wood stove & pellet stove

[roermo]

That makes since and you can not blame a company in trying to make a profit, its seems like for its better to stick to the free wood laying around here than to buy pellets. Then I think what is my time worth, the gas in the chain saw, the tractor, pickup etc. You guys know the old story wood is cheaper than gas until the log broke out my back window and smashed my side panel of my truck. But I look at this way its my only exercise and my wife likes it when I am out of the house

Thanks guys

 

[lampfarm]

I burn corn, it's $120/ton here and I store it by the ton, no bags. On average I receive the same amount of heat from corn as I do wood pellets and I burn a ton a month when it's cold. You're so right, pellet prices are rising because of demand. Unfortunately for farmers, corn production exceeds demand so price has stayed low.
You might want to check the impact your stove will have on your home insurance. A pellet stove didn't increase my insurance cost, a wood stove definitely would have. I didn't check how much, but just something to consider.

 

[rambler]

I grow corn for a living here in Minnesota.

I have not used a corn stove, but folks all around 'say' it takes about 200 bu a year to heat the house with theirs. Now, how big a house, how good the insulation, how much does the regular furnace run? I donno, but I hear the 200 bu mark mentioned a lot here in cold Minnesota by those with corn stoves. Lots were installed in the past 2 years.

I get paid $1.40 - 4.50 per bu for my corn at the elevator, lowest to highest ever. Generally it ranges from $1.80 - 2.40.

A bu of corn is 56 lbs. Since corn is a wolrd-wide commodity, probably going to sell for that range for a long time. So I typically recieve $64-86 per ton (an odd way for a farmer to figure corn sales! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif for my corn, wholesale. I understand corn burners prefer it real clean & a bit drier, & bagging it, selling small lots, I can see where it will go for $100 - 120.

There will be that once in 20 years where it will go for double that, but world markets will bring it back to the regular range real quick.

Perhaps more info than anyone cared about, but that is corn marketing 101, for those wondering about corn prices. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I always wonder about the mouse factor? I suppose it depends on how clean one is with the fuel.

--->Paul

 

[Farwell]

My insurance company will cancel me if I put in a wood burning stove and they charge a $175 yearly premium for a corn burner. I have not checked to see what the premium would be for a coal burner. If I install an outside heating system there is no extra premium.
I am lucky because my home is close to a natural gas supply. The price of natural gas is going up but in my area it is not yet bad enough for me to switch to an alternate fuel. If I do it will be corn due to the close proximity to a very large corn supply in my area and my living in a relatively rural area. If the cost of corn doubles it is still a better choice than some of the others.
Farwell

 

[Farwell]

Thanks for the marketing 101 information. Too much information is always better than too little.
My friend that buys bagged corn uses the plastic type bag and has not had a mouse or rat problem yet. He stores his corn on a pallet in his garage and once a day he has to carry the corn into his house and down a flight of stairs to his basement corn heater. He is getting older and at some point he will not be able to carry the bags and will probably have to go back to using propane.
I think the better way to go if corn is used to heat with is to get a small silo with an auger to supply the corn to the heater and have the corn delivered in bulk. This way there is no carrying bags, driving to the supply point, and the corn is stored in a way that varmints do not have easy access to it. The delivery cost is not excessive.
Another thing that needs to be considered is to get a corn heater that will also heat the house hold water and not require daily maintenance. My friend has to baby sit his heater more than most folks do with log burning heaters.
Farwell

 

[scesnick]

I'm almost positive that they can not cancel you just because you put in a wood burner. Especially If you do it to code and then invite them to inspect the work. I would call their bluff and tell them you are going elsewhere with your insurance needs and then see how quick that changes.

I had this same issue but I just went ahead and changed anyway so I'm not sure if they were bluffing or not, Dont' really care either, all I know is I'm good and warm in the winter and not paying a fortune to the gas company . /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Candice Campbell]

I have a fireplace, wood stove in basement, and just finished adding on a large family room which is open to the rest of the house. I want to heat it with a 2nd wood stove but was thinking of a pellet stove. But did not know if a combo was made. wood and pellit comob that is.

thanks for any input

Are women allowed here?~ I so resonate with the voices proclaiming a strong desire for a combination, wood and corn stove along with cutwood burning stove!

I don't think we should give up on the creation of some kind of combo. Perhaps my persistent desire is based upon lack of technical knowledge, but here are my consumer viewed reasons for my determined vision.

Aside from the ever changing economics etc., that makes a combination
stove practical, I have the need of a combo from the following experiences.

*Sometimes when you are the most stressed for other resources, you are also at the same time stressed for time. and energy etc...............
Wood negatives..........

-Wood tends to make a mess out side.
-It makes a mess inside too. (sweeping 4 times a day for instance)
-and it takes time, energy and money to bring into the house.
- It's hard to get a full night's sleep (at least with my stove, med/large)with out having to get up1-3 times to keep it stoked, if it's your only heat.
- You can't leve the house for more that a couple of hours without coming home to a colder house.

-With that said, nothing beats the presence and feel of that kind of heat.
And it is great to have a place to be able to burn all sorts of things on a daily basis. Turning garbage( from twigs to cardboard and junk mail) into heat.

So, I've said for years, "If only I could switch over to pellet when I wanted, it would be great."

How about one unit using one chimney, but bifercated into 2 seperate sides? It could also be put inside a biomass of cement etc. with baffels and then used to heat the biomass, that would be great year around. In the spring and Fall with milder temps., you could get by letting it go 1/2 of the time and the biomass would extend the heat time with out the time or cost investment.

Perhaps if the need is there i.e. market, someone will build it.

I hope my dreams are not too far out. I invite your feedback of experience and knowhow.

Thank you ~

~ Hopefully, ~ Candice ~ Fairfield "Field of Dreams" Iowa

P.S. To really have a dream of a set up along with our wood etc. or inplace of it, check out John Bidini-magnet motor - Truth In Heart CREDIT CARD ORDERING CENTER

 

[Ken45101]

Candice,

Of course it depends on the weather, but normally our wood stove carries us overnight and all I do in the morning is rake the coals forward and we do not reload the stove until about 9 am (15-20 degree nights). Well seasoned wood (1 year at least) helps.

The newer "EPA" wood stoves are significantly more efficient which means less wood burned and cleaner burns.

We have a pellet stove (and it will burn a pellet/corn mix). But it has been a big disappointment. We have only put about a dozen bags of pellets through it this year. I'm still burning pellets we bought three years ago. I refuse to buy the low quality, high priced pellets that are on the market today. The pellet stove has not done a good job of keeping the house warm. In fact, sometimes I have sat five feet in front of it and felt chilly! I certainly do not have the problem with the wood stove!

I do turn it on the lowest setting some evenings to warm up the living room a bit more. It's also good for it to come on automatically on the very cold (below 10 degrees here) nights as the wood stove dies down. It's also used on those days where it's too warm for the wood stove, but maybe a bit cold to let the heat pump come on.

The other issue with pellets is that quality has gone down over the past few years. It seems that the higher quality pellets are being shipped to Europe where they are willing to pay even higher prices.

If one has an alternative, current pellet prices do not seem to be economical. AFAIK, corn stoves have to be manually started, they cannot be turned on and off by a thermostat.

I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I think an unvented propane fireplace or gas logs is probably about the same cost to heat with, and certainly is less cost to buy and install. They are 99.9% efficient, no heat is wasted out the flue.

Ken

 

[Car Doc]

I have a fireplace, wood stove in basement, and just finished adding on a large family room which is open to the rest of the house. I want to heat it with a 2nd wood stove but was thinking of a pellet stove. But did not know if a combo was made. wood and pellit comob that is.

thanks for any input

Sounds like you are on the right track to me that's how we do it and it works great best of both worlds. I am assuming you mean stick wood as the combo? That is not avail as far as I know fwtw.

Multi-fuel pellet stoves get that done in a different way and are the way to go imo we have an American Harvest multi-fuel pellet stove that works best for us with a mix of 60-70% wood pellets and 30-40% corn.

The corn puts out way more heat than wood if you run it straight corn it is very hot burning. Corn also has to be throttled up pretty good to stay running if its straight so that's why we mix and also corn doesn't burn completely when used alone, it burns a lot better when mixed.

We find that at the beginning of cold weather we are using more pellets and as it gets colder we start adding more and more corn for the extra heat.

As far as buying corn in sacks that's too expensive I think anyway so I built a 48 bushel grain cart (old horse drawn Gleaner combine bin) on wheels and had a tarp built to cover it and I just run thru the elevator and get it filled a couple times each winter and I fill 5 gal buckets out of it to bring in the house its very handy.

And btw dont let anyone tell you corn has to be 11% or less moisture to burn either, I burn 15-17% moisture corn every year just fine as long as you mix. hth

Steve

 

[PA hayseed]

I can't say for the rest of the country, but sawdust is readily available in my area, and a local company makes pellets from several local sawmills. I got my pellets for under $200 a ton all winter. TSC is clearing their pellets out now, which puts them at about 218 a ton or so (in my area).

50 bags per pallet, I burn roughly 2-3 bags a day to heat my 2500+ sq ft uninsulated block wall basement. It was a harder winter than usual here. Not the amount of snow, but very cold and windy this year.

I think my stove will break down before I lose access to pellets. If there was a wood/pellet stove, I would have bought it. I guess the newest thing they are talking about is a true multifuel stove, capable of burning anything. I read that they are talking about burning switchgrass, garbage, and possibly coal pellets. I read that coal is problematic process, something about moisture and sticking together.

I am looking for the future pellet stove. I have no desire to fire a coal or woodstove again in my life. Loved the heat though.