First Hobby Evaporator

[robbo]

Like so many others starting out, I have been using a couple turkey fryers for boiling sap on the back deck. Just bought a new Lapierre "The Barrel" evaporator - 24" X 36". My questions lie mostly in the building of the arch. I am having trouble finding someone who carries fire/arch board (my local masonry company looked at me like I had two heads). Do I need to find a refractory company to buy it (live in central Maine). Also, the dealer I bought the evaporator from suggested just building a wall rather than a slope for the arch and back filling with sand and bricking over the top. The barrel does not have a prefab slope to build the arch on. Thoughts? FYI, my intent is not to boil with it this year since we are already so close to the season and most of my extra wood is under 3' of snow. Any help/advice is much appreciated.

[Greg Morin]

go to your local FW Webb or other heating supply store ask for kaeowool board.

[jc_lamere]

Are you going to brick your evaporator? If so you could look into using ceremic fiber blanket. This would keep with the contour of the barrel. If you wanted to build a wall then you could use some extra blanket in there to pad it out.

[robbo]

I do plan to brick the whole thing with 1/2 bricks. I have read posts suggesting not to use blanket because of compression of the blanket over time. It seems like blanket would be easier to put down and I have no idea how long "over time" is to those who made that suggestion. Do you have a preference?

[robbo]

With your advice I made a few calls and uncovered a refractory shop in the area and when I called, it just so happens the owner is a local maple syrup producer and his grand daughter is a student in the middle school in which I teach. I'll be paying him a visit shortly for advice and purchases. Thanks for the buzz words so I can sound intelligent when I made the calls.

[jc_lamere]

I have a mason 2x4 and I used 1/2 inch blanket with split bricks over the insulation. This will be my first season with the evaporator, so I do not know how it will hold up over time. I did a test boil last weekend and I could not see across my shack there was so much steam. I cannot wait to put sap in this rig. Good Luck!

[JuniperHillSugar]

Robbo:

I've got a Mason 2x4 and the 1/2 brick works great. I got my firebricks at Genest in Windham. As for your 2011 setup, I'd say dig out that wood and get going. We're still a few weeks away, go for it. My two cents.

Welcome neighbor to this fun hobby.

[Fishgill]

I have a new 2x4 WF Mason hobby evaporator. There is no slope leading to the back. I made a wall with fire bricks and filled in behind the wall with patio pavers and placed the fire bricks over them. I left three inches under the pan. I didn't use any arch board. It worked great during my test boil.

[Turtlecreek]

I have a half pint clone one a barrel arch, I used 1/2 inch blanket and 1/2 bricks to insulate the arch last year. When at cull fire I. Ould put my hand on the side of the barrel it was insulated so well. It made it through the season and made it through summer storage. I did bolt in the bricks so they would not fall out when I was loading the arch.