How to Distribute Heat From a Corn Stove

Installing a corn stove to heat your house is a great idea - you will save money on fuel and make a great contribution towards saving the planet. However, using a corn stove can be tricky and a special care should be taken to plan its position and heat distribution.

If done incorrectly, some parts of your home will be too hot while some rooms will stay cold. One common mistake is to place the burner down in the basement. It will never give the maximum possible output because a big portion of heat will stay in the basement. Ideally, the corn stove should be placed in a central location on the ground floor. It can be a living room or a special room allocated for the stove. Now you have to think about ways how to distribute heat from a corn stove.

Natural Circulation

The most obvious way is to use the laws of physics and allow the heat to circulate naturally. Hot air always flows upwards because it is lighter than cool air that consequently sinks towards the floor and is naturally drawn towards the heat source. This natural air flow method is rather ineffective because it takes time to distribute hot air and it takes some craftiness in providing holes so that the air can circulate.

If the house is not big, you can use this method. Air passages are made into the ceiling above he stove and into the walls partitioning the main room and other rooms. The holes are usually created as high on the walls as possible. Then we need to let the cool air come back to the heat source, that's why we introduce another set of passages closer to the floor. The passages are usually covered with a metal grille to make the whole thing look better.

Forced Air Distribution Method

When it comes to optimal cost and effectiveness ratio, forced air distribution system is probably the best for a corn stove. It uses air ducts made of metal and an electricity driven fan, also known as a blower, to distribute air across the house. If your dwelling if substantially sized, you'll have to devise a sophisticated network of ducts and possibly use more than one blower.

Majority of houses do well with just one. However, the ducts will have to go to every room you wish to heat. Don't worry about using electricity for the blower. It doesn't need to have a high output and you can always choose to install a small wind turbine to power your heating system.

Radiant Heating Method

There are stove models available that can be integrated into an existing central heating system or coupled with a water tank making it a good hot water boiler. The heat is then distributed with the water as its carrier. If you are building a house from scratch, you can have hot water pipes laid into concrete. An effective hot water distribution system will use a pump to move the water in the pipes.

There are natural radiant systems too - stay away from them as they are ineffective. Water pipes integrated in floors and driven by a pump is a great idea - as it is distributed evenly, you need less BTUs to heat the same area compared with hot air systems. This is the right thing if you've been dreaming about floor heating. Besides, used with a biomass burner, it is much cheaper than electric floor heating.

It is important to plan the way how to distribute heat from a corn stove before you make a purchase. The layout of your house will dictate the choice of equipment, length of ducts and output of a blower.