Corn Stove??

[brad d]

Im going to install the loop in the slab.. but at this point in my life I see no need to keep the 1400sq.ft shop heated all though out the winter (a good 5 months up here). I only work in the garage on the weekends for the most part, so why pay to heat it the other 5 days.

So along with a boiler (that I will not use untill im using the shop more days of the week) I was thinking about a corn stove.. they burn about 3-4$ of corn in 24 hours. so for about 4$ I could keep the shop nice each weekend.

What do you guys think?


http://www.cornflame.net/

and a funny video

 

[boiler7904]

The only negatives I've heard about them is access to corn (easy if you live in or near an agricultural area) and storage of the corn. The novelty of a corn stove / furnace wears off when you have to keep feeding it 50 lb bags of corn.

On the plus side, corn is supposed to burn pretty cleanly with a fairly high BTU value.

 

[brad d]

I live in Manitoba (lots of farm land) so im sure there will be lots of corn.

I hear ya about filling the hopper.. but im only talking about the weekend.

 

[Franz©]

If you're only there on weekends, what method of mouse/rat/racoon proof storage will you use to hold your corn during the week? I guarantee you your cornstove will be the neighborhood snack bar.

The other thing you need to determine is can you get corn at theright humidity from area farmers? Quite a few farmers are already burning all of their own second quality corn, so you'll be paying market.

 

[brad d]

true, just thinking about it.. you could use a pellet stove as well.

It just seems like less of a pain than a wood stove.

 

[400excracer]

The other thing to consider is the amount of time it will take to heat up your garage. I thought about doing the radiant floor heating, but it was much cheaper to just buy a Hot Dawg and they heat up quickly. I want to be able to turn it on and go out there in a half an hour or so and be warm. The corn stove also takes up floor space and so do the bags of corn. With that said, I have been looking into one for my basement.

 

[kbs2244]

In the slab heat is intended for all the time heat.
If you are only going to use the place on the week end, the best would be ceiling mounted radiant.
The corn stove would work, but they are basically just a different kind of wood stove.

 

[brad d]

Insurance can go up for wood stoves.. i dont think it does for pellet/corn stoves