Anymore I feel like we are a dying breed. High corn prices, manufacturers going out of business, owners selling their stoves/furnaces, less and less action on the forum, etc, etc.
Kind of sad really. This idea really took off for a few years. Heck, for a while you had to get on a waiting list to buy a stove. When you saw gravity wagons parked in city folk's back yards you knew exactly what they were up to. Nothing else smelled quite like corn burn'in exhaust lingering around the neighborhood. Ahhhh, the good ol' days. Here's to hard cllinkers

i think i'll burn corn till there isn't any anymore, almost fun keeping bixby running for 8 years, 1 feedwheel motor total repairs , got to be willing to learn, 7.00 corn still better than 3.75 oil(1 bu corn = 3 gal oil)

Estimates say corn will be down to 4.00 so I will be burning it again hopefully next heating season. Command_z there is less action on forum because you have fixed everyones problems for this year and got everyone burning the right way. Keep up the good work.

I went thru about a ton this year, which is way less than the 5 to 7 tons I normally go thru. I will always mix some corn with pellets but if it gets cheaper again, I will mix a little pellets with the corn, as it should be!

AC wrote:


Thanks for the kind words AC but I can't take much credit. It's a group effort here and everyone contributes when they can. Heck, there are many people here who have helped waaay more than me and many have helped get my stove running well. I think it's that "tinkerer" gene that we all share

Kind of happy, corn looks to be 3 to 4 and pellets around here are 200 a ton. Glad that I bought a new stove looking for many warm years to come.

Corn would really need to come down in price for me to switch back. I do miss the smell of burned corn.

Tim

I'm surprised at the number of people I talk to that have negative comments about multi-fuel stoves. These people are looking into getting pellet burners only because of what they've been told, mostly by dealers and in some cases people that had/have multi-fuel stoves and don't know how to use them and are not happy with them.
I tell them all to come to this site and read up on the stove/furnace they are thinking about buying. Do some research. At least with multi-fuel you always have the option to burn what is cheapest and available.
I just can't believe people would spent that much and not want the option of being able to burn something besides pellets.
When it's time to retire my USSC 6039HF I will look for another multi-fuel stove, it maynot be USSC or it might, but it will definitely be multi-fuel.

Pete... I agree with everything you said. Multi fuel is the way to go because of the choices you have. But I do think that there is a fear created by the multi-fuel companies going out of business. If you CAN still buy a new multi-fuel stove, will you be able to get parts? If the price of corn does fall, what will we burn it in if the companies went belly up? The companies that make strictly pellet stoves seem to be healthy, and appear that they will to continue to make stoves and parts for a while. That will be a comfort to people who are making a decision on what to buy. Then, when grain is cheaper to burn than pellets they are stuck with pellets. Not that pellets are bad. I love the smell and ease of burning pellets. Which way do you go???? I do prefer to have a choice of what to burn.

I don't know, remember a few years back when the pellet prices spiked? Once they know that they have cornered the market it could make it no choice. Pellets swing as much as corn, recession slowed building and furniture making, making sawdust a premium. A lot of wood product companies are changing over to burn their own scrap for heat. It may be in the end that if you don't have access to wood to burn you'll have to go with NG, Propane, fuel oil or even worse electricity.
Also a few years ago when Europe was short on wood Shell bought so many pellets here in the U.S. and shipped them overseas and that threw the price way up.
The worse thing people can do is buy just a pellet stove, that changes the whole outlook for the market on pellets, if the pellet companies know we have a choice that would help keep prices in check, IMHO.