Heating alternatives-Corn Burning

Corn-burning/multi-fuel insert which she and her husband recently
installed this insert into their fireplace. They live in a big old
house with a natural gas boiler and radiators. In the coldest months,
Jan. and Feb. last year and the year before, their combined Gas/Electric
bill was over $400 for one month, and they don't use much electricity,
it was mostly the boiler! They went on the "level-pay-plan" or
"budget plan" which their power company offers, so now, they were
paying like $182 every month, instead of the bill being super high in
the winter months and having low bills in the summer. Going on the
budget plan, helped them to spread the payment out over time, BUT they still wanted to pay less, so they got a corn-burner, as corn is
abundant and cheap supply where they live in Central IL. Lots of the
farmers have surplus and are willing to sell it to them directly.

The kind they purchased was a Countryside Stove. The one they purchased was a fireplace insert, but they also make free-standing sotves. They got their unit, used from another family friend,
and the used price was $1500. Installation and some pellets and
"gel starter fluid" was around $550. They figure it will pay for
itself with the decrease in heating bills, in 3-4 years, and that
is pretty good.

The brochure indicates that it will burn shelled corn (kernels, not ON
the cob) - dried, <15% moisture content burns most efficiently),
wood pellets (basically sawdust and leftover bits form furniture and
lumber manufacturing places, compressed into little cylindrical
pellets), cherry pits, waste paper pellets, and "a host of other
fuels" it says.

More about corn-burning:

"Corn Comparison:
An average home will burn 85 to 150 bushels of corn
a season, depending on temperature, size of home,
insulation, and placement of unit.

1 bushel of shelled corn = 5.0 gallons of LP gas
or 3.4 gallons of Fuel Oil
or 140 kilowatt hours of Electricity
or 4.75 C.C.F. of Natural Gas

It burns very efficiently, too, one bushel of corn makes only one
pound of ash.

A friend who they bought their unit from, has been heating his
whole house with a corn burning unit for the past 4 years. It is
a free-standing one, and has it in his attached garage. He just
puts a box-fan in the doorway into the house and blows the heat in.
He still has gas and electric service, but only pays a few dollars
a month for that access. In fact, the power company has come and
changed his meter 3 times since he has had the corn-burner, because
they think he is tampering with it, because he is using so little
of the pay for power. He hasn't told them he has a corn burner. He
enjoys watching the confused meter-readers in the dead of winter!
*chuckle* They must think he is an eskimo and just doesn't heat
his house!

Corn burning units emits sort of a sweet smell, very different than
wood-burning, and there is not kreosote or soot. Also, because it
is inside a self-contained unit and burns so efficiently, there is
very little waste. The ashes fall down into a little pan and then
you can dump them on your gardens as fertilizer, or throw them out,
they are not toxic to the environment. Occasionally you have to pull
a "clinker" out of the fire-box, the sugar naturally found in corn.
When burned, corn will make these little chunks that are too big to
fall through into the ash pan, and you have to clean them out. You
can also purchase a metal ash vaccuum to assist in the cleaning.

Also, corn in a bucket seems much easier to refill and haul in
compared to big ole logs and stuff :-)