Posted on 01/16/2008 4:33:19 PM PST by spanalot
For the past five years, a group of area residents have heated their homes with stoves that burn corn, an energy source they say is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than gas, oil or electricity, and one they hope others also will use.
Almost 70 families in the Takoma Park Silver Spring Cornburners Cooperative use corn-burning stoves that produce a clean-burning fuel to heat their homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.net ...
F the Mussies and Russians and spend your fuel dollars in the US
We should import corn to Alaska so we can run corn stoves. Right.
Corn? When did I heat my home with corn?
I hope they mean corn “cobs”.
Wood pellets are much cheaper. I looked at these stoves at Tractor Supply—interesting!
... erm, and, then, we can all eat coal, as it becomes 10 times cheaper than food.
Biofuels should be reserved for the trickier cases such as for transportation.
Is this like a breeder reactor?
I dont know wether to laff er cry......and then the global warmin comment....
If you live in Alaska and eat enough corn on the cob to feed the corn stove as your sole source of heat, you will weigh about a ton within a year.
When bourbon goes to the roof in price, people will know who threw the corn in their stoves for heat.
with the auto feeders they are cool.....cheaper to throw another log on the fire yerself though,the remote burners several of my friends use are awesome.With those you dont have the insurance hassle of wood burners in the house...but you have to put on yer slippers and walk ootside in yer t-shirt and undies when it’s -20 though ;-)
Nope, they are saving the cobs for the outhouses.
you could burn your septic tank contents? ;-)
you want wood pellets in alaska - almost as cheap.
http://energy.cas.psu.edu/energyselector/cornpellet.html
A friend of mine has one of those. It heats water and pumps it through a coil over fan set up. Its computer controlled and he loves it! I just don’t like the going outside to feed it thing.
This is only tangentially related- but it seemed like it might be a good place to ask:
I am looking at a house this weekend. It seems from the listing to be a bit deficient in the heating appliance department, although I don’t know for sure yet.
I would love to get a large, glass-front woodburning stove (yes, wood-burning in particular) as a means of adding to the household heating arrangements. A friend had one that I fell in love with. It was his sole means of heating, and it was hugely effective. It’d heat you out of the house on a cold night in under an hour.
Anybody know roughly what it costs to buy one and especially to have it put in? Just a ballpark-y figure?
I find chunks of tree about 3 inches diameter and 15 inches in length fit my wood stove just right. Large pellets. There are a lot of trees that diameter in my yard. About 50 years ago a forest fire burned all that, and it will probably happen again, but in the meantime they are growing faster than I need them for the stove.
I wonder about kudzu. If you grew that stuff in a field and bailed it just imagine how much you could harvest in one summer.
No, actually, they mean corn kernals that have been removed from the cob by the combine. It does have to be extra clean of debris though. The stove we are putting in our new house burns corn. Since we grow corn, it is going to be huge savings for us. Very efficient as well ... the corn leaves very little ash residue, and the ash makes a good soil amendment in the garden.
...how much land would have to be used to sustain this for everyone?
About 2 acres per household.
I voted for Reagan in 1972 and I heat my house with 7000 lbs a year. My money goes down the road to a local farmer and not to some offshore terrorist.
I AM LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK, TOO.
You have to do some work to the building such as fireproofing the wall and other structure near the fireplace. It will cost some thousands to have it done.
If we’re gonna be doing all this new crap with corn we better figure out something else to feed cows.
“Wood pellets are much cheaper.”
Not for me - I buy from the farm direct at the mercantile wholesale price = it was $3.90/ bushel in Oct when I filled up my silo.
“we can all eat coal,”
coals is too dusty and too much ash.
Deer corn is $14.00 per 100lbs around here right now. How much ash is left over? Do you have to clean it out every day?
They burn dry, whole corn kernals which are feed-lot grade - not corncobs. One of the side benefits is that the corn provides a perfect amount of moisture as it combusts, relieving the problem of dry forced air.
I have also seen the same technology used as the heating element of a barbeque grill - absolutely the best grill I have ever cooked on.
“Biofuels should be reserved for the trickier cases such as for transportation.”
why wait - I have saved $12,000 in last 4 years.
That’s what kids are for! ;-)
“I dont know wether to laff er cry”
get a stove and laff all the way to the bank.
Talk to your insurance prospect first....
“Is this like a breeder reactor?”
actually its more like a catalytic heater where the gasses are drawn through the hot embers and burns with little flame.
thats why it is so effiecient and clean - no smoke, no odor, no vapor.
“couldn’t they compress the gin trash to make pellets? “
sounds feasible - these stove also burn cherry pits, soybean, pistacchio shells, etc.
One woodstove in the garage/workshop. One in the living room. One in the upstairs hall. I've got a patch of eight acres of old mixed hardwoods which I have not even touched. Just clearing the fallen/dead stuff could heat my house for a decade.
Referring to if this person would just insulate it’s drafty hooose....
Corn cobs. Otherwise wasted.
I have a central vacuum dedicated to drawing the corn from the silo and it brings it right to the stove where I fill up buckets - 5 gallon twice a day.
So do the math...how many households times 2 acres..so we will need what? 200+ million acres for corn? Just to burn; not to eat...is that even possible?
$4-5000 but chopping wood is a full time job - corn is so easy and so cheap - 2 buckets a day and one chunk of clinker cleaned out every 3 or 4 days.
sure - kudzo is gudzo and I know this is being done in NC
I do the same when hunting,pickup load of good deadfall now and then and my garage is toasty all winter
Tractor Supply is an awesome store. I went with a regular wood stove though. the fuel is cheap. I got it in my back yard, tons of it.
I was expecting something in that range. That’s good to know. I grew up with a big stone fireplace in the house as a source of heat; I really, really miss having a fire going in the evening. It’d be worth it to me.
Woodstoves are great- especially in the rural setting where the house is. There are all kinds of sources of free wood, and wood at the cost of a little sweat. “That old tree came down in the wind last night? Don’t know how to get it out of the way? I’ll be over with a truck and a chainsaw tomorrow after work to make it go away, neighbor.”
Vermont Castings, Vigilant.
I averaged 5 cord a season. I loaded it up and the catalytic do the work. Hardly any smoke and it would burn for 10 hours on a load.
I was a lot thinner too then cuttin’ and splittin’ with a chain saw and maul.
Done it before, I can do it again. Looking forward to it. :-)
“You have to do some work to the building such as fireproofing the wall and other structure near the fireplace”
No - the stove is so efficient it is only warm to touch - it needs a few inches of clearance to get in the side panels for annual cleaning - also 9 sq ft of granite or whatnot from home depot for $35. - you do need a special stainless vent - about $200.
Where is this corn burning stove..?,,,We grow 5-10 acres a year to eat and feed the deer..
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