"Free" Fescue Straw Heats Shop And Home

Free Fescue Straw Heats Shop And Home ENERGY Alternative Fuels Lewis Stickney figured out a way to use a waste product and save up to $2 000/month in heating costs during the coldest months He bales hard fescue straw and burns it in his homemade burner
    The Hythe Alta farmer explains that a hard fescue variety he used to grow contained an endophyte which caused livestock hooves to deteriorate Because the crop was prone to disease it was best to remove the straw from the field Six years ago he decided to bale and burn it Though today s varieties are now safe for livestock he continues to use the straw as a fuel source in the burner he built out of two large underground fuel tanks With just 50 bales a year he heats a 6 000 sq ft shop and half of his 1 800-sq ft home By this winter he plans to have his whole home hooked up to hot water heat
    Stickney cut a 7-ft dia hole in a 9 by 30-ft tank built skids inside and slipped in a 7-ft by 20-ft tank He welded the tanks together at the door opening on the end and cut a manhole at the top of the opposite end for access to brace the inside tank
     I needed to keep the tank secure because once it was surrounded with water I calculated that there would be an upward buoyant force of approximately 50 000 lbs Stickney says
     I cut about 7-in off the end of the 7-ft dia tank to use for the door I didn t want to have to circulate water through the door so I put in 2 in of high temperature insulation 2 000 degrees F and then filled the remaining 5 in with refractory cement which is mixed up in a mortar mixer It hardens like cement and is held in place by anchors welded to the inside of the door The door is 7-ft in diameter and with the refractory cement weighs about 2 000 lbs
    Mounted on thrust bearings and heavy hinges the door opens and closes with a mere 4 to 5 lb of force
    Besides heating the 6 000 gal of water between the tanks and 6 000 gal in an additional storage tank Stickney s heater burns the smoke
     I didn t want the smell of burning straw so I knew that I wanted to be able to burn the smoke Stickney says He borrowed ideas from a corn stoker burner and from his engineering son
    When he loads the heater with two bales he throws in a match and the fescue straw starts on fire Within a couple of minutes a 3 hp blower near the chimney makes the fire hot enough that the flue gas becomes clear and odorless
     We feel that approximately 2/3 of the heat generated is from the smoke and only 1/3 from the initial burn Stickney says To capture that extra heat generated before it passed out the chimney Stickney made a heat exchanger out of pipes that passes through the water jacket in the 10-ft space behind the combustion chamber The flue gas passing through these pipes accounts for the majority of heat captured
     One other problem was that when we were doing a burn we were producing heat so fast that even though the water jacket held about 6 000 gal it would soon start to boil We installed a swimming pool pump $100 on eBay to circulate the water when the burner blower is on
    Finally the outside of the furnace was sprayed with 3 in of polyurethane insulation He added additional high temperature ceramic insulation by the door for safety and covered it with 16 gauge mild steel He recently added ceramic rope to build an airtight seal around the door
    Stickney bales the fescue straw in August and keeps it outside Typically he puts in two bales at a time with his skidsteer loader when the water temperature has dropped below 100 degrees The fire is out when he loads the bales The bales burn up within a couple of hours If he does three burns in a day he can store up enough heat for a couple of weeks to keep his shop at 70 degrees
     Straw gives off about the same amount of heat per pound as wood Stickney says One advantage of burning fescue straw is it burns with so little ash that I only have to clean out the burner once a year
    Altogether Stickney estimates he spent less than $5 000 to build his heating system Readers interested in more information should contact Stickney by email
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lewis Stickney PO Box 116 Hythe Alta T0H 2C0 Canada ph 780 402-4793; stickney@telus net

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