corn/Pellet stove ?

[BHD]

to day I got to go to town, and was at one store and they had pallets of pellets, for sale, (OK that good and great)

I do not have a pellet stove currently but may consider one, some day down the road,

but was reading in the build it your self forum on this board and came across tis post, Ultimate Shredder Idea...... http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/297389-ultimate-shredder-idea.html

Ok the one shredder was "making mulch" type wood product and the other was wood chucks post #6 and the term "rebak" which looks like about 2 to 3inch long chunks,

OK I know the REBAK would not feed in a pellet stove, but the mulch might,

does any one know of a stove that could use either of this type of product, as well as pellets and or corn, besides a regular log wood stove? just kicking around some thoughts,

and fi for some reason pellets either were not avabalile or could not afford, could one make there own fuel,

one thing I think I would like with a pellet stove would be the self feed, and only having to load it once a day or so, (or that is my understanding),


Any thoughts?

 

[westcliffe01]

Assuming you can chip your own wood, you still have to dry it and get rid of the "fines". The chip pile would basically have to be continuously "stirred" to expose it to air to prevent rot. Some people do this, but first season the wood, then chip it. One needs a much more robust chipper to chip fully dry hardwood.

Pellet/corn stoves use a near vertical "chute" to separate the auger feed system from the burn pot. This chute is susceptible to be bridged by fines, which may stick to the surface instead of sliding down it. Bridging the chute is a BAD idea since the fire can then enter the auger and hopper. If the chute is too steep (perpendicular) then the fuel is not accurately delivered into the burn pot. Too shallow and the smaller chunks may not make it all the way down and cause bridging.

For the feeding system to work, the size of the fuel has to be carefully managed. Not too fine to cause a problem and sufficiently small to feed easily and burn down so as not to need a huge burn pot.

This whole thing is not a light undertaking. The capital value of the equipment and stove and hopper/feed auger is quite high. Usually this only makes sense for applications needing a LOT of heat. It makes even more sense if it is part of the production cycle. So for instance, a place that grows wood commercially may have large greenhouses that need a lot of heat and a lot of CO2. When they harvest timber, them may sell the bulkiest part of the stem and then chip all the "tops". This is burnt to heat the greanhouse and the flue gasses passed through a scrubber and the CO2 used to accelerate growth of the plants in the greenhouse. It of course also increases the thermal efficiency of the heating system, since flue gasses are not simply vented. I have found that some large grow operations use NG powered engines, which are treated with a urea SCR system to remove NOx and the exhaust then ducted into the greenhouse (in addition to providing heat).

I have a corn/pellet stove sitting in the garage unused since it is not financially viable compared to wood heat or NG. When I bought it, corn was $1.98/bushel and it increased to over $7/bushel the first season I used it. The corn price had previously been stable for many years unto the government started subsidizing ethanol production. Too bad my timing was off... $3600 sunk down a hole I was not aware the government were digging... Now if I did not have NG and wood was not an option, then burning pellets would be interesting. But thats not my personal situation.

 

[nybirdman]

I think pellet stoves are a waste.You are slave to the quality of the pellets.Buy a decent "wood" stove.
Pellet stoves don't work if you don't have power.What I have seen they don't really thro a lot of heat either.

 

[BHD]

I have a corn/pellet stove sitting in the garage unused since it is not financially viable compared to wood heat or NG. When I bought it, corn was $1.98/bushel and it increased to over $7/bushel the first season I used it. The corn price had previously been stable for many years unto the government started subsidizing ethanol production. .

the price was more do to drought than ethanol, price of corn is now again below the price of production, ( and even tho it has not been in the news much the government has been printing money that has devalued the dollar. tell me what has not doubled in the last few years, besides wages,

Thank you both for your thoughts,

I do not have NG, only propane do have some wood not much. but if some one would use the cabin with and not much or non experience with wood log stoves, one can have problems, If they do not know the stove and how to set it,

and was thinking of some thing more "automatic" and the thought I had was if when I was cutting fire wood if I had some kind of chipper, I could clean up the small stuff, and chip it, currently usually just abandon it or burn it as normally the work to cut and feed it is more work than it is worth to me, in the wood stove I use in the house, (the idea is for a cabin I considering).

I know one would have to modify the system some how to handle the larger chips but even if the fuel was stored out side and augered or conveyer in some way, Just thinking, out loud,

Thank you for your inputs,

 

[nybirdman]

I replaced my wood stove with a Vermont Castings "propane" unit.38,000BTU's ,uses no power and automatic with a mili-volt thermostat.Propane here is half the price of fuel oil.I have 20 acres of wood lot and chose propane for the convenience.
Another note on the pellet stoves;who is going to handle the hundreds of 40lb.bags and where do you store them?

 

[Beltman60]

I have a pellet stove and love it
I use a ups and when there is a power outage it doesn't bother me
they do make pellet stoves that don't require electricity, but mine needs electric

I have an LP furnace and the first winter we moved I spent over $1600. in LP while burning wood in a not so efficient wood stove
going into the second winter I installed my pellet stove
that year I used only $400 for LP (mostly for water heater and stove) and $400 for 2 tons of pellets
our house has never been warmer than using a pellet stove

last night it got down to 8 deg F and with my stove on 2 out of 5 heating settings the whole house (2100 sq/ft) was kept at 72 deg F or warmer
I have a programmable thermostat that I have turn my fan on for 6 min. ever half hr. to keep air moving throughout the house
so I think it puts out heat

 

[Beltman60]

I store my pellets in the garage
when I need them in the stove I grab a bag or 2 and take them in

my stove has about a hand full of ash every week when in use
with my wood burner I had half a 5 gal bucket full every day

my stove can run for over 2 days with out needed to put in more pellets
wood stove needed tending ever 4-6 hours

my wife and daughter can start it with a push of a button with no fumes
can say that with a wood burner

 

[Dutch445]

coal burner here,
in the northeast, coal is abundant, and coal heat is quite popular.
my son has a new pellet stove, he likes it so far.
i just installed a stoker coal stove in the house i bought 2 years ago. last year
we heated with propane forced air, OUCH!!!$$$$
my prior home was heated with a hand fired coal stove, old fashioned, needed no
electricity to run, and was more then adequate to heat the ranch home.
coal produces the most btu's for the money around here, not sure where
you live or if it's available.
but, like pellets, we buy it by the ton, in bags, and there is a little more
ash to dispose of than with pellets.

 

[buickanddeere]

Harman PC45. Officially burns pellets and grain. Unofficially also burns coal.

 

[coobie]

I think pellet stoves are a waste.You are slave to the quality of the pellets.Buy a decent "wood" stove.
Pellet stoves don't work if you don't have power.What I have seen they don't really thro a lot of heat either.

NOT TRUE !! Pellet stoves do work if you have a battery backup unit.I also have a whole house automatic generator so no effect on my pellet stove with power outage.Maybe you should enlighten your knowledge on pellet quality and stoves here Hearth.com - Information on Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Pellet Stoves, etc.

 

[coobie]

I replaced my wood stove with a Vermont Castings "propane" unit.38,000BTU's ,uses no power and automatic with a mili-volt thermostat.Propane here is half the price of fuel oil.I have 20 acres of wood lot and chose propane for the convenience.
Another note on the pellet stoves;who is going to handle the hundreds of 40lb.bags and where do you store them?

Pellets are stored in my pole barn and unloaded with my tractor pallet forks.Life is good with pellets .Propane costs around here is why I choose wood pellets 10 years ago.I now use 3-4 tons of pellets to heat my house.The cost is about $179 per ton if you buy them in july so cost is $716 per year to heat our 1635 sq.foot house is pretty cheap.Beats the heck out propane costs all day long.I never enjoyed busting my back cutting wood all summer and fall to heat in the winter.Needless to say cleaning up all of the wood mess from the tree bark and bugs.PS don,t forget to store the wood a far ways from the house in case of termite infestation.Just my thoughts.

 

[wmonroe]

Can a pellet stove be connected to the house duct work to heat the whole house?

 

[westcliffe01]

There are pellet furnaces available to drop in as a regular furnace replacement, or connect in series (or T off) regular furnace ductwork.

 

[whistlepig]

Pellet stoves are nice. Wood pellet shelf life very good. I wouldn't go corn pellet. Corn draws moisture. If corn didn't draw moisture there are a whole lot of grain drying bins that the farmers use here that would be a waste of time.

 

[BHD]

Pellet stoves are nice. Wood pellet shelf life very good. I wouldn't go corn pellet. Corn draws moisture. If corn didn't draw moisture there are a whole lot of grain drying bins that the farmers use here that would be a waste of time.

corn is many times picked at a higher moisture than it is safe to store it at, as if you let it dry down to good storage moisture, there is cracking and loss in the combining process, thus it is picked a few points wetter than is safe to store it, at least that is the reason there is drying bins in my area, I have not seen grain pick up much moisture from the air, (not saying it cant happen), not that big of problem in our area, it may be a problem in yours, I would not think it would be any worst than wood absorbing water out of the air, as wood is a sponge for air moisture,

 

[oosik]

I have a pellet stove. Its a Pelletmaster by Wellenco. Supposedly it will burn just about anything. I've used wood pellets, of course, & winter wheat & pea pellets & olive pits(VERY expensive) & paper pellets but not corn. No source of dry corn in my area. It also will work using coal but I have these horrid visions of coal dust covering all the walls in the house, so I've never tried coal. It works on all the products I've mentioned here, but of course, it works best on wood pellets. We get a brand here, made in Northern Idaho that works the very best in my pellet stove - Lignetics. Very little fines, very little ash and puts out a LOT of heat. I only use the pellet stove if it gets really cold - its much cheaper and a whole lot less of a mess to just turn on the electric wall board heaters. BTW - one ton of Lignetics cost $200-$250 locally. My highest electric bill EVER was $176.

I made a serious mistake when I bought this pellet stove. The dealer recommended a small sized Pelletmaster. I looked and they came in sizes - small, medium and large. Well, what the heck!! - if I'm going to have a pellet stove its going to be the large one!!!! Y'all see what I'm sayin'??
So now when I fire up the pellet stove it will be -10F outside, it will be 84-88 degrees in the house and I will be sitting in the living room, in summer shorts and tank top with both of the doors to the house wide open - sweating like a pig!!! The pellet stove is at its lowest setting and still putting out way too much heat for the required situation. Really, its a case of not listening to good advice from someone who knew a lot more about a situation than I did!!
My house is extremely well insulated and looses very little heat in the winter - Pan Abode double wall cedar.

When all is said and done its OK that the pellet stove puts out so much heat. Even if I had the small pellet stove - its still a whole lot cheaper to use electric heat here.

 

[BHD]

I was doing a little looking over the week end, and found this pellet stove, (no power needed) not the easiest starting but not that hard either,

WiseWay Pellet Stoves - Stoves | Central Point, OR

the flue temps seem a little hot to me tho, watch the video and it is well explained,

This stove is the first and only EPA-certified and UL-listed Non Electric Pellet Stove on the market today. The WiseWay Pellet Stove accomplishes an overall efficiency rating of 75%. Impressive is its ability to heat from 800 to 2,000 square feet of living space. A 40-lb. bag of pellets will last up to 31 hours on low or 12 hours on high.

 

[fordmantpw]

I was doing a little looking over the week end, and found this pellet stove, (no power needed) not the easiest starting but not that hard either,

WiseWay Pellet Stoves - Stoves | Central Point, OR

the flue temps seem a little hot to me tho, watch the video and it is well explained,

I will supply electricity for an extra 10+% in efficiency on the pellets. Many pellet stoves run 85+% efficiency.

 

[DaveOmak]

I was doing a little looking over the week end, and found this pellet stove, (no power needed) not the easiest starting but not that hard either,

WiseWay Pellet Stoves - Stoves | Central Point, OR

the flue temps seem a little hot to me tho, watch the video and it is well explained,

That is one cool stove.... I like it.... You could plumb hot water to heat the floor of the green house or your own dwelling..