Wood Pellet Stoves
Vs Corn Pellet Stoves: The Choice May Be Out Of Your Hands
By: Sam Streubel
The most popular alternatives for whole house or supplemental heating
are corn and wood pellet fueled stoves. These appliances are easy to
operate and the initial capital outlay is significantly less than
solar, wind or geothermal systems.
A vital question to ask before you start evaluating the merits of
pellet vs corn stoves should be: "Which fuel, corn or wood pellets, is
the most readily available in my locale and therefore the cheapest to
burn?"
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For instance, in Massachusetts corn for
fuel is virtually non-existent. The closest Agway store I contacted
(3/2/06) had only eleven, 50 pound bags in stock at a price of $9 each
or $360 a ton. Over the course of a New England heating season, a
stove will consume 3 tons of fuel. If you compare this to $260 a ton
for wood pellets from a well stocked Connecticut supplier, the wood
pellet stove becomes your only choice. Likewise, if you live in Iowa,
why would you buy a wood pellet stove?
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Wood Pellet Stoves
vs Corn Pellet Stoves
In some regions of the country, such
as Wisconsin and Minnesota, there is usually an abundance of wood
pellets and corn. The obvious benefit is the ability to switch between
fuels when one of them becomes scarce. A perfect example is this
year's wood pellet shortage. Do you think Wisconsin pellet stove
owners had to think real hard about where to get corn when the supply
of wood pellets ran low?
HomeDepot
However, Nancy Koval, owner of Woodburning Warehouse in Watervliet,
New York, warns that when burning corn in a wood pellet stove it is
best to use a 50/50 mixture of wood pellets and corn.
The problem is clinkers. When corn is burned it leaves behind a
substance from the sugars it contains that when cooled is very hard
and stays in the burner. The clinkers must be regularly cleaned out of
the stove. Some special corn stoves are designed to automatically
clear clinkers, Koval said.
Wood pellet stoves
and corn stoves have many common traits.
They are comparably priced at around
$2000 for a unit large enough to heat 1200-1500 square feet, and share
an efficiency rating of approximately 80%. Corn and wood pellets also
produce an equal amount of heat per pound of fuel.
Please note: Since most house layouts do not allow the free movement
of air through the house, a centrally located stove will not heat the
whole house. If your home doesn't have an open floor plan, size the
stove to heat the room where the stove is located.
Both types of stoves require electricity to run fans, controls, and
the auger that feeds corn or wood pellets into the stove's firebox.
Under normal usage, they consume about 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or
about $9 worth of electricity per month. Unless the stove has a
back-up power supply, the loss of electric power results in no heat
and possibly some smoke in the house.
Home Theaters
In addition to periodic ash disposal, both corn and wood pellet stoves
have an annual maintenance regimen that must be followed to ensure
your stove continues to operate as efficiently as the day you bought
it.
The storage of corn, as opposed to wood pellets, can be problematic.
Owners of corn burning systems who store corn inside their homes need
to use tight storage containers, clean up corn spills immediately, and
avoid storing corn for long periods of time to prevent problems with
rodents and stored grain insects.
A third option to consider is a multi-fuel stove. Typically they are
advertised as corn stoves that also burn wood pellets or vice versa.
One such stove that is very popular with consumers is the Dansons
Group Cheap Charlie Model HCCC2GD corn stove that also burns wood
pellets. Popularity does come at a price. The lead time for shipping
this stove is generally 10-12 weeks. |