About Corn Stoves
Corn Stoves are an alternative to fuel stoves and wood stoves. These stoves are remarkably similar to the wood pellet stove and it is no coincidence that some owners use both pellets and corn with their stoves.
Corn stoves produce clean heat safely with out the full high costs of fuel. In order for the corn burners to work, electricity is still required to operate the blower and auger. Even though the electricity usage is minimum, in the event of a power loss the corn stove would essentially stop functioning, thus become useless during power outages. Some stoves do have a manual reset, which you will have to do before turning your corn stove on after a power outage, this is a common safety feature that most stoves have.
Please be aware there are corn stoves that do not have fans or an auger to burn corn and will not be effected by power outages.
Most corn stoves operate by dribbling corn into a combustible chamber or pushed in from the bottom by way of an auger. This process is similar to the operation of a standard pettel stove. The amount of corn dispensed determines the heat being produced by the burner. The process is simple, the more corn that is being dispensed into the tray at a time and the frequency, the hotter the corn will burn.
In order for the corn to burn, oxygen is blown into the chamber. This blower can be used to increase the heat. This air is usually brought in from the outdoors and usually is not from the room air. The stove has a heat exchanger which takes the heat and moves it to the fan, which is used to spread the heat of the stove outward into the room or rooms surrounding the stove.
The chamber is small. The burnt corn usually leaves condensed sugar clumps in the chamber. This must be cleaned daily. You can purchase tools such as a poker and tongues to help with this process.
Purchasing the right corn stove for your needs will depend on the amount of space you will need to heat. Some stoves will have a heat range that is effect by it's style. You will need to make sure you find the appropriate stove for the amount of space you will need to heat.