NDR Corn v Pellet Stoves?-update

heck until yesterday I had never heard of a CORN STOVE so I've definately learned something from this thread...WHO KNEW???

When I told Debby she asked if the house smelled like popcorn?

Steve
 
AND...since the pellets are hardwood, that makes it even worse since most hardwood is used to manufacture furniture and cabinets that aren't booming right now and no owner of hardwood property is going to log young trees when it takes so long to replenish them. Take clear oak for example that sells for 3900 a thousand bd ft...gonna make a 130 per ton bag of pellets out of that? My lumber salesman buddy just took me to lunch and told me the Maple flour that goes into the composite deckings has to be BOUGHT now....rather than just cleaning up someones dirty mill and hauling it away for nothing. Good thing you went with corn I'd say. Just like most industries now, there is no scrap that is worthless. Shingles and asphalt for roads is drying up because the oil refineries are getting gas out of almost all the oil in a barrel, making shortages of what used to be a byproduct.
 
Steve,

Every once in a while a kernal of corn will pop. It doesn't last too long with the rest of the corn burning at 1100 degrees!

While learning how to start the stove and get the draft set we did cause the fire to go out and the corn would smolder and you could smell that in the house. It wasn't the worst smell but it was definately a burnt smell.

Our next door neighbor was complaining that we were going to stick the neighborhood up with our corn stove. Later on she told my wife we must have changed our minds since she never smelled the smoke. She was surprised when my wife told her it had been burning for two weeks.

Tom
 
Another mushroom thread.

My source regarding availability is two suppliers locally. I have yet to run out despite my failure to pre-buy this year. Europe has been heating with pellet stoves for years - this is not new technology - just newly employed in the US.

I can't speak for the left coast but the pellets produced in the east primarily come from Canada (Quebec Province) and the large plant in Jaffrey NH. Obviously, they go out under various names like Qubix, Comfy Cozy, NE and Northern to name a few.

I like hardwood pellets but they are also made with softwood. My stove produces more ash with soft, thus my preference. I tried 90% wood /10% corn and it also produced more ash. Since furniture production must be down, I would concede that hardwood pellets may possibly be harder to get but softwood sources will never end. When people don't build new homes, they certainly repair and expand existing ones. Quebec Province produces lumber for export to Europe and the US. To their credit the Canadians manage their forests far better than I have seen here. There isn't the degree of clear cutting that has gone on in Northern Maine for years.

We can all speculate as to the availability of pellets in the future, but one thing seems certain to this writer - It will be cheaper than oil in the long run. How long do you think $1.65 a gallon gas will last ? I will place my bet on the lumber industries as opposed to the greedy oil barons.

Bottom line - Pellet stoves work great with little mess and astounding efficiency. I have to concede that there may be times when hardwood pellets are in short supply (not as of this time though) but softwood works fine with maybe 20% more ash. Instead of using a 2 gallon metal bucket to dispose of the ash, you may need a 3 gallon. The ash by the way is a fabulous fertilizer.

As an aside, the aforemention places - Northern Maine and Quebec Province are fabulous places for the outdoorsman. Some of the best trout fishing locales you will find. A float plane took 4 of us to remote cabins on a remote lake (Lac St. Jean) and dropped us off for a week of fishing in the wilderness at the border of Labrador. The only problem is that we ran out of beer by weeks end.(could only bring 8 cases). Seeing the Northern Lights when you are that far away from civilization was worth the price of the whole trip.

My 4c
Bill
 
Adding to the discussion has any one ever had a sawdust stove? I have one in my shop. It's not hooked up right now but I had it operating in my previous house. The idea came from, I was told the Pacific Northwest and was used to heat saw mills.
One of our lumber suppliers had one in his house. He got the idea and plans from a saw filer who heated his saw filing shop with one. I got a wood mock up from the wood supplier and traced prints from it. I'm on the road right now so no picture, Georgia here I come. The principle of the stove is simple. Small particles large surface area burn more efficiently than large particles, like cord wood. The stove looks like a large shoe about 16" high, 12" wide, on top of the shoe where a leg would be is a hopper about five feet high. This gets filled once a day. Their are no motors or fans. From the stove to the top of the chimney has to be air tight. The draw of the chimney is what causes the sawdust to burn at a high temperature. There is a small flap on the front of the stove that regulates the air flow. It is either open or closed. When closed the sawdust just smolders when open, in about one minute it sounds like a blow torch. The four inch pipe on the exit side of the stove turns cherry red in about four minutes. Some where around 1200 degrees. The interior of the stove has a cast iron grate that has holes the size of your small pinky. The air flows from the bottom up though the saw dust when burning. Sawmill sawdust is needed for air flow. I tried finer saw dust doesn't work. This is a good stove for any one who has access to saw mill saw dust that is a low moisture content. The lumber supplier had a room 12' by 12' five feet high in his basement filled with sawdust that lasted him all winter. He said it took him two hours to fill the room. He had his connected to a standard hot air furnace. He controlled the air flow with a tiny motor that opened the flap that was connected to a thermostat. If any one is interested in the plans I will try to get it to them. It's in the public domain other wise I'd be rich.( : )
 
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