Wood Pellet vs Corn Stoves: The Choice May be Out of Your Hands

The most popular alternatives for whole house orPlease note: Since most house layouts do not
supplemental heating are corn and wood pelletallow the free movement of air through the
fueled stoves. These appliances are easy tohouse, a centrally located stove will not heat the
operate and the initial capital outlay is significantlywhole house. If this is the case, size the stove to
less than solar, wind or geothermal systems.heat the room where the stove is located.
A vital question to ask before you startBoth types of stoves require electricity to run
evaluating the merits of pellet vs corn stovesfans, controls, and the auger that feeds corn or
should be: "Which fuel, corn or wood pellets, is thewood pellets into the stove's firebox. Under
most readily available in my locale and thereforenormal usage, they consume about 100
the cheapest to burn?"kilowatt-hours (kWh) or about $9 worth of
For instance, in Massachusetts corn for fuel iselectricity per month. Unless the stove has a
virtually non-existent. The closest Agway store Iback-up power supply, the loss of electric power
contacted (3/2/06) had only eleven, 50 poundresults in no heat and possibly some smoke in the
bags in stock at a price of $9 each or $360 a ton.house.
Over the course of a New England heatingIn addition to weekly ash disposal, both corn fuel
season, a stove will consume 3 tons of fuel. Ifand wood pellet stoves need to be cleaned and
you compare this to $260 a ton for wood pelletsinspected annually.
from a well stocked Connecticut supplier, theThe storage of corn, as opposed to wood pellets,
wood pellet stove becomes your only choice.can be problematic. Owners of corn burning
Likewise, if you lived in Iowa, why would you buysystems who store corn inside their homes need
a wood pellet stove?to use tight storage containers, clean up corn spills
In some regions of the country like Wisconsin andimmediately, and avoid storing corn for long
Minnesota there is an abundance of wood pelletsperiods of time to prevent problems with rodents
and corn. According to the dealers I've surveyed,and stored grain insects.
wood pellet stoves outsell corn stoves 2 to 1.A third option to consider is the multi-fuel stove.
Wood pellet and corn stoves have much inTypically they are advertised as corn stoves that
common. They are comparably priced at aroundalso burn wood pellets or vice versa.
$2000 for a unit large enough to heat 1200 -1500The #1 stove with consumers that burns corn as
square feet, and share an efficiency rating ofwell as wood pellets, is the Dansons Group Cheap
approximately 80%.Charlie Model HCCC2GD corn burning stove.