corn sticking in feed tube

[lowcostheat]

Has anyone had problems with corn (somewhat dirty) sticking and backing up in the fuel drop tube?
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Using corn for low cost heat!!
Dealer for FPI & Paromax DellPoint, Ecoteck, & Lennox Stoves, PSG wood and pellet furnaces. Traeger Pellet and Corn furnaces. Fahrenheit furnace.
FPI Sim-Tech training, 2006, 2007

[Tinytim]

I've run over 9,500 pounds of corn through mine and haven't had a problem with the feed tube.

[lowcostheat]

Thanks TT,

any suggestions? a customer called and said his was backing up even after he shut it down and wire brushed the drop tube.

He burned pellets last year and had no problems, this year with a 70 to 75% corn/pellet mix he runs into this.

Of the eight units we have out there, we have not had this call before.

Clair
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Using corn for low cost heat!!
Dealer for FPI & Paromax DellPoint, Ecoteck, & Lennox Stoves, PSG wood and pellet furnaces. Traeger Pellet and Corn furnaces. Fahrenheit furnace.
FPI Sim-Tech training, 2006, 2007

[Corny]

In past years, I have noticed that the drop tube on my Bixby stove would develop inside deposits when burning for extended periods on high heat. I attribute this to corn dust igniting prematurely in the drop tube. The problem hasn't reoccured since I started to screen my corn carefully for dust. I was able to clean the drop tube easily by clamping a container of water over it, as shown in the WIKI at http://forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/BixbyFAQ#Once_a_month .
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Bixby 115 MaxFire.
My motto: "If it doesn't fit, make it fit."
My mantra: It's in the WIKI!: http://forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/Bixby

[Tinytim]

There was another post regarding this if I recall. From what I remember, it turned out he had a lot of bee's wings that were burning in the tube and making a buildup that was catching the corn.

[iGROW]

It sounds to me like dirty corn. Dust and bees wings will ignite before they reach the end of the plate. The buildup then snowballs into a dam of crispy black gunk which eventually prevents the fuel from reaching the burn pot. I've had it happen only with corn. Never with wood pellets. I am burning a mix of corn and wood pellets this year to minimize or eliminate the problem. I've also improved my corn cleaning so I may move back to predominantly burning corn.

[snapcrackpop]

Yep. I wish the Fahrenheit would either have a steeper angle, or better yet, have the auger out to the end of the feed tube (like my countryside).

Screen the corn. Use a vacuume cleaner to screen the corn. Using an auger to deliver the fuel from the storage bin will increase the breakage (fines) in the fuel.

Run it at a cooler setting. HOT burn rate will more likely start the fines on fire in the feed tube.

Using some pellets in the corn (mix) will hopefully cut down on the build up on the fire pot.

[rcooked]

I had this same problem last year, and this year I am cleaning my corn using a corn vac system into 5 gallons buckets. The corn is a lot cleaner and so far (knock on wood) I have not had this problem.

I'd say that having cleaned corn is a big part of solving this problem.

I usually run mine through the cleaner three times just to try to get it as clean as possible. So far, worth the investment!
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Fahrenheit Endurance 50 - in the house

[iGROW]

Good evening.

My Shur-Kleen corn screener just showed up today. I had let the hopper empty out so I could vacuum up any small pieces parts and start with a clean fresh hopper. I also did the usual vacuuming and cleaning of the corn burner.

My already once corn-vac'd fuel was corn vac'd a second time into the top of the shur-kleen unit and then filled into buckets. I filled the hopper and extension with 250 pounds of corn tonight.

The waste bucket from the shur-kleen barely had a 1/2 inch of debris, however the shop vac had significant dust and particles in it.

I added about 25-30 pounds of premium pellets along the way. I will now attempt to run this thing on setting 4 or 5 which has never been done.

This will be a true test of this unit with sparkling clean dry corn with 10-15% premium hardwood pellets mixed in.

I will report back Wednesday 1-6-2010 when I get home from work.

[cheapheat]

Igrow-

I had my older shur-kleen for over 2 yrs now, going on two yrs with my Fahrenheit also. I never had any problems with unit. This year I had to double screen my corn. Things have been running good. But, dirty corn, i.e. bees wings, fines, high moisture corn will always mess up any stove. When burning at higher levels you might have to adjust you damper abit also.
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Fahrenheit 50f
Shur-kleen
130 bu gravity wagon

[iGROW]

Well I'm going on 1 week and close to 750 pounds of corn being burned without any problems. I just filled the extended hopper for a third time. I've added about 40 pounds of premium pellets over this same period. I have screened out less than 1 pound of 'larger than dust" debris but smaller than 1/4 of a kernel out of this 750 pounds of corn. Hard to beleive that this debris would cause feed tube issues but I think now that it was the culprit.


However,
It is making a loud noise and squeaking at klinker dump. and the exhaust fan is also starting the whine.