Warm days are quickly approaching, but like every summer, the season is over way too fast. With cool days extending into May and starting again by September, we are often left with just a few short months of warm weather.

Why is summer a great time to buy a wood fireplace, a corn stove, or a flex-fuel furnace?

We’ll all work our way through a list of “to do” items that beg our attention. If you’ve made the decision to save money next fall by heating your home with alternative fuel, then now is the perfect time to add the purchase and installation of an alternative energy appliance to your list of summer projects.

There is no better time to install a corn stove or switch out an inefficient gas fireplace than during the hot days of summer; the days are long, offering more free time to get things done. Round up friends or family to help get your projects done! The weather is great for garage sales to sell your old fireplace unit. The weather is also perfect for working inside and out to vent your new stove or fireplace, and other tasks that keep you busy.

Right now if you buy online, shipping is free; What a Hot Deal!  With rising fuel prices and projected high heating costs for 2010/2011, alternative heating MagnuM appliances are HOT! Shop now, save on shipping, and enjoy later when others are scrambling to find and install products when the cold weather hits.

photo credit: holmanphoto

Do you have a question about your corn stove or wood burning fireplace? Maybe you’d like to talk to an expert technician on a specific topic. If you own a Magnum or Country Flame brand heat source, here is a great forum where people often find answers to their questions before even asking.

Here’s a break-down of topics you’ll find on the American Energy Systems Forum:

• Video Tutorial Library
• MagnuM Biomass / Corn / Multi-fuel Product Line
• Country Flame Biomass / Corn / Multi-fuel Product line
• MagnuM & Country Flame Wood Burning Product Line
• 2nds for Sale
• Qualifying your home, lifestyle and product purchase
• Fresh Air for your Appliance and Home
• Draft Issues for MagnuM & Country Flame Wood Burning Appliances
• Fuel Quality, Fuel types, How to find the right fuel
• Venting requirements
• Fireplace Door Systems

Each of these topics have many sub-categories and get quite specific. The forum has grown into a wealth of information, that many of our heating appliance owners appreciate and rely on.

Never hesitate to contact us. We want you to get the most out of your alternative heating choices!

In the past, purchasing a solid fuel appliance for your home meant increased insurance costs, possible no-burn days and problems on where to store the fuel. Today’s high-tech clean burning appliances have eliminated the need for expensive chimneys that cause most fires and have brought a smile to most insurance companies faces with the reduction in claims.

American Energy Systems (your flex-fuel, corn, and wood stove experts) has been instrumental in providing seminars to insurance companies around the nation to prove that modern day appliances are safe and do not have the problems that the old fireplaces and stoves once had.

Some insurance companies do not charge extra for adding in a Flex-fuel stove, fireplace insert or furnace, while some will charge a small yearly fee. If you are having trouble with your insurance company you can find another insurance company that will write you a policy. There are plenty who would love to work with you and your choice for alternative heating.

It is usually required to contact your insurance company before purchasing a solid fuel appliance. Being proactive will ensure proper coverage of your home and eliminate problems should a problem occur. Your insurance agent will be able to answer your questions and ensure proper coverage.

photo credit: drewgstephens

The traditional smoke on the face of the fireplace brick or stone and the “nice” woodsy smell, bring smiles of familiarity to some and tears to those of us suffering with allergies. So the question that begs for an answer is:

What about burning with corn and other flex fuels, will my allergies suffer?

The answer comes not in the fuel itself but in the technology. The typical Corn/Wood Pellet/Flex-fuel appliance today is designed with closed combustion, a negative draft system (which means that it pulls the fire and smoke through the appliance), a sealed venting system and a direct connect to outside fresh combustion air. These design features separate the smell and corresponding allergy dusts from the interior of the home.

What normally will bring dust and pollens into the home when burning with today’s technology is the handling of the fuel. When you use clean, dry fuel, handle it properly and perform the maintenance features of the appliance, you can enjoy relief from your allergies. Many customers suffering from allergies have stated that when they have installed their MagnuM or Country Flame Flex-fuel appliance that their allergies that flared up from even their old style furnace were reduced by the heat produced from their new unit.

The key to eliminating the effects of solid fuel combustion on the interior environment of your home is proper selection of the right appliance, correct placement and installation of the appliance, proper balancing of the home for fresh air, providing fresh air for combustion to the appliance, clean and dry fuel and proper maintenance of the appliance.

Now you can enjoy the warmth of your new appliance without looking through swollen eyes and a Kleenex.

Bless you!

 
photo credit: |Chris| 

photo credit: mcfarlandmo

Frugal living at our home?

Absolutely!

We live frugally at our house, or at least, we try to. I love finding a good deal, shopping the sales rack, saving money, and having a coupon when I go out to eat. It is very, very seldom that I pay full price for anything.

We have a sun-room addition on our home that is our “family room” and pretty much the hub of our house. We added a Magnum Baby Countryside stove to the corner a few years and just love it. It helps to extremely reduce our heating bill.

How a Corn Stove Figures in to Our Frugal Mix

We purchase corn in the fall from a local farmer that is dried to the optimum level for our stove. He pulls the gravity box into our driveway late each fall, and we use a 5 gallon bucket, wheelbarrow and lots of arm power to put the corn into a hand made wooden box in our garage. This year we briefly used wood pellets in our stove, until our corn arrived. That is the beauty of a flex-fuel stove!

Last year, we spent about $400.00 to purchase enough corn to last us all winter. It even got us through October and November this past year (2009).

Minimum Maintenance

We pretty much run our corn stove day and night, shutting it down every other day to clean it out briefly. Maybe once a week we shut it down for a more thorough clean.

Heat Distribution Through-Out Our Home

We have ceiling fans in the sun-room, adjoining kitchen, and then above our stairway which rotates the warm air and keeps the main level of our home warm. On a really windy, cold day, our furnace might kick-in a tiny bit, otherwise, our corn stove keeps us toasty warm.

Guest Post: The author of this post is Cindy Haugland, a frugal Minnesota Mom who is known by her friends as a tightwad. She started her own business, aptly called TidyTightwads, to help other people save money and live with less clutter and stress. She recommends a Magnum corn stove to those who want to save money on heating costs.

Are you sold on alternative heating and ready to throw your furnace out the window?

Wait.

Even though heating with renewable energy such as corn or wood pellets is a cost effective and fantastic method of heating your home, you don’t want to throw your furnace out the window just yet.

Do I need to keep my furnace if I install a Magnum stove?

The answer is yes you do. There are code compliance issues that require a primary heating system to be installed in your home. Today, there are no insurance or building codes that will allow a solid fuel device to be considered as primary.

This does not mean, however, that your corn/flex-fuel appliance will not heat your entire home.

The best advice is to let your renewable energy appliance do the bulk of the heating, and when you go away on vacation, etc. allow your primary furnace to take over.

There are plenty of design solutions; your corn burning appliance can complement your entire system so that you can stay toasty warm.

Many corn/flex-fuel customers report that their primary furnace runs very little, if at all, even on the coldest of days. So while we do not recommend you throw your furnace out the window, we are excited for you to experience the wonderful heat and savings associated with corn and pellet stoves!

One of our raving fans share how well their corn stove heats their entire home in this video:

photo credit: Keith Williamson