How many GPH?

[C&C maple sugar bush]

I got a 2 by 4 foot evaporator made of 1/4 inch steel lined with fire brick, and i was wondering how many GPH I could do with it?

[3rdgen.maple]

With that description you are going to do really really bad until you put some pans on it and tell us what they are.

[C&C maple sugar bush]

The pan is a stainless steel 2 by 4 foot flat pan

[3rdgen.maple]

I am thinking around 10gph and when you said 1/4 Your talking the thickness of the pans right?

[C&C maple sugar bush]

The arch is made of 1/4 steel, the pan is 20ga stainless steel.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well it would of been better if you gave all the details in the first post.:D

[maple flats]

Between 8-12 gph. How do you have it bricked? do you form a back wall to the firebox portion and then have it bricked up to within 1.5-2" of the pan bottom? You should, then run it as far as you can up high before droping down to exit the stack. The drop down at the back only needs to be about the last 3-4" long and full width. This forces the heat up. Then make sure you have at least 8' of stack (2x length of rig). Make a hood, it will make boiling faster. Are you outside? If yes get some sort of protection to block some wind as much as possible.
Now have your wood split small, about wrist size, fuel it about every 6-8 minutes, only fill to within 6" of pans, give it lots of air and make syrup. Run the pans at 1-1.25" depth, maintainconstant feet by running a slow stream from a preheater into the pans to match boil rate as much as possible. Have fun, this is addictive!!!

[wnybassman]

I get about 10 gph when my 2x4 is really cranking. I can't always maintain that rate though.

This is the set-up I had last year, having the preheater pan set back over an exhaust leak I had. Warmed it slightly.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/wnybassman/maple/2010rig.jpg


This year I revamped the rig and set this pan on the rear of the 2x4 as designed. Hung it back an inch and put a 1/2 pitch to it so condensate would not drip into the boil. The preheater really does nothing for warming in this manner.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e48/witchain/DSC02617.jpg

I have an old small boxwood wood stove I thought about setting up near my rig and warming sap to near boil then dumping into the preheater pan. That pan might be able to maintain warmth, but it can't create it.

[C&C maple sugar bush]

Thank you for the advise Maple Flats, does a higher stack help to?

[C&C maple sugar bush]

We used blocks like that for many years Wnybassman, but this year we decided we would get a better boil and be able to hold the heat better if we had a arch, so we got a guy to make a arch to fit our pan.

[wnybassman]

We used blocks like that for many years Wnybassman, but this year we decided we would get a better boil and be able to hold the heat better if we had a arch, so we got a guy to make a arch to fit our pan.

I hate to give up on my blocks just yet. They are 16"x16"x10" fire brick from a kiln of a local company that manufactured electric line insulators. I can literally be boiling for several hours and ice on the outside of the blocks will not melt.

One of these years I will have an arch though. It's just a matter of time :cool:

(One of these years I'll put a roof over my head too! lol)