning. We have been using corn that insects have gotten into. Have just gotten it for free as the farmer wants to get rid of it. I also use a lot of Kerosene heat to heat individual rooms. Japanese computer controled fan heaters are great but have not found them for sale in this country. I brought 2 back with me from Japan.

Please feel free to email me if you have question or ideas or you would like to move to our beautiful town and restore your own mansion. We are always looking for preservationist!

-- olin cox (olincox@peoplepc.com), February 22, 2002.

I have a small, efficient wood burner, and have been toying with the idea of burning corn in this, as well as wood. Does anyone out there have any experience with this?

-- max dahl (canvas@paulbunyan.net), March 31, 2002.

web www.ja-ran.com We have a kit you can buy to convert your wood furnace to corn we sell lots of kits visit our site

-- Randy McLachlan (randy@ja-ran.com), May 05, 2002.