Pellet and corn stoves offer a way to burn a range of more renewable sources of energy compared other forms of fireplace such as gas, and the materials used to make the fuel for pellet stoves is often recycled products such as wood chippings or sawdust.
Pellet stoves can be considered a different form of stove to corn stoves and can work in different ways, but multi fuel biomass stoves are becoming more popular and can combine the ability to burn more than just either wood pellets or corn.
Corn cannot typically be burnt in a wood pellet stove. Dedicated corn stoves or multi fuel biomass stoves should be used when burning corn. Consult the manual or manufacturer of a pellet stove to confirm whether corn can be burnt, potentially when used alongside wood pellets.
Our own pellet stove is only able to burn wood pellets and not corn, but that’s not to say that corn can’t be burn in models of pellet stove other than ours.
We’ve explained in more detail below using our own pellet stove as an example whether you can burn corn in a pellet stove and what stove you should look for to burn corn.
Can You Burn Corn In A Pellet Stove?
Pellet stoves are electronic home heating appliances that burn fuel in the form of pellets.
Pellet stoves can’t burn wood in the form of firewood due to the way that pellet stoves are set up.
We’ve explained more about how wood pellets stove work here, but wood pellets are fed to the fire in the combustion chamber of a pellet stove from the hopper via a motorized auger.
In regard to how corn-burning stoves work, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explains:
‘Corn-burning stoves are very similar to pellet burning stoves. However, wood pellets do not form ash clinkers that have to be removed daily. The bottom of the burning chamber of a corn-burning stove must allow the clinker to drop out.’
Omafra.org.on.ca
Corn stoves are therefore setup differently to pellet stoves to help prevent blockages.
In order to prevent blockages in pellet stoves, the pellets need to be a particular size and shape. As an example, the maximum length of the pellets we can use in our stove is 25mm.
Furthermore, the manual for our pellet stove explains that we’re only able to burn wood pellets and not any other form of fuel such as corn.
‘The pellet stove is designed, developed, programmed and tested to operate with wood pellets Class A1.’
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We therefore only burn wood pellets in our particular model of pellet stove.
Only being able to burn wood pellets is often the case for many other models of pellet stove as they’re set up to specifically burn that form of fuel.
However,in certain cases (depending on the manufacturer and model) you may be able to burn corn alongside wood pellets.
In order to confirm whether you can burn corn in particular model of pellet stove you’ll need to:
- Check the instruction manual for any information stating what can and can’t be burnt in that pellet stove, or if no information regarding this is available;
- Contact the manufacturer of the pellet stove for confirmation of whether corn can be burnt.
If it’s stated in the manual or by the manufacturer that corn can be burnt in a pellet stove then it’s usually the case that corn should be mixed in with pellets.
In many cases, it should be no more than a 50/50 mix of pellets and corn, and less corn compared to pellets is often required.
Only burning corn in a pellet stove may not be possible.
If you’re looking to burn corn in your home to generate heat then you’ll need to look at dedicated corn stoves or multi fuel biomass stoves, which can be set up to burn both wood pellets and/or corn.
Further Reading
Can You Burn Wood In A Pellet Stove?
How Long Pellet Stoves Burn For