Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008

Corn used to heat home, reduce fuel cost

by Carolyn Kaberline

Dennis Stanwix breaks the fire starter log into three thumb-sized pieces and then places them in the stirrer of the pedestal heater. Once that is done he lights them, partially shuts the door, and then waits until they are engulfed in flames. He soon shuts the door completely and waits for the stove’s auger to pull the fuel— kernels of corn— into the flames. Corn? To heat with?

“Corn is difficult to start,” Stanwix says. “Technically it’s not combustible unless everything—especially the temperature—is right.” However, once the temperature is right, he explains, the corn is pulled into the flames, a chemical reaction sets in, and the corn burns efficiently.

“About 98% of it burns up almost totally,” Stanwix adds. While any kind of corn can be used, he says that different elements provide the flame. “The starch in field corn burns while the sugar in sweet corn does.” He also says that as it burns, the corn smells “like burnt pop corn.” And while “you sometimes have to tinker with it to get the fuel and air flow just right,” he adds that “once it’s right, you don’t have to do much to it.”

The Grantville man’s interest in corn stoves started about six or seven years ago. “I wanted a supplemental heat source and propane was too high. I wanted something that was cheaper. A fellow at work told me of a corn stove in Atchison so I went to take a look.”

Stanwix was awed by the Magnum corn stove that he saw, and he and his wife Lesa soon took a trip to the factory in Hutchinson, Minn., in hopes of becoming dealers.

“We were so impressed when we went up there to look the company over before we invested,” Lesa says. “Everything was so clean and organized.”

“People are really surprised by the amount of heat they put out,” Dennis says. He also says that when people call about them, they usually already know they want one. “Some people even get two of them.”

The Stanwixes say that since they got their own stove, they’ve saved on heating costs. “This stove saved us about 50% on our propane bill the first season. We can heat the whole house until it gets down to about 10 degrees outside simply by running our furnace fan.”

“I love sitting here in shorts to watch TV,” Lesa says with a chuckle. “Just watching the fire burn is very soothing.”

While the Stanwixes say that the stoves are not really cheap to purchase—they start at about $2,000 for a 40,000 BTU Baby Countryside model, they make up for it when it comes to the cost of the fuel. “Corn runs about $4 a bushel right now, and that bushel of shelled corn equals 5 ½ gallons of LP fuel.” Stanwix also says that a bushel of corn will last for about 12 hours, and it’s easy to find corn to burn. “You can get corn from a feed store or a local farmer. I always keep some on hand. You just need to be careful of the moisture content.”

According to the Stanwixes other fuels can be used in the stove. “Where the stoves come from, they use cherry pits, olive pits, wheat, soybeans, wood pellets and biomass pellets in addition to corn,” Dennis explains. “There are some stoves out there that just burn pellets. In fact, the difference between pellet stoves and corn stoves is that corn stoves can burn all of these, but the pellet stoves won’t. The corn stoves are really a multi-fuel stove.”

Dennis Stanwix explains that installation and maintenance of the stoves is very simple. “Installation is easy. You have to have a non-flammable surface underneath and respect the clearance of things outside the house—like bushes.” While the stoves can be put anywhere—even in fireplace—they all need to be vented. “Probably the easiest way to do this is to put the pipe straight out the back if there’s nothing outside or in the wall.”

He adds that it’s “like installing a drier vent although the cap has to be a little farther from the side of the house.”

As far as ongoing maintenance, Stanwix says that “you have to clean it every once in a while.” Cleaning consists of shutting down the stove and cleaning the fire pot—the spot where the actual burning takes place—every four to five days. The ash pan on the bottom needs to be emptied every seven to ten days. “It only takes a second to do,” Lesa adds.

Both agree that probably the only real drawback to the stoves is that they tend to dry the air out and that a humidifier should probably be used to put the moisture back in.

And while some people might worry about young children or pets being burnt by touching the stove, Stanwix points out that the sides and top stay cool. “I can place my hand on the back, top, and sides at anytime, and little kids tend to stay away from the front because they can feel the heat coming out.” He also adds that the stoves don’t tend to raise insurance rates.

Although the stoves require an electric source to run the stirrer, Stanwix feels that another big plus is that with the addition of a marine battery and a “Stove Sentry,” the stoves will operate even when the power is off, thus providing a warm house. “The batteries are designed to be charged and discharged numerous times. One battery lasts about eight hours, but you can hook as many batteries together as possible.” He explains that the Stove Sentry charges the battery when electricity is present, and immediately switches to the battery when the power fails, thus allowing the stove to continue to operate in the most efficient manner. It will switch back to electricity as soon as it senses that “the juice has returned.”

While the Stanwixes keep some stoves in stock, they can usually get other models in about a week. They also can arrange for installation if necessary. Currently most of their advertising is done by word of mouth, and they go to the Topeka Farm Show every year. He’s also taken one of his stoves to area schools to demonstrate the way they work.

“If teachers are interested, we can work something out.”

More information on the corn stoves can be obtained from Dennis Stanwix at 2480 KOA Road in Grantville or by calling him at (785) 246-0367.