Corn stoves are again gaining interest as a means to heat houses. Some twenty companies now make a range of sizes and models of corn-fuelled stoves, furnaces and boilers. The decision as to which one to buy can be challenging but you also must have to have a plan for storing the shelled corn which will be used for fuel. Unlike other house heating systems where the fuel is delivered through a pipe or a wire, corn-fuelled appliances need corn in order to produce heat. The corn storage system can be very simple or more complex - the choice is yours.

Requirements of Fuel Corn

• shelled corn should be 15.5% moisture content or less
• shelled corn used for fuel must be clean
• fines can cause plugging in the corn feeding mechanism
• fines can cause bridging problems in storage hoppers
• red dog should be removed from the corn fuel
• buildups of burnt red dog can reduce heating efficiency
• corn test weight does not affect burn quality
• heat content of shelled corn is based on weight not volume

Storage Options

After using your corn stove for one heating season, you will have a good idea of the amount of corn required for the winter. You have to decide where you want to store this amount of corn. Chances are, keeping the whole winter's supply inside your house is not practical. At the other end of the spectrum, carrying corn from the shed or garage daily may quickly lose its appeal. The system you end up with will be somewhere between these two extremes. The practical farmer would suggest that you park a small hopper wagon full of dry corn beside the house and slide the corn in through a window. A small auger could be used to transfer this corn into the house. You have all the corn you need, right there beside the house. Foundation plantings of shrubs and pretty summer flowers may force you to consider Plan B. Saturated lawns caused by November rains may not allow you to get the wagon beside the house before the snow drifts pile up. If your best location for the fuel wagon is beside the basement window facing the road, somebody likely will not like it. A temporary hopper, holding a month's supply of corn, could be situated again outside the house beside the closest basement window to the stove. You could then let corn flow by gravity through a pipe into the basement. A small pail can be used to catch the corn and fill the stove fuel hopper. Handy people can likely make the corn delivery pipe end up right in the fuel hopper of the stove. One drawback for this system is that since you are not seeing how much is in your outdoor hopper daily, you might run out unexpectedly. Short-term storage of corn for a week in the house requires a container with a tight-fitting lid. The large wheeled garbage cans can serve as an indoor container that will hold about a week's supply of corn. Once these containers are full, moving them on hard surfaces may require considerable effort. Moving loaded tubs down stairs or ledges is not going to happen. A number of garbage cans could also hold enough corn for a week. When full, these containers are difficult to move. Old freezers can also serve as temporary corn storage. Keep in mind if you fill a container using a pail, chances are you will be emptying that container using a pail. What this really means is that you will be manually handling your shelled corn twice. Some companies offer an auxiliary hopper, located beside the stove, which will hold 10 to 15 bushels of corn. A small auger is used to move the corn into the corn burning appliance.

Rodents and other critters

Mice like corn as a food source. Some means of controlling the rodents may need to be taken around the stored corn. Dogs also like the taste of shelled corn. Sealed containers will keep them out. Shelled corn that is stored outside may have insects in it that will become active indoors with warmer temperatures.

Summary