A house up the road some has had one for years, it never made any visble smoke, or had any of the surrounding folks bothered.

Then the property sold. The new owner doesn't like buying or cutting wood, so he has been stoking it with cobs of corn, right out of the field!!!

He claims to get 2 days or more out of a firebox full of corn on the cob.

The neighbours aren't as exicted about this new fuel source as the owner is.

Another problem outdoor unit was causing a big stink (pun intended) locally, the owner worked for the local power authority and was burning scrap utility poles, creosoted and CCA treated, anything he could get his hands on. Apparently that stopped pretty fast when the mayor phoned his boss. No more poles. Now he burns wood pallets instead.

As was mentioned, the big problem is the burn rate, most of them smoulder for all but brief rapid burn cycles.

I've seen ads for some of the newer outdoor furnaces with a neat twist, they burn kernel corn, and only burn when the system calls for heat. Ignition is either accomplished by an electric heater or propane flame. Since they run a small, very hot, auger-fed, fan-forced fire, the fire goes out after just a few minutes after shut down.

Best of luck.

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