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Corn stoves
are specifically designed to burn a granular fuel. Because
this fuel is metered into the burning chamber, most stoves
have a storage hopper to contain a supply of fuel. In some
ways corn burning stoves are very similar to pellet burning
stoves. In both cases, corn and pellets are very dense.
Consequently, neither of these fuels will burn readily in an
open pile in a fire chamber.
To get these
fuels to burn, some manufacturers use a small combustion
chamber into which the corn is fed and combustion air is
pumped through. The corn can be either dribbled into this
combustion chamber from above, or it can be stoked into the
chamber from below by means of an auger. The feed rate of
this auger can be adjusted to regulate the amount of corn
burned, which in turn controls the amount of heat produced.
The second requirement for burning to occur is oxygen. In
order to support combustion, oxygen is blown into the
combustion chamber by means of a small fan. The combustion
air is usually brought in from outside, not room air. This
combustion chamber is actually quite small and could easily
fit into a child's lunch box.
As corn
burns it produces a clinker. Because of the small size of
the combustion chamber the clinker should be removed daily.
With practice, the removal of the clinker can be done
without having to shut down and then relight the stove. A
specially designed poker is used to upend the clinker, then
tongs are used to remove it.
Inside the
stove, a heat exchanger is used to remove heat from the flue
gases and heat the room air. A fan is used to move the room
air through the stove where it is warmed. This fan may also
help in moving the heat further away from the stove.
A different style of corn stove also exists which does not
use augers to feed in the corn or fans to provide combustion
air or move heated air to the room. By careful design, these
stoves will burn corn at the bottom of a hopper and radiate
heat to the surrounding room. Unlike the previous type where
electricity is used to stoke the fire and move the heat to
the room, these stoves are not affected by electrical power
outages.
The type of
flue pipe required to vent the exhaust gases from the stove
will depend on the design of the stove or corn burning
appliance. These flue pipes can range from those commonly
used in wood stoves to through-the-wall vent pipes which
actually preheat the combustion air by removing heat from
the flue gases. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations
regarding the type of flue pipe required. It is best to keep
the flue pipe as short and straight as possible (keep the
number of elbows to a minimum) to maximize the stove's
performance. |
