Hi:

Hurricane Irene destroyed local corn fields here in upstate NY (Schoharie county was devasted) so prices are up to $300 a ton. I have an old St. Croix Auburn, so I had to buy a new burn pot with a removable back and side guard before I switched to pellers. I was told this was to keep burning wood pellets from piling up as high and reduced the threat of fire going up through the auger.

The local Agway (Altamont, NY) delivered and stacked a ton of Agway brand wood pellets for $265. Not a huge savings, but I didn't have to spend a couple of hours driving and unloading and stacking bags myself. As I "mature," this become more significant.

It's only been a few days on pellets, but it seems we need a higher feed rate to get the heat we are used to from corn. Web sites estimate you get more heat per pound from corn, and corn seems more dense than the wood pellets, so this make sense.

As a quick guide, I estimate I am saving money if a ton of corn or a ton of wood is less that 100 gallons of oil. Heat content numbers vary, according to the expert you listen to, so this rough guess is just a good guideline.

Hope this helps.

John Elberfeld

I agree. Has anyone had success getting an Auburn to auger pellets in faster.

The price of corn (and my access too it) has been an issue this year and I have been burning almost exclusively wood pellets all season so far. I have gone through about 2.5 tons already, less about 12 bags I lost to flooding during Hurricane Irene. The heat output is definitely down, though I've only had to run my nat. gas boiler for about 4 hours all winter so far. If anyone has figured out a way to get the pellets to auger faster in the Auburn, please let us know.

Hi:
Switching from corn to wood pellets is OK. I found I have to run the stove at 3 or 4 with wood pellets, instead of 1 or 2 with corn, to get the same heat.

A full Auburn hopper holds about 80 pounds of corn, but only 70 pounds of wood pellets, so it makes sense we would need to feed more pellets to get the same heat. My solution is to run the stove at a higher setting.

I also got some bags (free) of pellets that had gotten damp. The really swelled up. Being frugal (cheap) I tried to burn them. They burned but had expanded so much that I had to turn the stove up even more to feed enough actual wood in to keep the fire going. Not the smartest thing I've done, but nothing bad happened.

I don't know of any other way to boost the rate of feeding fuel beside turning up the setting.

John

Hi John

I like the idea of burning swollen pellets as I lost about 500 lbs to a flooded basement due to hurricane Irene. The swollen pellets made for some decent weed killing mulch near my garage. I might try to burn some if I have the opportunity again. The best burning I have had was when I was running a 50/50 mix of corn and wood last season. Corn is just too difficult to come by without a lot of travel in the Baltimore area. I'm going to start experimenting with different pellet types.

I finally got my Greenfield working better with pellets. I bought this used and the PO used corn... I'm a pellet guy so I tried it with little success until I replaced the door and ash pan gaskets and put the corn pot back in.

Now it's humming right along but it does not put out the same heat as my St. Croix Pepin pellet burner that I have in the house.

Stil, the heat is nice in a formerly cold shop!

It looks like I'm going to sell this Greenfield soon... my wife wants a prettier stove than the Pepin but she want's auto start and the versa-grate system so I may pull the trigger on a used Hastings that I found...

Hi:
After a few months of burning both corn and wood pellets, I made a few discoveries. In my Auburn, corn makes solid, sticky clinkers while wood produces soft ash. I have to turn up the feed rate to get the needed heat when I use wood compared to corn.

The burn pot for wood lacks the depth of the corn burn pot, so I have to get rid of the ash more often - generally once a day. I push in the top grate, take a few minutes to fill up my Venta humidifier I have right by the stove, drop the ash by pulling out the bottom plate, (and push the bottom plate in again!) and drop the accumulated ash and newly burning pellets down into the pot. Sometimes I add 1/3 cup of pellets if it looks like there is not enough fire to keep things burning.

On the other hand, when the temperature hits 40 or so, burning just corn gives off too much heat even at the lowest setting. By burning just wood when the temperature outside goes up, I can keep the stove going without overheating our living room. The lower heat output of wood is a good thing at this point.

Corn is 300 a ton out here in upstate NY by Albany. I found an alternate source of corn closer by, but they asked for $320 a ton, and sold in 100 pound bags only. Way too heavy for me to handle at my age.

Good luck to all,

John

My dealer recommends even pellet burners use the corn pot... my Greenfield does put out more heat with the corn pot but I don't think the feed rate can be set high enough to fill that big space.

I was thinking about buying some corn from a farmer/neighbor of mine but he now rents out his land so he no longer has a good supply. He DOES have a few hundred bushels laying around in one storage building but I really don't want the task of shoveling it, cleaning it, etc. I'm old and lazy....

Hi "Krooser"

I'd check on the moisture content of the corn before buying and burning. I know my Amazon is very fussy about moisture content and really acts up if the corn is not really dry. The clinkers grow too fast and a sticky goo covers the front glass and messes up the exhaust.

Your stove might be different, so try a little before you buy a lot and clean up a ton of corn that just messes up your stove and your back muscles.

John

We purchased a "lightly used" St Croix SCF 050 corn furnace from a dealer and have had unending problems. After two visits from the repairman we still have the problem of pellets pouring through so quickly that the pot overflows, the pellets that have overflowed continue burning and the house gets flooded with smoke. The repairman has reset it twice now after thoroughly cleaning the furnace and it runs okay for a few hours then begins overflowing again. Last time he was here he removed the motor and found remnants of some kind of creature (possibly a bat) clogging it up. He cleaned it out, reset the board and same problem. After calling to report the problem again they want us to buy a new motor (an additional $300 w/labor). That makes a grand total of almost $1000 just to try to get it running right. Any suggestions?