To get these fuels to burn, some manufacturers use a small combustion chamber into which the corn is fed and combustion air is pumped through. The corn can be either dribbled into this combustion chamber from above, or it can be stoked into the chamber from below by means of an auger. The feed rate of this auger can be adjusted to regulate the amount of corn burned, which in turn controls the amount of heat produced. The second requirement for burning to occur is oxygen. In order to support combustion, oxygen is blown into the combustion chamber by means of a small fan. The combustion air is usually brought in from outside, not room air. This combustion chamber is actually quite small and could easily fit into a child's lunch box.

As corn burns it produces a clinker. Because of the small size of the combustion chamber the clinker should be removed daily. With practice, the removal of the clinker can be done without having to shut down and then relight the stove. A specially designed poker is used to upend the clinker, then tongs are used to remove it.

Inside the stove, a heat exchanger is used to remove heat from the flue gases and heat the room air. A fan is used to move the room air through the stove where it is warmed. This fan may also help in moving the heat further away from the stove.
A different style of corn stove also exists which does not use augers to feed in the corn or fans to provide combustion air or move heated air to the room. By careful design, these stoves will burn corn at the bottom of a hopper and radiate heat to the surrounding room. Unlike the previous type where electricity is used to stoke the fire and move the heat to the room, these stoves are not affected by electrical power outages.

The type of flue pipe required to vent the exhaust gases from the stove will depend on the design of the stove or corn burning appliance. These flue pipes can range from those commonly used in wood stoves to through-the-wall vent pipes which actually preheat the combustion air by removing heat from the flue gases. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations regarding the type of flue pipe required. It is best to keep the flue pipe as short and straight as possible (keep the number of elbows to a minimum) to maximize the stove's performance.

Limitations of Burning Corn for Heat

Possibly the first and most important limitation of corn as a fuel is the stove itself. If the stove uses augers to feed the corn into the combustion chamber and fans to maintain combustion and move heated air to the room then an electrical power interruption will shut the stove down. Very simply with this style of stove, no electrical power means no heat from your corn stove. Some stoves require a manual reset after a power interruption, as a safety feature.

Second, since most house layouts do not allow the free movement of air through the house, a centrally located stove will not heat the whole house. If this is your case, size the stove to heat the room where the stove is located or look at a utility stove that will connect to your duct work.  Oversizing the stove will result in the room housing the stove becoming unbearably hot.