Heating with Pellets

[snowmansimon]

I am wondering if anyone is burning corn in a pellet stove to heat with? I have just under 2 acres that I could plant, have a small Kubota BX I purchased to do my landscaping (looking for uses for it now),I heat with electricity, have a tiller. Does anyone do this on a small scale like this? My thoughts with no real experience are to pelletize the stalk and corn and burn the pellets. Am I crazy to try and do this? I would love to use the land and the BX to benefit me somehow and not just look at it. Local company sells sawdust for $40 for a tote bag. Looks to be about 4' x 4' x 5'. Could possibly turn these into pellets?

 

[coobie]

Burned wood pellets/corn for 18 plus years.Corn has to be a certain moisture rate to burn efficiently.I stayed with the pellets after a few Hugh corn clinkers in my auger.

 

[Ken45101]

Sawdust is made into pellets via high pressure machinery which squeezes out the moisture, AFAIK, it's not practical or economical to do on a small sale.

You can mix dry corn with pellets in some stoves or even burn corn alone. Back years ago, they sold corn stoves, but the ethanol boondoggle jacked he price up and made it uneconomical unless you grew and processed your own.

 

[snowmansimon]

Sawdust is made into pellets via high pressure machinery which squeezes out the moisture, AFAIK, it's not practical or economical to do on a small sale.

You can mix dry corn with pellets in some stoves or even burn corn alone. Back years ago, they sold corn stoves, but the ethanol boondoggle jacked he price up and made it uneconomical unless you grew and processed your own.

Sort of what I was thinking. Growing my own. I have 1 acre that used to be farmed by previous owner and could easily be used. I have a little under an acre of smaller areas combined. If I could grow 1-2 acres of corn and chop up the entire stalk/cob and run this through a hammer mill and pellet mill then I could heat all winter with this possibly. Currently my electrical bill is around $80-90 in the summer months and goes up to $400-500 in the winter months. Growing and burning my own pellets would decrease winter usage and maybe a small grid tied solar setup to make up the rest.

I have the BX and land and feel I could be putting it to use. I just don't know the costs I would be getting into to set all this up.

 

[Carl_NH]

If you don't have a pellet stove now, that will set you back $1500 or more plus installation. I cant imagine growing, harvesting and drying an acre of corn, then shelling it manually!

IMO you would be better off looking into a 12000 BTU Mini Split heat pump set up for $2K plus $1K or so for installation - would provide heat and AC and are 300% efficient vs electric baseboard heating 100% due to the way they operate. Then put up 10-15 solar panels and essentially you have free heat with minimal labor. Yes the cost of the solar panel setup is probably $10K+ but you get a third back in tax credits.

 

[LouNY]

As I read the original post I believe that he wishes to use the entire plant fodder and grain to produce his own pellets for heating fuel.
If you search for bio mass pellet equipment you will find considerable information.
Pellet mill plant and briquetting machine from Gemco Machinery are ready to make pellets and briquettes for you!

 

[YanmarFever]

One of our heat sources is pellet, we purchased a Harman XXV pellet stove.
Do I like pellets, NO! I like wood heat a lot better, but we had to try it, so here we are with this boat anchor.
Pellets do not heat as good as a wood stove in my opinion. Plus pellets are 249.00 a ton.
However, as we age wood cutting gets to be a pain although I love doing it.

 

[shooterdon]

There is a guy here (5030??) who heats with "free" corn. He should pipe in shortly.

I know a couple that installed a pellet stove in their first house and "loved it". They did not install one in their next house. When I worked the numbers, it was not a cheap way to heart but cheaper than electricity. Burning wood is the least expensive option in my area even if I have to buy wood for $180/cord.

 

[snowmansimon]

Our electricity rates are not outrageous but they are still there. My house is a 3 car garage with a 2 bedroom loft above it. I heat the garage to 5C to keep everything from freezing and it helps heat the upstairs a small amount. The garage is probably my biggest expense as far as heating as its electric heat. The living quarters is mainly heated with a mini split.

My idea was to heat the garage with a pellet stove to help reduce the electricity used. Pellet stove would maintain the garage at 5C minimum and if I go down to work I can crank up the elec heat to get things warmed up quick. Now if I could grow then make my own pellets for fairly cheap then my heat would almost be free for the garage. Even if I had to purchase sawdust and make pellets with this. I guess I just dont know the cost involved with getting a proper setup going.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF you plan to grow corn and make pellets, there is NO "fairly cheap"!!!!

SR