The Department of Soil, Water, and Cliimate at University of Minnesota have printed an article on how corn ash performs when used as fertilizer in the garden. You can read it here: Evaluation of Corn Ash as a Nutrient Source for Gardens

I know it works, proof is in my garden this year. Here's a picture for you

One of the reasons we like our outdoor corn boiler (a small part) is that it doesn't endanger our building or raise our insurance rates.

Using renewable fuel in this time of uncertainty - is getting more popular. I'm sure you're aware that it's going to mean the heating system will be something you think about now - not a set it and forget it deal as it is with fossil fuels.

A few things for you to consider also, before you buy that Outdoor Corn Boiler. I'm sure you're aware of these, but I have to put them down anyway:

• Weekly maintenance is critical - the stoves burn reliably and efficiently when they're cleaned weekly. But any deviation in the weekly maintenance schedule will change that.
• Insulated pipe, heat exchangers, boiler antifreeze, anti-rust solution, and anything else you would need to install the boiler - doesn't come with the stove (We'd be happy to provide a list of the required materials and the cost to the church)
• We can customize the appearance of the stove to blend with your outbuildings so that there isn't a corn boiler staring your visitors in the face. I think you've seen our "Church Stove" But that's not the only style, so we can talk about that too.

There's no heat like corn heat.

Country Farm Lifestyles is a website full of resources and information for farmers. The site is written by farmers for farmers.

On this site, you can find videos, podcasts, photos, articles, and more. The web site isn’t commercially produced, but it does the job. Reading through this site makes me realize that the world is small and farming is something we all have in common.

Here’s the link to Country Farm Lifestyles web site: http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com

Oh, and by the way, I found these guys through a Twitter search.

I like the look of chipped bark used as mulch on my garden beds, but right now I just can’t afford it.    So I use grass clippings.  This is good for the soil, it keeps the weeds down, and makes my neighbors happy too!  ( They’re not happy because I’m using grass as mulch)

My neighbors like to de-thatch their lawns in early spring.  They also pick up their grass clippings every time they mow.  We offered a place for them to put all those grass clippings in the back of our lot.  So they bring me all kinds of it.  That’s why their happy.  I’m happy because I didn’t have to spend any of my tight budget on mulch this year, and I don’t have to worry about the weeds either.  So it works out for everyone.

Not really, but I got your attention.  What I should have said was Too Much Scrap Metal.  The by-product of Corn Stove Manufacturing. 

We’re going to recycle our scrap metal as much as possible.  Part of this recycling process means new products to sell on the website.  For example, when the stoves are cut out on the CNC plasma cutter, there are small miscellaneous pieces of metal here and there that could be put to good use in my garden. 

Windmills, plant-stakes, garden signs – I’m busy today making the CAD images we’ll use to feed the plasma cutter.  And tomorrow, I’ll have lots of raw material for my garden decorations.  I hope to be able to sell some of these as well, what’s cool about that is the cost of my raw materials is pretty low – and if I keep the  labor low (by selling these items as paint it yourself for example)  I can sell them for very little money.  That may help someone else – maybe someone who wants to use these shapes for their own small business. 

We’ll see.  In any case, here’s what I’m cutting out today:

We make it a point to recycle anything we can. In 2003, when Dale and I built our house in Glencoe, we had this motto, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

One by-product of the stove manufacturing process is lots of scrap metal. To that end, we've laid out our CAD drawings so that any small crack in a 4-by-8 sheet of metal can be filled in with some doo-dad or ornament.

We take these pieces of cut metal, tumble them to remove rough edges, and put them here for you to browse. Perhaps you'll find something that will fill a need for one of your projects. Perhaps you'll be inspired to create (as we have!) garden art.

Check out the pieces we've got assembled and how we used the cut metal to enhance our garden and living space. And please share with us how you've been able to use this scrap.

Here's the link to the product page for All Recycled materials. I hope you'll find something there in the months to come that will trigger your creative genius!

I want something like this for my garden, a windmill that's a yard light, not a pump. I'll have light when the wind blows which is just about all the time here at my home in MinneeeeSota.

I've got my order in to the EZBurn store, and they're making me one. I can't wait for it to be done.

The inspiration for my pump is here at Michigan.Gov's web site.

I get a lot of questions about the efficiency of insulated pex pipe. People ask what type of insulated pex is better, how much R-value each brand has, and how to tell if a certain brand of pipe will work for them locally. These are important questions since improper installation techniques can lead to poor efficiency.

Insulated pex is commonly used to transport hot water from outdoor boilers to home systems. Whether the outdoor furnace is fueled by wood, corn, or pellets - that heat needs to be transferred efficiently to the dwellings and shops that it's intended to warm. Insulated pex pipe will have a hard outer shell, some kind of insulative wrap or fill, and two pex lines in the middle which transport hot water to and from the stove. The shell material is commonly plastic corrugated tile pipe. It's purpose is to prevent environmental water, harsh environmental conditions or particles from getting into the system, because that could interrupt the efficiency of the insulation. The heavy duty tiles also prevent the inner insulative barrier from becoming compressed which would also lessen thermo efficiency.

Underground pipes should be well insulated with foam and the feed and return pipes should not be allowed to touch each other. Insulated pex can be buried anywhere from 1.5 feet to 2.5 feet below ground. Some say don’t place the pipe in the ground deeper than 18” to avoid ground water. When installing your insulated pex, seal against water entry where ever possible.

Some types of pex pipe are better able to protect than others. For example, a pex pipe that is insulated by wrapping an insulative blanket around the pipes will lose it's protective quality if any ground water finds it's way into the hard outer shell.

Do your research, there's a lot to know. This is a big investment and you basically get one shot to get it right before winter hits and you're locked in till spring.

Here's a list of links you may find helpful:

• How to Buy an Outdoor Furnace OR Global Hydronics I found that these two sites contain the same content (Hmmmmm......There were even more than TWO after I got into it) But that content is full of great tips on choosing and installing your outdoor furnace.
• An article written from a wood furnace owner(I prefer corn heat, as you know)
• Thermoflex, High Performance Foam Insulated Pex Pipes
• Flexsul Seal by Insul Seal elastomeric thermal insulation wrapped pex.

This project is a dryer conversion, to add heat from an outdoor furnace to the electric heat the dryer already uses.  There were some mishaps and adventures in the process, but it's done now and it works.  I'm using the outdoor furnace heat through my dryer exclusively since it's been completed.  That'll work in our Minnesota climate all through winter.

I thought someone might be interested in how it's done, so here's some pictures and a few notes on how Dale would have done it differently if his space for the dryer was shaped differently.

First of all, you don't want to do this to a new dryer.  It'll definitely void your warranty!  My dryer was 10 years old and had to be taken apart anyway to fix a bearing that was going out, so no big deal if the job didn't work. 

In my clothes dryer, the heating element is in back of the drum. My dryer fits under the counter in my laundry room, so there was a space issue we had to deal with. Because putting the heat exchanger onto the side of the dryer would make it not fit back under the counter, Dale had to attach the heat exchanger to the back. He says this isn't the best place for it, and if he could have gone with putting the heat exchanger onto the side, he would have done it that way.

Close ups of dryer conversion images are here 

First step in the conversion is to drill the holes that heated air will be pushed through.

All the holes as they've been drilled.

A close-up of the holes, I don't know why.

This is the heat exchanger that will be attached to the back of the dryer.

Here is the heat exchanger being attached to the back of the dryer.

Here, Dale covered the grill with aluminum tape to plug off the air source and force air through the heat exchanger.

This is a view of how the heat exchanger attaches to the dryer.

Here is a view of how Dale hooked the heat exchanger into the hydronic heating system which is fed from the outdoor stove