Anyone know were to find plans to build a corn burning hot water boiler?
Thank You
Jerry

Anyone know were to find plans to build a corn burning hot water boiler?

I've not seen plans. Many people in my area are using them. I've looked over
all the units at the MN state fair three years running.

People are having trouble with the units that use the little rotating
agitator finger idea. They are for sale cheap on the used market.

The best idea going right now is to have one left and one right hand auger
made of cast iron to agitate and move the burn pile along. The screws sit
inside a half round SS plenum that has many 1/8" holes drilled in it. A
blower forces combustion air through the holes. I see no reason the augers
can't be fabricated out of stainless steel, but they will require
replacement when they burn up.

There's also a feed auger from the corn bin to just above the feed screws.
Electrical controls determine how fast this auger runs and there's safeties
for fire out and water too hot.

The heat exchanger is identical to a wood boiler right now. Just a double
wall very large pipe. say one 18" and one 24". I think we'll see
improvements in heat exchanger design. If I were to build today, I'd copy
the old triple pass boiler design seen in coal boilers made of cast iron
fifty to hundred years ago. Wish I had the one from my first house. I'd just
insert the corn unit.

I plan on building one when I can no longer cut wood. And that day is
getting near. I plan to just copy the best design I see.

karl

The best idea going right now is to have one left and one right hand auger
By this I assume you mean that there are two counter rotating augers,
such that the corn is pushed along between them from one end towards
the other.

made of cast iron to agitate and move the burn pile along. The screws sit
inside a half round SS plenum that has many 1/8" holes drilled in it.
Is the half round such that the augers set inside and there is a valley
below the augers, or is it more of a wide U trough that they lay
against the round edges with a flat between them?

blower forces combustion air through the holes. I see no reason the augers
can't be fabricated out of stainless steel, but they will require
replacement when they burn up.
What sort of size auger? 3", 4", smaller?


There's also a feed auger from the corn bin to just above the feed screws.
Electrical controls determine how fast this auger runs and there's safeties
for fire out and water too hot.
I have been thinking about this for awhile. Being a software
engineer(working in HVAC conveniently enough), the controls for this
would be simple(for me).

The heat exchanger is identical to a wood boiler right now. Just a double
wall very large pipe. say one 18" and one 24". I think we'll see
improvements in heat exchanger design. If I were to build today, I'd copy
the old triple pass boiler design seen in coal boilers made of cast iron
fifty to hundred years ago.
I agree. A triple pass system would seem better than the simple water
jacket. Perhaps a combination system.


I plan on building one when I can no longer cut wood. And that day is
getting near. I plan to just copy the best design I see.
I hope to finally getting around to building one this year. I would
like to supplement the house boiler with a corn system. Alpha/Beta
version would probably be test run in the shop first as supplement to
the hot water heat there.