Corn & Wood Pellet Stoves?

[jags]

Jags, I'm sorry but "honorary cheesehead" is only bestowed upon those who are fans of the "right" NFL team. Therefore, lifetime cheeseheads like myself require a show of credentials.:hmm3grin2orange:

P.S. Sorry to stray off topic.

You mean the BEARS right? Sorry, I'll stop now.

 

[rguseman]

Honorary cheesehead status revoked (but we'll still take your money)!

 

[jags]

Honorary cheesehead status revoked (but we'll still take your money)!

Wisconsin - Illinois largest theme park. Honest, I'll stop now.

 

[rguseman]

We are proud of our trees, lakes and beer and glad to share them with those that are lacking.

 

[max2cam]

If it takes around 3 acres of cornfield to heat one house that would add up fast if there were 1 million homes heated by corn, or 2 million, etc.

Then add in the corn-based E85 ethanol mania and corn as basic foodstuff and you gotta wonder where this corn "gold rush" is gonna end.

Are there enough acres of corn grown in this country to go around and still make corn flakes?

The wood pellet industry is another wild card. On the surface it sounds better than burning corn to me, but I don't know the facts. I just know that I haven't heard of a wood pellet factory anywhere in this area altho we have plenty of raw material in the form of scrubby oak.

 

[max2cam]

We are proud of our trees, lakes and beer and glad to share them with those that are lacking.

Don't forget the cheese and bratwurst!

 

[jags]

If it takes around 3 acres of cornfield to heat one house that would add up fast if there were 1 million homes heated by corn, or 2 million, etc.

Then add in the corn-based E85 ethanol mania and corn as basic foodstuff and you gotta wonder where this corn "gold rush" is gonna end.

Are there enough acres of corn grown in this country to go around and still make corn flakes?

The wood pellet industry is another wild card. On the surface it sounds better than burning corn to me, but I don't know the facts. I just know that I haven't heard of a wood pellet factory anywhere in this area altho we have plenty of raw material in the form of scrubby oak.

In 2005, Iowa alone grew 12.5 million acres of corn. I am going to choose not to go down the "corn is food" path. I guess I have seen too many MILLIONS of bushels rot, because it wasn't worth the gas to ship it. Thats just in my neighborhood (over the years). I sure don't see a shortage of it anywhere, or anytime in the near future. And I really doubt that the price going from $3.00 to $3.39 (price as of today) per BUSHEL is gonna make a box of your favorite breakfast cereal out of financial reach. Just doesn't make sense.
I am done, as this is probably a better topic for a different forum.
Crack a cold Point for me.

 

[wobdee]

Wisconsin - Illinois largest theme park. Honest, I'll stop now.

Here's one for ya, Do you know why all the trees in Wisconsin lean towards Illinios? Because the Bears suck! Ha!

 

[lt1nut]

I just have to:


Flatlanders are welcome as long as they spend their money, leave their daughters and don't want sidewalks or street lights.

FIBS are thrown back

 

[Al Smith]

An old adage says that the best source of btu's is the cheapest.If you were in Gillette Wyoming this most likely would be coal,in the middle of Iowa corn,Northern Ohio,wood.

I've got two buddies that have waste oil burners,work great.Of course if everybody had waste oil burners the price of old crankcase oil would be like the national debt.As it is know,the gooey stuff is free.The only thing better would be if they paid you to haul it away as I suppose they might in other areas.

 

[Hozer]

Flatlanders are welcome as long as they spend their money, leave their daughters and don't want sidewalks or street lights.

FIBS are thrown back

Amen. Door County is full of them. Know what a FIBWAB is? Fib with a boat.

 

[Hansson]

http://www.mafa.se/bransle.htm#intro Som ideas there maybe

 

[max2cam]

An old adage says that the best source of btu's is the cheapest.If you were in Gillette Wyoming this most likely would be coal,in the middle of Iowa corn,Northern Ohio,wood.

I've got two buddies that have waste oil burners,work great.Of course if everybody had waste oil burners the price of old crankcase oil would be like the national debt.As it is know,the gooey stuff is free.The only thing better would be if they paid you to haul it away as I suppose they might in other areas.

Al,

That's my philosophy too. You nailed it right on the head. Thanks.

 

[max2cam]

Trolls, FIBs, and Wisconsiners

Amen. Door County is full of them. Know what a FIBWAB is? Fib with a boat.

I just got back from a trip to Rhinelander and the U.P. and over there they call them FIBs and FIBTABs (FIB "towing" a boat).

In the U.P. there is a definite pecking order. The Yoopers don't like the "Trolls" (ppl from Lower Mich. so named because they live "under the bridge") while the Trolls don't like the FIBs.

Luckily if you're from Wisconsin they all like you up there which is nice. Wisconsiners seem to have a somewhat cool northern redneck status.

 

[lxt]

Ive got a pellet stove & was at the mercy of the rise in cost of pellets, SOoo I looked into making my own(harder than it sounds). But able to be done!!! & if you have wood chips & a lil time for experimenting wood pellets can be free!!!

I got a hold of an ole grain mill that produced animal feed they pointed me in the right direction for what is known as a pellet press, this thing was old & outdated & not very big(just what I needed) the hard part is the recipe & getting the wood chips remulched into an almost fine powder. heating to the right temp. then cooling to the right temp. water to steam to make the binding process along with the above is a rigurous task indeed.

My wife thought I was an Idiot spending $$$ on stuff that looked like it was ready for the scrap yard. friends in the trades(plumbing,Hvac) helped considerably. NOW my chips are wood pellets!! they look good, but burning will be the test, Im waitin to giva a try this year!!!

I saved my bags & just reused them a cattle food scale & bagger helped out!! also used old unit but works fine, along with a ton of large potato chip bag clips !!!I would be happy to help any one out with the process as it took me almost 2yrs to figure it out(trial & error).

LXT......................

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Wow. Making your own pellets? Thats pretty impressive.
Heres what I just bought -
http://www.dunsterwoodfuels.co.uk/images/mod1pdfsm.PDF

No need to make or buy pellets, Just burn the chips direct. Fully automated with battery backup.
As for chips, how many tree services do you know who need to get rid of chips?:biggrinbounce2:

 

[lxt]

Thors Hammer, that is a neat machine!! I take it you are in the UK? you guys are way ahead of us over here in the states, there is a swedish company that makes a small pellet mill which is where I got the idea, mine in no way looks like theirs & I can only produce about 40-50lbs an hour.

If I had the money I would purchase a small pellet mill, I beleive the place is called swedish power chippers or something like that? but theie pricey around $75,000.00 US not counting the import fee`s

nice machine, wouldnt mind one myself!!

LXT.............

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Yeah, the european systems are pretty advanced. some of the pellet boilers are 114% efficient. So efficient in fact, they can use a plastic pipe as a flue.

The chip boilers arent as efficient, but you have to remember how easy chips are to produce compared to pellets. Pelleting should only be done from waste timber, like sawmill sawdust.

BTW, that machine of mine is about $9000 complete. would people in the US pay that much for something like that?

 

[Thor's Hammer]

I believe they class the efficiency up to 100%, then over that for the recovered waste heat from the exhaust. The heat recovery is that good, they only need a plastic pipe for the chimney. Actually, dont quote me on the calculations. The combustion technology in the Austrian units is very advanced.

 

[Al Smith]

Actually much of the advanced burners are in fact Europian designed.I recall 30 years ago,for example,the use of outside boilers that were actually designed to burn straw bales.If I recall correctly they originated in Sweden.

The chip or green waste burners have been around some time but only as large industrial units.Fact is,a local large mill uses the scrap ,saw dust etc to fire a huge boiler system that supplies all of the electrical power for itself plus dump the excess on to the power grid.