piggyback ?

[metalhead62]

4 those of u that have seen my ?s on the ro's a little explaining i have started helping a buddy(explains the size diff in my ro ?)who has a 3x12 with a 6ft small brothers piggyback he said he was getting about 165gph which i thought was alittle high with that unit but we started doing the math and now about 120 still not bad but here is the ?sap comming in is at 2.1sap comming out of piggyback is at2.1 what gives????always have water comming out of the pb so how r we getting rid of that much water and still at 2.1 refractometer is a rechick(i think)and it does have auto temp adjust is there a way to test that we did test hot water out of pb and it was at 0

[Russ]

Need more info to help: 1) How deep is he running the level in the piggyback? 2) Is it aerated? 3) What is the temp of the sap going in and coming out?

I've always thought the main reason for the piggyback is to preheat the sap before it hits the flue pan. Any gain in sugar % is a bonus.

[PerryW]

If the piggyback is a steamaway, then it should increase your overall boiling rate (and sugar content) by about 60%. It is a whole separate flue pan that goes above your back pan, usually with a hood over that. It also requires power to run a small bubbler.

If it's just a hood & preheater, then the sap just goes though pipes and the steam preheats it. No increase in sugar content, just makes the sap hotter to NOT slow down the boil

The condensate is just coming from the steam that would normally exit up though the cupola, so that does NOT necessarily prove that the piggyback is working. If your refractometer is working correctly, the piggyback is not working.

[metalhead62]

sap going in is 38-40 comming out? perry it is a steamaway do the numbers seem right 120 gph with the piggyback working? the piggyback has a site tube in it that we run at about 8" does that seem correct? he does not know that much about the pb either

[metalhead62]

think we got it figured out steve from sugar supply came out and said we needed to clean the flues in the drop flue pan better tried that and it came out at 3.0 but we burned the brush up so we still didnt get it cleaned as good as we should piggyback jumped between 150-160 temp wise will see tomorrow thanks 4 the help guys

[collinsmapleman2012]

the piggyback on our 3X10 at school heats it to at least 180, and we do about 90 gph on the rig. its got a blower too