corn burning stoves?

[greenthumb]

I posted a question a few months ago about putting a wood burning stove in the basement that I will be finishing this spring. After doing some research I have decide that to run a chimminey system from the basement of a two story home will be very expensive about the same cost of the stove by the time the class A pipe would be bought. and it would look very undone with exposed pipe. the wood stove is going to go in our family room which is upstairs and has vaulted cealing's anyway differnt story. I have come across several companies that make corn burning stove and understand you really dont need a chimmney just a freash air intake outlet. that would be easy to do out the basement walkout cut out (area that earth is cut away) I just would like some opinions on if they work. it would be used to keep the basement warm since that will become the play rec room. Do they burn ok it would not be going every day all day what is a good brand of a freestanding corn stove?

thanks

 

[lblair]

I put a wood pellet stove in. It works excellent. It doesnt put out the BTU's that a regular woodstove does, but i can control it alot better. The chimney is just a short pipe out the wall and a 5' riser. It will run between 5,000-40,000 btu's. Its much much cleaner than chunk wood and no where near the ash to take out. I burned nut coal for years in a hand fed fireplace insert. Tons of heat for the buck...but lots of ash and dust when shake'in her down. I emagine the corn is alot like the pellet. I dont use it as my only sorce of heat, but it would about do it. Mine is the style of the old pot belly look. its made by Thelin company. works real good. This dont do you any justice on the corn stove but hopefully helps some, Larry

 

[pajoube]

When doing your research look at a catalytic wood stove. I had one for many years and found this to put out the best heat for the money. Also one huge advantage is that with a catalytic stove you do not have the fear of creosote build up in the pipe and one log will burn all night. I heated the entire house with one cord of 6 inch unsplit wood for the winter.
Paul

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Both wood pellet and corn stoves use a coaxial pipe thru the wall for combustion air and waste gas venting. On stoves up to about 40kbtu, this pipe is roughly 3" diameter.
Stoves are usually installed against outside walls, so venting isn't a problem. One thing I have notices, there is a certain amount of crappy looking residue that accumulates under the outlet, probably an acidic combination of combustion product.
Corn and wood pellet stoves are roughly identical, with the major exception being that a corn stove uses more combustion air. Corn stoves will burn pellets, but pellet stoves won't burn corn.
We have recently experimented with a 35k corn stove, using a mix of roughly 25% pellets, and found that there was somewhat more heat delivered than on pure corn.
Moisture content in the corn is an important factor, as is the clenliness of the corn.
Neither corn or wood pellet stoves are a rapid heat source, as a wood burning airtight stove is. There is virtually no radiant heat given off by either stove, heat is given off in the form of hot air, much like a central furnace and duct work. These stoves gain efficiecy by using a small combustion chamber and excelent heat exchanger.