From the few 45 I have seen burning corn it seemed like they were really dirty burning. Then having to switch out the stirrer daily? Just seemed like they had mountains of black sooty ash. But I have only seen a few over the years. And it may have been operator error. I can run my St. Croix for weeks without ever shutting it down. Just brush the inside of the glass w/ natural bristle paint brush to on the fly and drop clinker every 1.5 days.
Corn vs pellets experiment results
- Thread starter rickwai
- Start date
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Overfireinthehole
Minister of Fire
From what I’ve seen most of the corn that is grown in my part of Missouri has too much sugar or too much moisture to be good stove fuel. It’s also more expensive. I have a 150 mile service radius and I have only ever seen may be two or three people who burned corn and liked it .
Overfireinthehole
Minister of Fire
The one thing that I didn't like about the Harman 45 was it needed 13% or less moisture to burn decent and it needed to have pellets added to the corn to avoid buildup on the stirrer. Corn is only dried to 15% for commercial use. When you dry it down further you get more cracked kernels
Can you tell me the bearing number you use to replace the convection fan bearings in your Lancaster? I am thinking it might be the same as a Auburn? Thank you.Wow that sparked alot of discussion.
I am burning a St. Croix multi fuel with the slide out bottom burn pot. I have been burning straight corn since 2009. I have put approx. 27 tons thru it. It burns very clean. The ash stuck to the surfaces inside ranges from snow white to tan in color. Then the heavier weight ash is black that falls to the bottom. With the correct stove corn burns as clean or cleaner than pellets. The one thing with corn is there is no creosote in corn.
As far as corn quality, We buy straight from the farmer. I have a couple buddies that farm. Some years it comes out of the bin, if we have a dry fall I have got it straight from the field. Other years it was left from the harvest the prior year and spent the summer in the bin. I have never had problems with fuel and I think the St. Croix is not real finicky with fuel.
I suck it out with leaf blower mid winter then in the spring. I vac stove and ash traps out every couple of weeks. Some weeks the stove runs for 2-3 weeks with out shutting off by dropping the clinker block on the fly.
I have replaced bearing in distribution blower a couple of times that is about it. Original Combustion blower and fan blade. There has been no added cost for parts do to corn corrosion.
This stove is a manual ignition. 1 cup of pellets and a little gel. Throw a match in and go to work. It lights every time no problem. My wife can light it and drop the clinker block on the fly. I have not seen a stove that was easier to run and burnt as clean as the St Croix with corn. But what I see the most of is Harman PC45 which is the worst corn burner in my opinion.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
The corn l get less than 14 percent. Elevator at 3.39 a bushel . From a farmer 2.50-3.00 pr bushel.
Overfireinthehole
Minister of Fire
Ya, it definitely helps you that you live in corn country. Down here in southwest Missouri there’s not near as much corn
13.7% moisture and 3.19 a bushel, from the farmer. Always cleaner from the farmer, and not "blended" like they do in the elevators. kap
Overfireinthehole
Minister of Fire
I even know farmers down here who grow corn who burn pellets because they say they say pellets are cheaper.
Corn is definitely cheaper here. Also burning corn would be less impact on the environment I would think. No trucking or energy to produce it after it is harvested. Also I had heard that the growing corn removes more of the bad stuff in the corn exhaust than the corn burner puts out? The corn plant uses it as food. And as we all know, there is always way more corn grown and harvest than we can use.
56 lbs is the official lbs per bushel but I have seen corn weigh 60llbs per bushel down to 52 just depends on the variety and the conditions during the growing season. If there was a hard freeze before the corn was mature it would be lighter test weight.
I have never tried to measure out a bushel volume and then weigh it. Just used the 56#/ bu. number to pay the farmer. I am not sure if our corn picks up moisture laying in the wagon over the winter or looses moisture do to "freeze drying." Later winter when it warms up a bit and everything is covered w/ condensation and water is dripping off the outside of the wagon I always worry about the corn but it always seems to be ok.
Why would you say the pc-45 is the worst?Wow that sparked alot of discussion
I am burning a St. Croix multi fuel with the slide out bottom burn pot. I have been burning straight corn since 2009. I have put approx. 27 tons thru it. It burns very clean. The ash stuck to the surfaces inside ranges from snow white to tan in color. Then the heavier weight ash is black that falls to the bottom. With the correct stove corn burns as clean or cleaner than pellets. The one thing with corn is there is no creosote in corn.
As far as corn quality, We buy straight from the farmer. I have a couple buddies that farm. Some years it comes out of the bin, if we have a dry fall I have got it straight from the field. Other years it was left from the harvest the prior year and spent the summer in the bin. I have never had problems with fuel and I think the St. Croix is not real finicky with fuel.
I suck it out with leaf blower mid winter then in the spring. I vac stove and ash traps out every couple of weeks. Some weeks the stove runs for 2-3 weeks with out shutting off by dropping the clinker block on the fly.
I have replaced bearing in distribution blower a couple of times that is about it. Original Combustion blower and fan blade. There has been no added cost for parts do to corn corrosion.
This stove is a manual ignition. 1 cup of pellets and a little gel. Throw a match in and go to work. It lights every time no problem. My wife can light it and drop the clinker block on the fly. I have not seen a stove that was easier to run and burnt as clean as the St Croix with corn. But what I see the most of is Harman PC45 which is the worst corn burner in my opinion.
The PC45 just dont seem to burn corn very efficiently. They seem to have a bunch of sooty ash in the stove and the flame is long and lazy looking. My St. Croix has very little ash in the stove. The heavier coarse stuff is black but the fine ash that coats the interior and heat exchanger is tan to snow white. Even the black ash does not make your hands dirty. then messing with stir stick daily would be a pain. Just my $.02
Watcher1
Burning Hunk
My PC 45 won't burn corn tried everything, not even 50/50 blend. It does however burn pellet great! I told Harmon customer service I was thing about switching to the ST Croix// they said fine. LOL Next year. Magnum 3500 is now in the shop corn burns great. And no please don't tell how to fix it. LOLWow that sparked alot of discussion
I am burning a St. Croix multi fuel with the slide out bottom burn pot. I have been burning straight corn since 2009. I have put approx. 27 tons thru it. It burns very clean. The ash stuck to the surfaces inside ranges from snow white to tan in color. Then the heavier weight ash is black that falls to the bottom. With the correct stove corn burns as clean or cleaner than pellets. The one thing with corn is there is no creosote in corn.
As far as corn quality, We buy straight from the farmer. I have a couple buddies that farm. Some years it comes out of the bin, if we have a dry fall I have got it straight from the field. Other years it was left from the harvest the prior year and spent the summer in the bin. I have never had problems with fuel and I think the St. Croix is not real finicky with fuel.
I suck it out with leaf blower mid winter then in the spring. I vac stove and ash traps out every couple of weeks. Some weeks the stove runs for 2-3 weeks with out shutting off by dropping the clinker block on the fly.
I have replaced bearing in distribution blower a couple of times that is about it. Original Combustion blower and fan blade. There has been no added cost for parts do to corn corrosion.
This stove is a manual ignition. 1 cup of pellets and a little gel. Throw a match in and go to work. It lights every time no problem. My wife can light it and drop the clinker block on the fly. I have not seen a stove that was easier to run and burnt as clean as the St Croix with corn. But what I see the most of is Harman PC45 which is the worst corn burner in my opinion.
Love my St Croix Auburn stove for corn. Been burning pellets for the last few days........not doing that again. Corn provides much more heat. I set up a temp sensor to log some info. Next few weeks I plan on doing a time/volume/temp test between pellets and corn.
Just a few data points I have taken to check if it works correctly - Pellets setting 4 -335 degree's; setting 5 -375 degree's.
Just a few data points I have taken to check if it works correctly - Pellets setting 4 -335 degree's; setting 5 -375 degree's.
Are you using the leaf blower to suck stove out for a deep clean? I found it to be the best way to clean the hidden passages on the St Croix stoves. And I use a long wire brush to go up thru the ash trap doors to clean those areas. I cleaned 2 last week that were at a -.1 WC and would not burn. I brushed ash traps and sucked out w/ leaf blower and had them back to a perfect -.3 WC at vac switch tube. both guy have been replacing vac switches and messing with them for weeks. In 30 min. I had them back to perfect. -.3 WC what they like.
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