Like many people alarmed at high heating bills, Phil Miller purchased a corn burning stove four years ago.

"It worked well," the Browerville, Minn., man says, "except that it kept going out." The fine corn screenings in the corn he bought at the local elevator were the culprit.

Miller decided to build a corn screener. After experimenting with various angles and different size screens, he came up with what he calls the Corn Scrubber.

Built of pine with two sizes of metal screen inside, it is lightweight and portable. It's about 4 ft. long and 1 ft. wide and about 4 ft. tall. Miller keeps his in the garage. The process is simple. Take a 5-gal. bucket of dirty corn and pour it in the top opening. Clean corn falls into a bucket at the bottom. In between, a waste basket or other large container catches the fine screenings that fall through.

In just a couple of minutes the corn is clean and ready to pour into the corn burner. "It's inexpensive, it's simple and it works," Miller says.

Because of its simple design, the Corn Scrubber is maintenance-free.

During the summer, when it's not needed, the Corn Scrubber folds up for easy storage and even has a handle for carrying.

In 2004 Miller made Corn Scrubbers and sold a few through area businesses. This past winter, sales have increased greatly, due to more people burning corn and discovering the same problem Miller had.

Miller and his partner, Gary Stracek, Browerville, Minn., make the units in their home shops. Dealerships are available.