Arch design questions

[3fires]

Having my plans for the cinder block arch be shot down by family and neighbors I am now contemplating designing an arch made from a 275 gallon fuel oil tank. I'm not very fluent in "arch speak?" so I've enclosed words that may be not quite right with "?". LOL!

I've been reviewing the massive amount of threads on fuel tank arches for the past few days, lots of great info and pics, but I still have a "few" questions about arch design itself.

First, to give you an idea of what I'm working with:

The tank will be roughly 27" wide and 60" long once cutout. I intend to brick the sides of firebox right up to the lip on my pans which will sit down in 4". I plan to brick the back of firebox right up to the flue and brick the flue all the way back to the stack and on the sides up to pans the same as above.

I'll have no forced air, just a simple cleanout with a raised grate made of 1-1/2"x1/8" angle iron to get air under fire.

1. What is the ideal height from the "flue?" to the bottom of the pans? From what I understand "flue" is the area between the back of the firebox to the stack.

2. ...height from the grate to the bottom of the pans? I planned on 16", 4 bricks on their side stacked loose above grate and 1 layed flat minus the pan height = around 16".

3. ...size and shape of the cleanout hole? Which is going to be the main air intake.

4. Will the 1/8" angle hold up under fire? VVVVVV

5. What is a good space between the angles for airflow? 1", 2", 1/8"?

6. Does it matter if the grates run front to back or side to side? I intend to run them side to side and support them on the curve of the tank bottom.

7. ...depth of the firebox? 27" = 3 bricks. It's a 60" long arch, but my pans are only going to run back 42". Is 27 too deep or too shallow, or just right?

I'm hoping to use full bricks uncut and uncemented so in the future I can reconfigure. 18" seems to shallow? 2 bricks.

8. Should the "ramp?" from the back of the firebox to flue run up at an angle or simply straight up to meet the flue?

9. Should the flue run up at an angle or be level straight back to the stack from the firebox?

10. Do I need to brick the flue area or can I just line it with something less expensive and only brick the firebox sides and back?

I'm not looking for ultimate efficiency, but do want something that is functional. I plan on using angle and sheet to make the rise from firebox to flue and the flue itself. I'll just be screwing it all together with self tappers so that if I decide to add a flat pan flush with the top in the future everything can be unscrewed and raised up 4".

Also, I plan on having my 3 14x22X4" steam table pans sitting side to side flush up to the front of the arch. So, there will be a 18-20" gap to fill at the rear of the arch where I intend to fit a piece of sheet and run an 8" stack straight up 10'. The bricks and a small strip of metal and angle will make up the side to side difference. The pans have a 1" lip so, 27-20 = 7" to make up. I think the bricks are 2-1/4" so 7-(2.25X2) = 2-1/2" to make up to give the lip of the pan something to sit on.

One more question: Is that too many questions? :emb: Okay, I lied! It's not a "few" questions after all.

[3fires]

BTW, I will not be cutting it with a torch. ;)

[tessiersfarm]

1. What is the ideal height from the "flue?" to the bottom of the pans? From what I understand "flue" is the area between the back of the firebox to the stack.

Area should be equal to the flue area. 8" flue is about 50 square inches so 50/27 is just under 2" high space.

2. ...height from the grate to the bottom of the pans? I planned on 16", 4 bricks on their side stacked loose above grate and 1 layed flat minus the pan height = around 16".

That sounds like a good height, I think mine is 18" Fire brick is 4 1/2"x9"x1 1/4" and it is 2 bricks vertical.

3. ...size and shape of the cleanout hole? Which is going to be the main air intake.

I don't think shape matters but it should be fairly large, compared to a regular woodstove. If it is large enough to shovel ashes out of it should give plenty of air.

4. Will the 1/8" angle hold up under fire? VVVVVV

I would go with heavier, like 1/4" but if you already have the 1/8", no reason not to try it.

5. What is a good space between the angles for airflow? 1", 2", 1/8"?

I would leave 1/2" or so, big enough so ashes pass through but not your coals.

6. Does it matter if the grates run front to back or side to side? I intend to run them side to side and support them on the curve of the tank bottom.

I don't think it matters a whole lot but mine run front to back.

7. ...depth of the firebox? 27" = 3 bricks. It's a 60" long arch, but my pans are only going to run back 42". Is 27 too deep or too shallow, or just right?
I'm hoping to use full bricks uncut and uncemented so in the future I can reconfigure. 18" seems to shallow? 2 bricks.

I went 5 bricks running side to side so 22 1/2", actually almost 24" if you add the bricks at the fron which only cover a small area beside the door.


8. Should the "ramp?" from the back of the firebox to flue run up at an angle or simply straight up to meet the flue?

I think a ramp gives better air flow, mine has a 9" high vertical with a 7" ramp

9. Should the flue run up at an angle or be level straight back to the stack from the firebox?

My flue space is level from ramp to back of arch.

10. Do I need to brick the flue area or can I just line it with something less expensive and only brick the firebox sides and back?

I used fire brick for the sides and 2 layers of cement tile backer for the bottom, it broke up after the first fire but it just lays there and never gets any abuse.

I'm not looking for ultimate efficiency, but do want something that is functional. I plan on using angle and sheet to make the rise from firebox to flue and the flue itself. I'll just be screwing it all together with self tappers so that if I decide to add a flat pan flush with the top in the future everything can be unscrewed and raised up 4".

On the one I built I cut out 50" deep of the top half of the tank and left the rear 10" a full oval shape. I cut the front off the tank and welded it onto the front of the 10" section and cut in a 8" pipe into the top section at the back. It left me with a 49"x26 1/2" opening for my pan and saved a lot of time building a stack base. This method will also save you the issue mentioned next if you size the open area to the pans you have.

Also, I plan on having my 3 14x22X4" steam table pans sitting side to side flush up to the front of the arch. So, there will be a 18-20" gap to fill at the rear of the arch where I intend to fit a piece of sheet and run an 8" stack straight up 10'. The bricks and a small strip of metal and angle will make up the side to side difference. The pans have a 1" lip so, 27-20 = 7" to make up. I think the bricks are 2-1/4" so 7-(2.25X2) = 2-1/2" to make up to give the lip of the pan something to sit on.

One more question: Is that too many questions? :emb: Okay, I lied! It's not a "few" questions after all.

No problem on the questions thats what we are here for.[/QUOTE][/I]

[tessiersfarm]

By the way I cut mine with a torch

[Bucket Head]

Sorry 2Fires, the Moderator just called. He said too many questions in a single post. Start over.

Just kidding, lol. You just have a flue pan, no flat pan currently? Its tough to answer every question. When building your own rig, sometimes you just have to look the situation over and go with what you feel is good or just looks good. I guess what you need to do is condsider whatever pan configuration you may have in the future and build to suit.

The flue area of the arch should be almost up to the bottom of the flue pan, which forces all heat and flame through the flues. This area depends on pan length, or like I said, whatever pan set-up you might have. Theres no sense in doing twice. (When I built my arch I set it up for heating a flue pan although I did'nt have a flue pan for the first season.)
Sixteen inches should work allright. I think mine is 18". If you could squeeze a little more firebox space out your design I think you would be happier. Your ash clean out should be as big as you can get it. Both for easy clean out and its your only source of air for the fire. You should think about some sort of forced draft under the grate. Small, natural draft fires tend to be a little on the lazy side, but they will boil sap. Eighth inch angle is a little thin for grate material. Can you get anything else that has a little more thickness? Putting them side to side (shorter pieces than lengthwise angle) will help out a little bit. The gap between each angle should be about a half inch to 3/4". If their any bigger you tend to lose unburned coals through them, at least thats my experience. I'm sure some other homemade arch guys will comment also. Listen to what everyone has to offer and start designing from there.

Steve

[Bucket Head]

Tessierfarm types faster than me!!

Steve

[3fires]

I may be able to incorporate a slight ramp if needed. But, it seems like it would be harder to brick without cutting and cementing in place to fill gaps.

I may have to redesign to get the bottom of the flue up closer to the pans as it now would be 22"x3"= 66 sq.in. with bricks in place.

After getting your help and looking more into design I'm getting the idea the stack, flue and intake should all be equal with the exception of the intake being slightly larger. Is that right?

If so, perhaps the first question I should have asked is what size stack should I be using? I planned on going with a 10' x 8" stack. But, would like to leave room for forced draft or air over fire in the distant future.

Would 6" do? would 10" be overkill? for natural draft

I do have a 6" squirrel cage from a fuel oil burner I could borrow, but would like to see how natural works first, not sure what the cfm's are or what would be required.

Thanks for the help!

[Bucket Head]

Put the 10" stack on and keep the 6" cage blower close by. Over sizing the stack is better than undersizing it. If after your using it, you think your losing too much heat out the stack you could put a damper in it, but I doubt you'll need it. The large pipe allows for good draft and future expansion.

Steve

[3fires]

Cool, would that work with the more restricted flue area though. 78 'ish sq.in. stack vs. 66 in the flue area?

[Bucket Head]

I don't see why not. Those figures are pretty close. You just don't want too small a stack on it. The first year we ran ours it had too small of stack and smoke was trying to escape at every little opening. We would get a fair amount of smoke coming out each time we fueled it. With a properly sized stack you should'nt get any smoke coming out at you when you open the door to add wood.

Steve

[3fires]

Alrighty then!

Is there any down side to having too large an area under the grate? Mine may be quite large from where the curve of the barrel starts down, probably over a foot?

and, is there a minimum size below grate?

[Dennis H.]

the space below the grates shouldn't matter.

As for your grates go as thick as steel as you can. I used 1/4" angle for my barrel evap and by the end of the season the grates were sagging in the middle by about 3/4". the grates were only 18" long.

[3fires]

Thanks, I read where someone had used C channel as a grate. Does anyone know how that worked out? Would angle be better?

[shane hickey]

I would think angle iron would be better as long as they stay far enough
apart to let the *** slip threw. They may slid side to side and the ashes couldn't escape, thats maybe why they used c channel, let me know how you come out

[3fires]

1/8 angle is easy to come by as that's what I planned on using for pan supports and such. I'll see if the guy has any 1/4" when I go back, scrapyard.

I'm waiting on a couple folks to see if they can locate a free or inexpensive oil tank. If not I'll be buying one for 60 bucks brought to my door.

I sold my recip saw a year or two back because I hadn't used it in ages. Now, will have to see about renting one I guess.

[Gary R]

Consider using fire bricks for a grate. I tried steel and cheap cast iron and it doesn't hold up. The bricks are easy to drill and cut. The forced air will keep most of them open and flowing air.

[3fires]

Gary R, would that work without forced air?

Do you just use a standard masonry bit?

[markct]

my grates on my 2x8 i made from 1/8 thick angle iron from a bedframe, just cheap junk, they havent warped or sagged at all, and havent even got the paint burned off in some places after 2 seasons use. i think the forced draft helps cool them, but also the sand and or ash in the v is what makes the big difference and insulates them from the fire

[Gary R]

I think if you don't have forced air, all your air should come from the wood feed door. I think too much ash would build up on any grate type to get sufficient air flow with out forced air. A standard (cheap) masonry bit and a drill press. No hammer drill. 3/4" holes were drilled.

[3fires]

Thanks markct!

Gary are you using angle to support the grate bricks? I couldn't quite tell from the pics. Thanks.

I've pretty much got the whole thing planned out now, just trying to decide on a grate setup and also how to support the firebox bricks.

I'm considering letting the steam table pans sit on top rather than having them down in resting on the lip, not 100% sure on this. It would probably be less efficient this year with many sides of pans exposed to air, but would be easier to construct and would make it easier to go larger pans/ pan in the future. Also, because I don't want sap to scorch on the sides of the pans.

[Gary R]

Angle iron is used. You put them back to back so it looks like an upside down "T". On the sides I put a little ceramic blanket on the angle to protect it from the heat. If you search for "grates", you should find some threads on this.

[tessiersfarm]

If you want to pay shipping I think I have some nice cast iron grates in my shop, they came out of some factory we remodeled and were in my evaporator for several years with no noticable change. You can have them but I don't know shipping might kill you, they are 6" wide and 2' or so long but quite heavy.

[3fires]

I'll check it out Gary, thanks.

tessiersfarm, I'm intersted if they'll fit my setup and not be too steep too ship as I'll have to buy and fab something otherwise.

I had planned on 22 W x 27 D for the ID of firebox, 3 bricks wide and deep, but I may be able to adjust that somewhat without too much re-design.

[3fires]

Does anyone know an inexpensive source for a makeshift stove pipe/ stack. I was going to use 10", but seems very expensive. Would 8" do?

I need something inexpensive. I had a source for an 8" stack, but it's gone.

[shane hickey]

One of the syrup producers in our association used a 10'' culvert hes had it as long as I can remember I dont know what one would cost, but maybe you might be able to find one at a scap iron pile. Then cut it to length.
shane

[3fires]

Thanks, what is a good price for a 10' x 10" stack? I'm getting all kinds of numbers and am not sure what I should be looking for in the first place. So many different kinds of stacks/ pipes it seems, and from what I'm reading I only need a 6 or 8" pipe max for a 2X5 arch, which is the very maximum my arch could be.

I'm havng a very hard time finding good consistent info on stack sizes and types online or elsewhere. Most of the info I find is related to indoor woodstoves or furnaces which are a whole different can o' worms.

Frustrating!

[Gary R]

8" is big enough. You can use round heating duct, 28ga. Mines 3 years old and still ok. They will burn out after some years. Keep them out of the elements in the off season. You may want to use the heavier stove pipe right where it comes off the arch, That is where the most heat is.

[3fires]

Thanks Gary,

I can get 8" galv duct at the hardware, 10 bucks for a 5' section and they have black stove pipe which I believe was 13 bucks for 2'.

I didn't see any collars to go from stove to pipe though, but they did have the flanged galv duct to go from a round hole cut in square duct to an 8" pipe.

Are there any tricks for attaching the pipe to the arch?

I'm searching this forum, but not finding what I need to go on. I guess I'm not a very good searcher, wrong keywords or something, lol.

[Gary R]

There are no tricks. You just need to think about it and make something that works:) Your in need of a base stack. It is best to have a rectangular or oval opening that is close to the width of your arch. The base stack transitions from the rectangle to the round pipe. For most homemade arches this is hand fabricated. Some do come straight out the arch with round. However, the heat does not get to the back corners of the pan very well. Look at some of the homemade rigs on here. There is some very nice home built stuff.

[3fires]

I thought about using one of the duct transitions at the hardware store. they're rectangular and transition to round, but are the thinner galvanized duct. As long as it would hold up for a season or two I'd be happy.

I no longer have many tools so fabricating from scratch is tough, pretty much got rid of everything in the divorce. My ex's kid has an air powered die grinder and a cheap welder so I may be able to use that for all the cutting and the welder might be enough to tack stuff in place. He said it's pretty weak though. He also has some scrap sheet around too so we'll see.

Hopefully, I'll have the oil tank, grates and angle later this week and can get started.

[3fires]

I think I'll just use galv. duct for the entire stack, 8", and see how it weathers the storm. It's very inexpensive, so if it doesn't last it's lesson learned with not much out of pocket.

The rectangular transition should allow me room to squeeze in one more pan for a total of 4-14x22 pans. I believe the bottom area of these pans is roughly 12x20, so 4 pans = 20x48" heating surface, or 1.66X4. A 1 and 2/3 x 4, is there such a thing, lol.

But, the guy I was going to buy the tank from is MIA. I sent him an email yestrday and haven't heard back from him. Either the tank is gone, he's dead, or maybe just on vacation.

I hoped to find one of these tanks for free, but it seems there's a big demand for them around here. Folks are buying them and making barbeque grills. The cheapest I could find was 60 bucks delivered for a well emptied 275 gallon tank with legs.

Also, I got permission for 20+ taps, red and sugar/ black maples. They all have lots of southern exposure and huge crowns.

[tylerj]

I thought about using one of the duct transitions at the hardware store. they're rectangular and transition to round, but are the thinner galvanized duct. As long as it would hold up for a season or two I'd be happy.

I no longer have many tools so fabricating from scratch is tough, pretty much got rid of everything in the divorce. My ex's kid has an air powered die grinder and a cheap welder so I may be able to use that for all the cutting and the welder might be enough to tack stuff in place. He said it's pretty weak though. He also has some scrap sheet around too so we'll see.

Hopefully, I'll have the oil tank, grates and angle later this week and can get started.

I used one of those galvanized floor vent adapters to connect to my 8" stove pipe last year and it worked great. Being rectangular its easy to close in that end.

[3fires]

Thanks, being rectangular it should help to get the heat across the pans as well I'd think.

[mauisun97@yahoo.com]

Thanks, being rectangular it should help to get the heat across the pans as well I'd think.Hi 3fires,where about are you located in Michigan?I'm just south of Mesick.I've been welding bed angle and 14 gauge sheet for a new 2X5 arch' I'm doing the stack using a barrel stove collar and fabricating to raise it up about 12" and keep it rectangular.Got the plans last season right here.Good Luck and Happy New Year to everyone.

[3fires]

I'm just west of Novi mauisun.

I got my tank today, now just have to see about measuring twice and cutting once, lol. This thing is pretty thick, we'll see how it goes.

I now have permission for over 40 taps, not sure if I'll run that many, but they are available, mostly reds, 3 or 4 big sugars or blacks, and possibly a few silvers.

[tessiersfarm]

Tap them all, easy to pull a few if you get overwhelmed. Once you start there is no stopping, its infective too so tell your friends.

[3fires]

I'm letting everyone know tessiersfarm. My buddy says he has access to SS tubing in various sizes, trying to think of a way to incorporate that into the arch or make spiles with them. I understand SS is like gold in the maple world.

As I was scoping out some trees I came to the back of the property where a recycling company is and they had a whole section of SS scrap, pots, pans, sinks, old restaurant equipment. Most of the large sheets were pretty well demolished, but I so wanted to go help myself. There was a nice 6 gallon or so SS pot sitting up on top of the pile just calling my name. I'll have to go back there when someone's around and see what they'd let some of it go for.

[shane hickey]

Yeah, let me know what it's going for? Pagnals in Lansins has a lot of food grade stainless 33 thousands to 44 thousands of an inch I bought 12 sheets 6
foot by 10 feet for $600. they have tons of it, If I have a good season I am going to buy more from there and sheet the entire shanty, for easy washing. This is what the 6x20 arch looks like now, I am working on my 5x16 almost done with it, no more painting.
21782179
shane

[Sugarmaker]

shane,
Nice looking arch restoration.!
Chris

[3fires]

I'm getting ready to cut out my 275 gallon fuel oil tank and....

Is 13.5" too short for a firebox?

I was planning on 18", but my steam pans will be sitting down inside the arch so they will take up 4.5" of the firebox.

I would like to leave it like this as down the road I can fit a flat pan on top and the firebox will then be 18".

I'm just not sure if 13.5" high is enough room for a fire???

The planned dimensions of the firebox with brick installed are 25" deep, 22" wide, and 13.5" high.

[70 Buick]

I would think it would not be but I am not a pro
13.5 inches doesn't leave much room to put logs IMO

[Gary R]

I'm boiling on mine right now. It is 20" from pan to grate. 18" would work good but like Buick 70, I don't think 13.5 would be good.

[3fires]

thanks, I hate to make it 4" higher just to cut it back down next season if I get a flat pan. I was hoping someone might say there's is only 13" or so, but it does seem like a small area for stacking wood.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

I am interested in your build. Attached is a picture of mine, just completed. I have not read the entire thread but will soon to get a background. I have other pictures and I am willing to share my mental notes if you are interested. Good Luck!

[3fires]

Thanks Maple monk. I would like to see how you fit your pans onto the evap and also how you fit your grates/ firebox if possible.

I'm looking at using the entire tank and simply cutting out holes for each pan to fit in and rest on the tank. Hopefully this will require less materials, angle and such.

But, that will require me to get the grates up higher to maintain the 18" high firebox. i originally planned to cut the tank nearly in half and simply rest the grates on the bottom curve of the tank.

This new idea will require way less cutting, less hardware, less sheet, less angle and will be much easier to fab. And, it will allow room in the future to add a larger flat pan if I ever get the $$. LOL!

Thanks to TessiersFarm for the grates my fabrication costs and such went down already.:D

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Here's a close up of the pan fit. My pans sit on the asbestos ropes that are glued to the rail. The only part exposed to the fire is the bottom of the 18 gauge SS spillage steam table pan that I bought online for $26 each so the sap does not scortch. I am able to get the first three pans boiling and the back pan I fill as a preheater. The grate inside could be beefier, but as I clean the ashes out, I flip the grate. I bricked the whole bottom of the tank (firebox) and will work offseason to brick the sides of the firebox inside.

[3fires]

That's nice. Mine is going to be much simpler do to lack of funds and abilty to do any detailed fab.

I think I'm just going to lay the tank down and cut one big hole to let the steam table pans fit down in completely, cut a door, cut a cleanout, cut a hole for the stack and call it good. The only thing i need to buy, unless there's a catastrophic failure, is a stack. I can use the piece cutout from the top as a backer for the firebox and have a scrap piece of thick sheet to craft a stack base. I scraped around in my old cardboard box of parts and found some self tappers, door hinges and stack supports to frankenstien the thing together.

I hope the syrup doesn't scorch, and too much smoke doesn't leak out the top, but I have no way of fitting the pans level to the top without buying angle, insulation and doing a lot of extra fab work. Since I'm doing all the work in the outdoors with near zero funds the less work and materials the better. :rolleyes:

I planned on cutting it out today, but we got hit with this snow just as i was getting ready to work. Now there's close to a foot of snow sitting on top of it, planned on borrowing the sawsall from the neighbor too, but he's now in the hospital along with his mom, it doesn't sound good for her, and I hate to bother him with it right now considering. I'm going to give the jigsaw a try, but it might be a real slow go. When the snow stops we'll see.

If I make it through this season I may fab it out this summer with angle and insulation and get a flat pan to fit the entire top.

I hope my rigged setup will get er done. Seeing all the nice evaps that folks here build has me worried and feeling not up to par, but I got to work with what I got to work with. :emb:

[woodbit]

3fires I am almost finished with a 275g oil drum arch. I used all the info that i gleaned from this website. These are a terrific bunch of guys and if you stick around you will be able to pass on some of the info to the next guy with smoke in his eyes and a burnt thumb. Mine is exactly the way they said to build it on here. 18in firebox 8in stack 2in under the pan. pan was built by local amish for about half what i found everywhere else. i went with a flat pan and dividers. I had been using another homemade arch that did about 8 gals an hour hoping to get up around 15-20. then new arch and larger pan and and and .. good luck to you.

[woodbit]

3Fires using a good metal blade from Menards I cut most of the stuff needed for my project

[woodbit]

2783

2784

2785

I am ready for the bricks and the stack as soon as the snow stops. would like to fire it up tomorrow.

[3fires]

Nice woodbit. I'm off from school next week so I should be able to get it done then and hopefully put in a few taps as well.

[nace]

hello 3fires: you may want to double check with everyone but if you are setting the whole pan into the fire, it will scorch on the sides. you only want to expose the bottom of the pan to the fire. if i missunderstood your plan, i'm sorry. last year i used a roasting pan and didn't prevent the flames from comming up the sides of the pan and had some scorching, particulary as the level dropped and began turning to syrup with no more sap to add. nace

[3fires]

What was the effect of the scorching? Did it ruin the syrup?

[nace]

no it didn't ruin it but i didn't have excessive scorching because i was only using a turkey fryer and didn't have the fire as hot as an enclosed arch. it may have given the syrup an off flavor to some extent but i had never had pure maple syrup before to know the difference and didn't do a direct comparason...it was still wonderfull! i wouldn't take a chance if i could avoid it but see what some real traders think... nace

[RileySugarbush]

It might make it a little darker but it will be fine after filtering

I cooked like that for years.

[3fires]

Thanks and thanks! :)

I don't really have the option of raising the pans up this season as that would require buying a bunch of angle and such which I don't have the cash for. So, hopefully it will work. I'm going to find out one way or the other.

Evey day I get a chance to work on this thing the weather goes south, windy and cold. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice, at least not windy.

[3fires]

Well I went out and got to looking at the thing and decided to cut into it, I couldn't wait for the weather. Cleared off the 4" of snow on top of it and dug out a path around it to work, that snow was about 16" deep, lol. But, the skies cleared, sun came out, and the wind calmed right down after I got to working on it.

I cut the whole thing out with 2 jigsaw blades in just a couple hours working slow. I didn't bother oiling the blade as I went, the fuel oil sludge seemed to do that for me. It actually cut pretty easy and since it's lying down I didn't have to cut thru any welds or seams. The blade didn't jump much, but I left the corner cuts until the end. Got the door and cleanout hinged and hung, and cut the opening for the pans.

The opening for the pans bowed out so I may need to re-enforce that with angle after all so the pans will all sit level. If I do I'm going to try and get the pans up a bit to prevent the scorching you guys mentioned.

Now I just gotta burn out all that sludge, buy a stack and cut a hole for it, and fit the grates and bricks. I still have the big piece of plate steel and the 20 X 40 or so piece that I cut out for the pans, which I'm gonna try and rig up along with a few cinder blocks to fill in the void behind the firebox and under the pans.

I stuck the pans in just to see what it looked like, looks good, I can't wait to finish it and fire it up.

[3fires]

Still needs some tweeking, but I boiled off 12 gallons of water in just over two hours today. The rear pan won't boil, it just steams, but the front two will. It ended up costing 170 bucks, not including the grates I got from TessiersFarm.

I'd like to get a few more bricks and redo the ramp that leads back from the firebox to the stack. But, for now I think she'll do.

Here's a video of it and a few pics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83Yv2m6HKQ

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/shroomer69/Wild%20edible%20plants/Maple%20Syrup/100_3914.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/shroomer69/Wild%20edible%20plants/Maple%20Syrup/100_3906.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/shroomer69/Wild%20edible%20plants/Maple%20Syrup/100_3908.jpg

More pics on my PhotoBucket page.

[3fires]

I re-arranged the firebox, so it's deeper, the sides run up higher to meet the pans, and the ramp runs the full width of the tank now. Plus, I added some more brick further back.

Hopefully the other pans will boil as well as the front pan did now.

[3fires]

all three pans boil now if I keep the fire in check. I made my first gallon on it Saturday and was getting just under 7 gph, no burning on the sides of the pans. The syrup is sweet, light, and has no burnt flavor whatsoever.

:)

[CliftonSap]

I like the looks of many of the evaporators and I'm looking for plans and a location to buy parts (door,grate for bottom). Can Anyone point me in the right direction?