Cleaner Makes Corn Furnace Burn Hotter, Last Longer

Cleaner Makes Corn Furnace Burn Hotter, Last Longer ENERGY Miscellaneous 33-5-31 A simple way to get debris and fines out of corn going into his furnace makes corn burn hotter and reduces maintenance, says Larry Grose. He got it with his handy corn cleaner. Best of all, he made it with a few old parts and a bit of welding. "It only cost $50 and has paid for itself with better heat and less wear on my auger," says Grose. "It also means I only have to clean the ash out once every three days instead of daily." Grose notes that a guy he knows who bought the same corn stove at about the same time has already replaced two augers. Before making the corn cleaner, he says he could hear the auger grind down when a piece of corncob or other objects got caught in it. "The auger has zero tolerance, and when a piece of cob or stick or rock hits it, it binds up," he says. "If the material can get through my cleaner screen, it's too small to affect the auger." The corn cleaner is a box 2 ft. by 16 in. by 3 ft. high, with a slanted bottom. The top of the box holds a frame with a screen selected for its kernel size. The sloped bottom is also a screen, one Grose salvaged from the bottom of a combine auger that carried grain into the hopper bin. Corn bounces off the sloped screen, through a sliding door and into a 5-gal. bucket. The first year I had the furnace, I went through each pail of corn by hand," he recalls. "Now I just pour it through the cleaner into an empty pail." The device also provides Grose with a fire starter and bird feed. He picks out the larger bits of cob and sets them aside to use as fire starters. The fines get set aside as bird feed. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Larry Grose, 301 S. West St., Mount Ayr, Iowa 50854 (ph 641 464-0627; lcgro@live.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.