Does anyone make a small corn boiler.

[chadhumm]

Does anyone know of a small corn boiler? I currently have a St Croix Auburn corn stove. I love it. I am planning to build a new home in the near future and would like to try radiant floor heating, if I could incorporate the free discard corn i get from work it would be an inexpensive system for me. Til now all corn boilers I have seen burn 4 to 6 bushels a day. I dont need a big boiler and I dont require high temps. And I'd like to not burn $16 to $24 of corn per day. Can anyone recommend a boiler to look into, what is the smallest corn boiler that anyone knows of?

[Redngold]

Hello,

Tarm makes a small indoor corn/pellet/grain boiler - 85,000 btu's.

Very nice unit, high efficiency.

Traeger also makes a 85,000 btu model that burns corn.

Good luck with your project!

Alan

[T_Hartigan]

[sting]

This is an interesting slant on an old question.

Asking in this manor is as walking into a shoe store and asking for a pair that fit -- without revealing your shoe size

Do a heat loss calculation on the load that you want to heat

--> then seek a boiler that will carry that load.

Don't forget to size on output - not boiler input.
_________________
When you turn your boiler on -- Does it return the favor?
I am sorry - My responses are limited - You must ask the right question!

[chadhumm]

Thanks for all your input. I will look into the tarm boiler. I mentioned not wanting to burn 4-6 bushels a day because I have a friend that has the hot water radiant heat, using an ldj corn boiler and that is what he uses. I was floored. He admitted he would never get a pay back on his investment. He is in it to support the farmer and renewable resources. I on the other hand as most people, am looking for the cheapest way to heat. I am not concerned about heat load and heat loss at the moment. This will supplement a propane system ...rather the other way around. Hoping the corn will provide over 50% of the needed hot water. My goal is taking advantage of what free discard corn I get from work and not actually purchasing any thereafter.

[sting]

I see another eminent dissapointment

But its ok

A boiler will use fuel to keep the liquid in the vessel charged with available energy. If the installation is done correctly there are no parasitic drains from energy loss off the jacket, near boiler piping, or thermal (ghost) flow into the load. An undersized appliance is always better than one that is oversized, because it will operate more in its peek efficiency range vs idle fire.

if your pal is burning 200 to 300 lbs a day -- he simply has a moderate size home to heat, or a large parasitic drain of energy. Smokin 6 bushel in cold weather isn't bad.

if your not going to burn more - don't bother. Even free corn will be a stretch to pay back. Buy a stove - it will provide you with more immediate comfort and pay back faster with your limited use.
_________________
When you turn your boiler on -- Does it return the favor?
I am sorry - My responses are limited - You must ask the right question!

[Jeff from KY]

Sting,
I'd like to do some rough heat loss calculations on the rooms in our house. Do you have a good source for how to do those calcs (I haven't gotten the books you recommended yet)?

Thanks,
_________________
Jeff
Paducah, KY
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin

[sting]

Sure!

here is a simple one

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/HeatLoss/HeatLoss.htm

A dealer will always tell a customer ( well most dealers ) that the boiler they want to sell will do the job because the zones won't all call at the same time - or the appliance is under rated - or 27 other excuses

The only way to know if the boiler can heat the house, is to do a lucid heat loss calculation on that load.

http://www.pvsullivan.com/Downloads.html

Download this heat loss calculator if you want to do the best job for your self

Its a lot of work to do it right but it will net you information that will help you build with the correct piping and pumping - it will even assist your prediction of the temperatures you will need to run at by degree day load.

Then -- remember that boilers and furnaces and the little stoves folks huddle around are rated at input -- but its the output your going to enjoy. So -- you only get 70% of the MFG rating to work with. Now if that 70 percent is greater or equal to the heat loss calculation, yet not too great so the boiler or air scorcher to load ratio is unbalanced --


Kind Regards
Sting
_________________
When you turn your boiler on -- Does it return the favor?
I am sorry - My responses are limited - You must ask the right question!

[Jeff from KY]

Thanks sting, great links and great points.
_________________
Jeff
Paducah, KY
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin

[sting]

Sure Jeff

have fun with it

Installing a boiler that's way to (grossly) small is like lighting a candle in the bathroom to keep the dumper from freezing.

It just don't work if its too small

now if you have (multiple and similar) boilers each way too small but combined -- their output will carry the load. -- and if you pipe and control them correctly

Now you have a system!

But if you have one boiler that is big enough to carry the load and you attempt to supplement it with a boiler that isn't even close to carrying the load

AS Suggested above

You may as well chamber a round and just blow off a toe

the small boiler will only carry the system load for a small percentage of the heating degree days, requiring the larger boiler to pick up the load for most of the heating degree days -- combined -- now you have production that far exceeds the heat loss calculation and your simply wasting energy at a rate that will not allow a payback on this augmentation.


Your mileage may vary! Lots of possible ways to make it work == its just making it worthwhile that will be the drama.
_________________
When you turn your boiler on -- Does it return the favor?
I am sorry - My responses are limited - You must ask the right question!