Why Burn Corn

August 31, 2008 · Filed Under Corn Fuel 

There is currently on the market a number of manufactures that make stoves which burn shelled corn, basically the stoves are similar to wood or pellet stoves, they have been design for dry granular fuel. Typically corn burning stoves have a combustion air fan and a fuel stoker, both of which are not common in standard wood stove construction.

Why burn corn?

The corn used as a fuel in stoves have two requirements of this corn fuel:

  1. The shelled corn must be dry, with preferably 15% moisture content or less. Corn which is higher in moisture content will have a lower heat value per unit weight than “dry” corn. Also moist corn may also cause flow problems through the fuel loading auger.
  2. The shelled corn must be free of fines. Dirty corn which has a lot of fines and cob pieces will cause problems with the fuel loading auger.

The storage, moving and handling of grain corn has evolved tremedously now every year farmers harvest, dry, convey, and store millions of bushels of corn. The equipment to do all these things is readily available. Consequently putting a corn storage system together for a home heating set up is possible with augers, conveyors and storage bins which are readily available.

Two reasons why corn is so attractive as a heat source are that dry shelled corn is so easily handled and in plentiful supply. Shelled corn also has a high heat energy per unit weight. Here’s how shelled corn measures up to other solid fuels.

Table 1. Heat Energy of On-Farm Fuel Sources
Shelled Corn 7000 BTU/lb (16,200 kJ/kg) at 15% Moisture Content
Straw 6550 BTU/lb (15,200 kJ/kg) Air Dried
Corn Stover 7540 BTU/lb (17,500 kJ/kg) Air Dried
Wood 8000 BTU/lb (18,500 kJ/kg) Air Dried

You can see from this table that shelled corn has heat energy close to that of wood.

Related Posts

  • Basics of Corn Stoves
    • Corn stoves have been particularly designed to burn a granular fuel. Corn stoves come with hoppers to store the corn
  • US Stove Company Model 6309
    • United States Stove Company is proud to present there newest line of  multi purpose stovesthe US stove 6039. Manufactured by
  • Corn Burning Stove FAQ’s
    • Some must know questions about corn stoves How much corn does it use? Typically a corn burning stove use approximately 1
  • Basics of Corn Stoves
    • Corn stoves are designed to burn a granular fuel and in some wyas quite similar to Pellet Stoves, in both
  • US Stove Company Model 6039I
    • US Stove Company multi-fuel heater model 6039I that will burn corn and pellets fuel and can be easily adapted to

    A few Recommended Corn Stoves:


    If you found this page useful, consider linking to it.
    Simply copy and paste the code below into your web site (Ctrl+C to copy)
    It will look like this: Why Burn Corn

    Tags: ,

    Comments

    7 Responses to “Why Burn Corn”

    1. What kind of Pellet Fuel can I use? | Pellet Stove Guide on September 1st, 2008 3:25 am

      [...] Corn Pellets [...]

    2. Quality of Shelled Corn | Corn Stove Guide on September 6th, 2008 12:49 am

      [...] of Shelled Corn - The shelled corn needs to be clean, with as little as possible of broken kernels and foreign materials (cob pieces, [...]

    3. Locating a Supplier of Shelled Corn | Corn Stove Guide on September 6th, 2008 4:56 am

      [...] purchasing your Corn Burning Stove first identify a reliable supplier of shelled corn. To find a good supplier start by going to your local feed or garden centres as well as any mills [...]

    4. Magnum Baby Countryside by American Energy Systems | Corn Stove Guide on September 12th, 2008 12:21 am

      [...] Magnum Baby Countryside is the heat that is given out (40,000 BTU), and the fact it holds 50lb of shelled corn and its a baby [...]

    5. Blog Carnival Edition No 7 | My DIY Home Tips on September 23rd, 2008 2:22 pm

      [...] presents Why Burn Corn posted at Corn Stove [...]

    6. Rosemary on September 24th, 2008 5:58 am

      Linked at http://mydiyhometips.com/2008/09/23/blog-carnival-edition-no-7/

    7. Basics of Corn Stoves | Corn Stove Guide on January 10th, 2009 3:28 am

      [...] to get the fuel to burn, certain manufacturers will incorporate a combustion chamber into where the corn fuel is added with combustion air. Fuel is added by failing from above or auger up from [...]

    Leave a Reply