I"ve been using a Harmon PC-45. We live along I-80 in EC Iowa, so it gets pretty chilly at different times, but not terribly extreme. I burn purely corn, but use wood pellets to start the fire. The PC-45 will light itself if you set it to Auto, but I usually do it myself. When it"s below 30 outside, I can keep it in the 60"s (I"m remodeling, so 50-60 is good working temps.) by buring about 50# of corn/day. I get corn in bulk from the elevator at market price and you could figure 4.50/bu (56#)and should catch it; pellets have been advertised at 180/ton at the farm stores around, but you"ll burn more of them than corn I think. My Harmon requires little maintance, just dump the ashes every 3-4 days and maybe clean the glass or vacume it out every week or so. With regards to power, yes, if you loose juice, the fire will go out, but most of the units actually use very little power, my dealer tells me they"ve ran a Harmon for 10 hours on one of those backup batteries that you get for a PC from an office supply store, so that is a great option if you don"t have a genny. Yes, the large cordwood stove units are cheaper, but what about the piping and install to get them tied into your HVAC? I haul the corn to the house in 5 gal buckets ~24# each, so not bad to lift. If you value your time at all, cutting, hauling and stacking wood does add up to a decent amount of $$ Just my thoughts.
|