All recommendations contained within this website for burning corn assume the end users (stove/furnace owner or their installer) has carefully followed all manufacturer recommendations pertaining to proper installation, wiring, venting and operation of the unit. Failure to do so may result in injury or death, as well as damage to the stove/furnace and the other property.
DRY CORN BURNS HOTTER THAN AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF WOOD PELLETS.
Not all stoves are capable of handling the heat generated by burning corn. Before burning corn in your appliance read the manufacturer's instructions pertaining to permissible fuels. You must not burn corn in a pellet-only stove, as severe heat damage to the stove and/or your home may result.
Also, several manufactures of multi-fuel appliances recommend burning corn at a lower setting (feed rate) than with wood pellets due to the higher burner temperatures generated by corn. This is actually a plus because you are getting equal heat as a slower rate of fuel consumption.
Failure to heed manufacture's recommendations may result in injury or death, damage to the appliance and/or a risk of fire in your home. |
Igniting the corn fire. (Non-auto ignition units)
Some stove manufactures include an alcohol-based fire starter-gel with their new appliance. You may wish to use this method to start the fire, but lighting corn takes a lot of heat and starter-gels often result in frustration for many folks. We have had great success over the years with a very simple but effective method of starting the fire in our furnace without the use of gels. Here's how:
First, put a small quantity of wood pellets in the fire pot. Then add small pieces (torn into about 1-inch squares) of ordinary cardboard in random fashion, taking care to leave air spaces between the pieces. Add a few more wood pellets in with the cardboard in layers until the firepot is mostly full. (Total of pellets used is about 1/2 handful).
We then start furnace combustion fan, ignite cardboard with a match and close and latch door. Our unit automatically starts feeding corn after a three-minute delay, and by this time there is already a hot fire in the firepot and the corn ignites. This works for us almost every time with little effort. In several years we have been burning corn through our Indiana winters, we are still working from the only bag of wood pellets we have ever purchased!
We do not recommend the use of flammable liquids as they will result in numerous fire hazards, including Personal injuries, and burning your house down, just to name a few.
A guy once told us he wasn't too popular around his house when he started his stove because he used a corn/diesel fuel mixture!!!
WOW!!! Call the paramedics and the fire department, QUICK!!
|
