draw off valve

[Bricklayer]

right now i dont have a draw off valve on my 2x4 pan, so what i have to do is boil down to about 1 inch and put fire out and let cool a couple of minutes and then laddle the syrup out= major pain in the a55.

all the pans i see with draw off valves have the nipple welded into them in a corner down almost flush with the bottom. this is great but what happens when you want to get it all ? do you have to lift the pan and tilt the pan so the syrup flow over to the opening ? ive seen the ones with the box to and its angled down to force the syrup out but if your pan is level not all of it will get there

thanks in advance

[slammer3364]

why would you want to draw everything off,you should have syrup and sap in your evap till your done for the season.When I revers my flow I just tip the pan to get everything out clean and turn 180 put liquid back in and your ready to go.

[Bricklayer]

I boil outside, 2x4 pan flat bottom pan, and i boil every night so i go 1 gallon or 2 a night and that dosnt leave me very deep in the pan, i like getting all the syrup from that night done and out so i can compare it to the next batch , like we all do

[Merklin Maples]

I have a 2 x 4 pan also with no valve. I dip it out till I can't . I slide a 2 x 4 under the pan wide side up on one end. Then I turn it on edge to increase the angle. Then dip until I can slide pan off and manhandle the rest. pouring it Till empty. Always have some sap on hand to put into the pan if any heat is still in the firebox so the pan does not burn. Hope this helps.

DD

[PerryW]

why would you want to draw everything off,you should have syrup and sap in your evap till your done for the season.When I revers my flow I just tip the pan to get everything out clean and turn 180 put liquid back in and your ready to go.

Yup, my pans are never empty from the first to the last boil. Had a nice 3x10 block of ice in there yesterday morning.

[Mac_Muz]

My home made mild steel pan has a draw off, which is real handy. I do tip the pan up to drain it. I use a barrel stove on skis. Where the 6" smoke stack is, used to over heat the back side of the pan, on the pan wall, so I slipped a hunk of scrap steel there. It jusy so happens that scrap can hold the pan up at either the rim flange or catch under the pan bottom to tilt the pan.

Over low pine coals, enough heat escapes that burning the pan isn't much of a consideration, like I thought it would be.

My pan is smaller than yours at 21 inches wide by 36 inches long. Still I can't see how you dip very well if you don't tilt the pan.

If I do apx 40 gallons in a burn, whats left as close to syrup is about 1/2 inch depth in my smaller pan.

You could get a 1/2 inch black iron fully threaded nipple from most any decent hard ware store, and with nylon sealing washers, 2 flange nuts and a valve install a drain with out welding. Having that welded on would be best.

If your pan is Stainless you would want the same parts in stainless, or maybe brass.

[smokeyamber]

The threaded nipple idea is one I used this year, it was on hotel pans, but would work fine on your setup. I used a lead free brass short nipple. First is drilled the 3/4 hole using a step bit, cleaned up everything ( stainless wire brush for stainless steel). Screwed the nipple into the hole and tinned up the stainless with thin lead free silver solder and a MAP gas torch., then using thicker lead free solder made a round loop that fit over the nipple and set down against the tinned area, hit it with the heat again and voila a take off fitting. I also used the 3/4 union fittings to allow me to take the valve off so I could tilt the pan and take it off the arch ( barrel arch with the takeoff going through the firebox ). You can even just use a 3/4 male adapter too, and solder on a pipefirst ( they are cheaper). I did that on the preheater pan.

This may sound hard, but actually once you get the correct flux, solder, stepbit and some copper it goes pretty fast. I would suggest you practice on something less critical. In hindsight I should have done my preheater valve first as it went way more smoothly.

I now can drain 90% and tilt a bit to get the last bit. Over a low fire there is no danger of scorching.