I have been looking at corn stoves for the past couple of years, I have never bought one yet. I am looking to replace the pile of junk propane heater in my house, are they worth the 1500 to 3000 dollar price tag? Can they heat an entire house? Are they a lot work with having to clean them out every week and haul corn to the house? How much corn do these things go through in a day? Thanks for your input. I'm just tired of being held up at gun point for propane around here

 

"Are they worth the $1500-$3000 price tag?" In a word Yes We love ours. We have a large old house that has electric basboard heat and it is not enough to keep the house at a comfertable temp if it drops bellow 0 outside. We would regularly pay over a $300 electric bill and it would still only be 60ish in the house. now withthis I only run the electric base board in the basement and not at all in the rest of the house. The Corn burner burns a little under a bushel a day if it is above 0 out side and a little over if bellow. Now its 75+ in the house regardles of how cold it is out side. The coldest I had it in here last winter was abought 70 and that was during a 10 bellow spell. I could have turned it up higher but i figured 70 was still warm enough. Most people dont like it 75+ in the house but I can sit around in a pair of shorts and no shirt and wach it snow outside now. Its a far cry from the years before when we where always wrapped in a blanket while sitting still. I will NEVER be with out one again. There is a little work involved but I figure its more than worth it to stay this warm and virtulay eliminate my heat bill. I figure last year it cost me less than $200 to heat the house ALL winter. Thats $100 less than the average month the year before. I have a bulk storage setup in my garage that is un atached that holds 40 bushel and now I am in the proces of converting an old hog feeder that holds 80 bushel to have a spout on the bottome that will dump rite into a 5 gallon bucket. Should make life eaisier than scooping it out of a bulk bag. A far as cleaning it I do it every day but most people dont. i just like to know that I have checked it over and cleaned all the ash out every day so there are no worries or problems. It takes abought 5 minutes a day to clean it re fill it and re lite it. The more you spen the better of a unti you get. Some have electric start so you dont need to lite it yourself. Those can be hooked up to thermostats wich is nice but you will be at the $3000 end of the spectrume for one of those. I spent a little over 2k for mine and it dont have all the bells and whistles of the 3k ones but its better than the ones sold at the hardware stores. I figure after this year it will have payed for itself so its definatly worth the investment. What ever you do dont buy bagged corn or it will completely elimenate any financal gains youstand to make from the unit. Bagged corn is generaly twice the price of bulk boughten straight from the elevator. If you can get it from a farmer you may be able to get it even cheaper.
http://www.eventempinc.com/stcroix/stoves/stoves.html
I have the Lancaster unit without the legs.

 

I think they are great. Don't buy a cheap stove. You get what you pay for. Buy QUALITY!

 

I had an Englander Pellet Stove that would also burn a 50/50 mix of corn. It worked great !! The only thing I did not like was that it required power to work. So if the power went out, no workie .

 

I have hot water heat in this house. It is new to me this year, the boiler is over 50 years old so I am looking at replacement options and corn is high on the list. I do like the hot water heat because if the power goes out I can drive the pump and controls off a small generator to stay warm. I have been looking at corn fired boilers. Anyone have any experience with those? (Sorry, don't intend to hijack here)