How calculate payback of corn burner stove vs others?

 Im wondering how one would calculate and compare the "payback" of corn
burner stoves vs other methods of heating?

I went and looked at a Harman corn burner yesterday and was VEY
impressed with it..... but it cost  $3000! See link

http://www.harmanstoves.com/harman_corn_stove.htm

Ive seen cheaper corn burners for abt $1500 tho.

Having said that..... how would one compare payback times of such a
stove vs other methods of heating such as natural gas or propane?

Or even comparing it to something that does BOTH heating a cooling
such as ground source geothermal?

Im wanting to build a small one person home or cabin.... no more than
1000 sq feet.... and more likely 800 sq feet.  It will have a "open"
arrangement.... with only a bedroom and bathroom walled off.  The
living and dining and kitchen will be all one open space.  Just FYI

  Somewhat apropos of this question; does anyone here know the heat
value of wheat or canola (rapeseed)?

Gordon Richmond

 On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 01:46:06 GMT, Gordon Richmond


Mind is I ask why Gordon?

Can you burn rapeseed?

 Well, I've never tried burning canola (rapeseed), but it's raised as
an oilseed, after all, and most likely would burn quite well.

I haven't seen canola simply piled in a heap on the ground for lack of
storage, but I've seen a number of large piles of wheat within a few
km of my home.

If either canola or wheat could be burned efficiently in a
purpose-built stove, I could buy the grain direct from the farmer for
cash, which is a win-win deal for both parties.

I'm kind of leery of getting a pellet stove, because, a: it's a
byproduct, and b: you may be tied to one local supplier, and if you
become dependent on the pellet fuel for heat, you are at their mercy
if they decide to increase price. Not so if I buy surplus or low-grade
crop from local farmers.

Gordon Richmond

 On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 07:44:31 GMT, Gordon Richmond


But you can use pellet stove to also burn corn as well. No?