woodstove or pellet stove

[MaryB]

that's not bad for that many square feet. Figure corn is about 12 bucks a 100 here and a bit of electricity and your probably spending about 7 bucks a day to heat. I would have guessed at least twice that. I heat about the same square footage if you include my sons apartment. I use propane and am on a budget plan that cost me about 1500 bucks a year. So even if you figure 6 months of the year that I need heat that comes to about 250 a month during the cold season which works out to about the same but im sure on -20 days im using more and 40 degree days your using much less corn. Whats a years worth of corn set you back for an average winter?

$3.75 a bushel(55 pounds give or take) at today's price... corn is cheap but it is very hard on equipment. When it burns it emits nitric acid... last year I burned corn it was $500 and I had corn leftover...

[Lloyd Smale]

what is the lifetime of a pellet stove burning corn? How much does burning corn shorten the life of components and which ones. Another question Mary. Does moisture content of the corn you buy matter. I buy probably about a 1000lbs a year for camp. Sometimes you get high moisture corn that a 100lb bag looks about like a 75 lb bag of properly dried corn. Granted you would get less for your money but does it still burn well?

[MaryB]

Needs to be 15% or less moisture, 13 is best. I buy direct from the grain elevator by the pickup bed load(1500 pounds at a time) that I store in a shed. I use a vacuum system to move corn into the house to a smaller bin for use.

Major life shortening is exhaust vent where the nitric acid can mix with humidity. Mine needs replacing... outside end is rotted back an inch... That is after 5 years burning... I consider venting a wear item. If you have a stirrer style stove the stirrers don't last with corn... once a season at least to replace it. Might see a bit more rust scaling on the internals if you don't spray them down with pam every spring like I do... fired it up tonight for the first time and the neighbor called to ask if my house was on fire LOL as the pam burns off it smokes a wee bit...

[Lloyd Smale]

do you use a stainless vent pipe?

[MaryB]

Yes, Simpson Dura Vent makes a corn rated pipe but even then they rot... the acid precipitates out as the exhaust cools. I have mine running right now and stepped outside and got the burn of acid in the nose...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Simpson-Dur...:rk:7:razz:f:0

[3856imp]

Have you been looking for the free wood, pallet wood is usually oak, cut it with a saw a pallet is a days fire or 2. I know cause we sell low grade wood for that.

[3856imp]

Find a sawmill they have slab wood that you can have for free. We can't get rid of it fast enough. I know cause I have a small mill.

[Lloyd Smale]

We used to have a big saw mill here that would give you all the center slugs you wanted after they cut boards but they were soft wood and burned hot and fast. Most of the hardwood cutting they did was custom work for customers that brought in there own wood to have cut.

Find a sawmill they have slab wood that you can have for free. We can't get rid of it fast enough. I know cause I have a small mill.

[Down South]

We used to have a big saw mill here that would give you all the center slugs you wanted after they cut boards but they were soft wood and burned hot and fast. Most of the hardwood cutting they did was custom work for customers that brought in there own wood to have cut.

True, I worked saw mill for about 10 yrs when I was young. Most lumber today is pine or other soft wood. It will work but is not ideal.
I always burned Oak with some Pecan since wild Pecan is plentiful here. I've burned Ash too but it's considered a soft wood. The good thing about Ash is you could cut it down today and use it in the fireplace tomorrow. Oak needs to cure for a few months. Red Oak was my favorite. I used to cut my wood around July ,"yeah hot weather".
I had a wood rack that would hold about 2-1/2 cords with a tin roof over it. I'd let it cure until needed, about November in our area.

[MaryB]

Red elm... very sweet smoke when burning, heavy and dense hard wood... and a massive pain to split! Tends to tear not split...

[Lloyd Smale]

Most around here burn maple mostly because there everywhere.

[Ed K]

Most around here burn maple mostly because there everywhere.

Same here in the Northeast. Technically oak which is pretty common as well might be the best for heat output when perfectly dry but that typically takes two years in this environment. So maple is the best compromise and probably the most common as well.

Just getting a UPS on my pellet stove this weekend to help ride out those power outages.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Find a sawmill they have slab wood that you can have for free. We can't get rid of it fast enough. I know cause I have a small mill.

WOW, slabwood is never free around here...but it usually does go for about half price as cut-split-seasoned firrewood.

as to wood choice?
I prefer Ash, it seasons quick and burns hot and makes a nice bed of coals. Oak if fine at add in the evening cuz it burns slow, but for the same reason, I won't start a fire with Oak for a cold house cuz it doesn't throw off enough heat quick enough.