Got my first gas bill, with my corn furnace as the primary heat source.
My gas bill was just over $49.00, and I used 22 Therms. According to the statement, I used 153 therms last year. I also used about 40 gallons of propane for spot heating. I didn't use any propane this year, and the furnace has only had to run a couple of times. The times it has run, it has only been on for half an hour or so at the most.
I am way over what I had planned to burn for corn. I have already gone through over 5000 pounds of corn. I will certainly burn another 4000 pounds this year.
However, the house is very comfortable, day and night. You don't freeze to death when you get up at night. I've figured out how to keep the house at a nice comfortable 70 degrees all the time, and have a schedule for cleaning the furnace, filling the machine, and cleaning it out.
I also have a new strategy for stocking corn. I will buy 3000 pounds at one time. Then I will bring home 500 pounds once a week. Based on my current rate of 3000 pounds a month, I'll have enough corn on hand to last me 3 months. I am hoping to reduce my rated to 2500-2800 pounds a month. That will make a big difference in the way I strategize my corn stock.
I am also putting in a very small corn stove in our bedroom that is over the garage. It costs almost as much as the furnace. The furnace has a btu rating of 30000-70000+, but is only about 85% efficient. You also have to pull out the chunk of burnt corn every 24 hours. The one I'm going to put in is rated between 8000 btu's and 30000 btu's, has a thermostat, a grinder to turn the residual corn to ash, so you only have to empty the ash tray once or twice a week, and is over 98% efficient.
I'll keep everyone posted as the season continues.

 

Just another quick update on the corn furnace. It is working marvelous. I run the unit at 20% of its capacity at night, since the temp is staying between 30 and 40 degrees, and in the day time at about 5%. I only have to fill up the corn every 36 hours or so at that rate, and pull the burnt corn clinker out as well. I still think I will burn around 9000 pounds of corn this year. I might be able to get the corn from a local farmer for about 115 bucks a ton, so that is real cheap.

 

Thanks for the update. I was wondering how you were coming along.

 

We've been using a wood pellet stove for over 5 yrs. now. Fortunately, the supply is plentiful in the Pac. NW. Pricing is similar to what you have found for corn. We're paying ~140 - 180/ton. It's a bit easier to find and store than corn, especially with the univited guests (rodents) in our old garage. Is your stove a Harman? How has the cleaning and clinkers been burning corn?

 

I agree with you about finding pellets over corn. You can go to just about any hardware store and get them "in most years". The funny thing about it is, corn is plentiful just about everywhere, just not marketed very well, or sold at the usual places. I've had the best luck dealing with the stove dealer, and luckily, the local co-op, which has been helpful in helping me develope another co-op.

My mom has been burning pellets for quite some time. She has a Quadra-Fire of some sort. It is much more advanced than my corn furnace. They burn about 3 tons of pellets a year, but there house is roughly half the square footage.

The rodents haven't been a problem, but I store the corn in my basement which is nice and dry. I keep the corn in 32 gallon trash cans, and 18 gallon storage bins. I could see storage being a problem in a garage though.

My furnace is an Amaizablaze built by Nesco. I went with it primarly because it was one of the few furnaces out there that burnt corn and didn't look like an industrial leviathon. The other is it is built by Nesco. My grandfather installed a Nesco wood furnace in his home about 25 years ago. He lived in northern Wisconsin, and to this day, not a bit of problems with it. Not even the blower motor has failed. He replaced the pulley belt every season, but that's about it. In the spring, I'm going to remove the casings to check out the internal workings of my furnace.

The clinkers are the only thing that is the downside of this unit. It produces a clinker about half the depth of the fire pot for every 100 pounds of corn burnt. Basically when I feed the furnace, I pull the clinker. Cleaning is easy. I wipe down the glass once a week, and vacuum it out once a week. I'll clean the heat exchangers at the end of the year.

One thing about it is, the heat it pushes into the duct work is incredible. 3 of 10 is warm to the touch on the main duct. If you get over 5, it starts to get hot. If you pump it up to 10, you can't touch the duct for more than a few seconds. It is that hot. I have learned to keep it under 4.

Harman builds a really good unit from what I've read. How do you think it compares to the Quadra-Fire? My mom can't say enough good things about hers.

 

We have a Quadrafire. It's been a good unit. Easy to use and clean. The Harman is a bit more like a Prius, the technology is more exposed to the user. The Quad is somewhat like the HCH2, less controls and much easier to use. Basically you don't change anything unless you make a dramatic change in pellets. Ours is on a digital thermometer so it sets itself day and night. Couldn't get much simpler.

 

Wish there was an alternative for a/c. Down here it's the heat not the cold, I know of ground water a/c units but the cost is unreal. I know a guy that intalled one and they had to drill 5 wells over 300'. It was a closed loop system. He had major problems and the installer skipped town and he was left with a unit that didn't wrk. When it did work he said it was great. The installer even didn't pay the manufacturer so they didn't want to do the warranty work. He was in court for a few years. Finally they settled and he's back with just a reg. a/c unit. kevin

 

Just picked up another 3,500 pounds of corn. This will take me through the end of the winter. My total corn purchase comes to 11,500 pounds, or 160 dollars per ton, average.

Guys, I won't lie, loading, unloading, pouring, cleaning and maintaining is a lot of work. It does keep you active, and makes for a good workout. Cleaining is easy. Maintaining is easy too. It is the sheer bulk of corn. I am very happy with the heat output, and overall cost savings, and reliability of the system.
I would still recommend this to anyone who wants to have an alternative heat source, with predictable costs. You must have a reliable source of corn, and a good system of storage. If you have those in place, the system works great!

 

Corn stoves are catching on around here as well. Actually, they are a lot like a wood stove.......they warm you up 3 times: chopping, splitting, burning....

 

We definatly have the heat/ humidity here, some use swamp coolers but again very humid..
On the lighter side with the extra corn,
You could make a side still and brew your own for parties also