Placement in building

[hounder]

Trying to figure out the best placement for our arch in our board and batton building. It is 24 x 32 and the arch is 4 x 12. There is a slider entrance door (4 ft) at the beginning of the 32' North side and there is a 8' double door slider on the 24' west side. It sits on a hill and the wind will come in on that bigger door when opened. The draw off valve on the arch is on the right side as you face the chimney so thought that it would be better to put it so the right side is the side that we get to when entering the smaller door, which will be how we normally enter the building. Wasn't sure if the wind at the back of the chimney would have a bad effect or if we should put it so the fire box is facing the double doors? What considerations do you think of when placing the arch?

[Bucket Head]

Is your rig a natural draft or forced draft unit? Standard procedure used to be, if possible, was to face the arch doors to the prevailing wind. Sugarhouses were not very airtight so your draft would be automatic, sort of. Or you could open a sugarhouse door/window that was also facing that direction and increase your draft. However, if you have forced draft the orientation is not a concern. Exhuasting the steam is usually a bigger problem. Which way are your cupola doors facing? If you have a steam stack you have less to worry about. Most folks try to get their cupola doors set so one faces the prevailing wind. That way you can keep that one closed and open the opposit side so the wind does'nt force feed the steam right back into the sugarhouse. Thats not a guarantee that steam will not be a problem, but it will help out quite a bit. There will always be those times that the wind will be coming in such a way that you have a little more steam inside than you want.

Steve

[hounder]

It is natural draft. I thought that made the most sense was facing the fire to the natural draft, although there is wind from all directions most days up there! It will make it the opposite side of the evaporator as you enter that you will work off, although that is just to draw off of, so we can set up the filters and the 10 gallon spigot to draw into jugs on that side and put the tank up on the entrance door side for easy access and I think that would also somewhat start heating the holding tank from the steam and heat drafting that way or is that wishful thinking? =) Thanks for the clarification, we want to try and set it up right so we don't have to play with it later or have it make it more work.

[Farmboy]

I would keep the doors of your evaporator near what ever door you bring wood in. The less you have to carry wood the better and the less mess in the sugarshack. Personaly I would off set it to the north side and as far back twords the east side as possible. That gives you pleanty of room on the other side to work and room for visitors in the front.

[hounder]

That is exactly what I think we will do. It will put the draft on the firebox side. Only thing is that we will draw off of the far side so I will have to make the room on that side for processing I would think. That leaves the wood coming in the big door to the west and lots of room for wood on the south side.

What do you all do about not breaking the concrete with the heat?

[michiganfarmer2]

I was gonna put mine near one wall, but decided to put it right uunder the peak of the roof to get the best draft on all the stacks

[Jeff E]

Just a thought. When I laid out my sugar house, I did a scaled paper model of all the equipment that would need to be in there and played around with it for the best lay out.
Some items were fixed by the obvious, one of them the front of the evaporator needed to be by the garage door, for getting wood in, and heat out.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did the opposite of Jeff and the front of my evaporator is pointing away from the wood shed. I did this mainly because when people walk in the door they see the front of the evaporator and not the ugly stack. It grabs there attention and is much safer. To me, what is an extra 8 to 10 feet to wheel the wood when it looks a ton better and is safer.

[hounder]

It would be nice not to come into that end but shouldn't I place it with the wind which is best for the draft? I have been trying to get it that way, but he reads what you all have written and he is not buying my plan for making it nice for company. It is a job and it will be what is best to get the job done! Can't win and he will refer to this post when I throw it back at him next spring! +) We are lucky to have space, but it does get eaten up quickly. He laid the drain and the stone today to level it and will pour concrete on Friday. Does anyone know if putting the firestone right into the concrete while it is wet will protect it from the heat. We were thinking of doing that and then putting down sand and firestone on top? Is it necessary?

Thanks for all the help, can't wait to actually use the arch instead of my pig roasting pit and a pan outside. I have sold all the syrup that we have made and have a list waiting....got 300 gallons of about 2 1/2% today and it was just pouring out our lines so should be a bunch waiting for us tomorrow. We still have snow in the woods and no sign of buds. Thought we would pull the taps this weekend. Is that a good idea or wait until the buds break?