Coupla door openings

[caseman]

What is the average opening size for coupla openings to let the steam out of the building? I've got an 18' x 12' sugar house with a side mount roof jack and cook on a 2' x 6' raised flue evap. I'm thinking 6'L x 2'H opening. I'm also wondering about swing up ,drop down or swing out shutters for the opening. This is in the construction stage and a dicussion on the subject lead to these guestions.

survey says!

[nmerritt]

My sugar house is 12x16. My coupla opening is 2’ high and 4’ wide. I put this in the center of the sugarhouse. I used last year a leader 2x4 and it worked great. This year I purchased a new 2x6 and will have to see how things work. For doors I recommend having them hinged on the bottom so they drop down. I suggest having them chained so they can’t drop flush to the building. It Makes it harder to shut them.

[brookledge]

Definately 6' long is ok because your evaporator is only 6' long. You could go a little shorter if you want but porportionally to the length of your sugarhouse I'd say it will look good.
As to the door style, I'm sure any type will work. I went with swing down style and have set them up with rope and pulleys so I can open and close them from inside. Also I have a spring set up on each one so when I begin to release the rope, the door pushes out enough until gravity can pull the door open.
One other thing to remember is how tight your sugarhouse is. When you are boiling and the steam and air rise to go out the coupla air has to be able to come in some where. So that may play a role in the size of your coupla also.
Keith

[super sappy]

If I had to build my sugar house again I would run the cupola the full lenght of the building with 2 or 3 drop down hinged doors per side. I did a test boil on a rainy windy day this fall and steam was blowing back into the sugarhouse so I closed one side and the remaining side was not big enough to handle the billowing steam.The steam was not the end of the world but standing in a cloud bank sucked. Ps. I am boiling in a Vt 2x4 in a 10x14 boiling room.Hey nick did you get to do a test in the new rig yet ? How is married life treating you?-Jeff

[caseman]

Thanks for the input, I'm going with the 2x6 dropdowns.

caseman