High brix and niter in flue pan

[Mark]

What do the big guys do to limit flue pan niter that boil RO 14 to 16 brix? Are they cleaning the flue pan several times during the season?

[Bucket Head]

I don't know what the big guys do, but I clean out my flue pan during the season. An amazing amount of crud builds up in there. Cleaning it out means less stuff in the syrup which helps out quite a bit when filtering.

Steve

[Mark]

I may have to set up a system to clean mine more easily. I did run 2000 gallons of syrup through it. It put permeate in it last night to try and clean it. If it wasn't for the lack of sleep it would be no problem.

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

I made 2400 gallons this year on my 4X12. I always concentrate to around 16%. This year has been the worst year for sugar sand I have ever seen. I normally don't have a problem. All of my sand was in the syrup pan though. I don't reverse sides, and the side opposite of where I draw off really didn't have any sand in either. The side that I do draw off on really built up. I had to clean the pan several times. I don't know what to tell you about the flue pan build up.

[Mark]

Maybe I get more niter were I am. My syrup pan was coming off every 100 gallons. I am now set up to reverse the syrup pans but have to shut down after 200 gallons.

[DrTimPerkins]

What do the big guys do to limit flue pan niter that boil RO 14 to 16 brix? Are they cleaning the flue pan several times during the season?

Yes. When you concentrate, you not only concentrate the sugar, you also concentrate the minerals. So as far as the evaporator niter build up is concerned, you're boiling the amount of sap you started with before you concentrated. So if you're using a smaller evaporator with high concentrate, you'll get very rapid niter build up, and that will most likely require cleaning during the season.

At UVM PMRC, we swap out the front pan after each boil. The backpan usually has to be cleaned 1-2x during the season.

[sugar ED]

And a friend in Vt., thats been running a big unit for years ,told me if I didn't change flow,(some of you may not like this ) lol , than to open draw off all the way,thru filters and then send back thru channels and the part I really did'nt like,but did work.was to scrap the bottom of channel (S/S pan) if(anything sticking) with a S/S spatula and as the thinner sap flowed thru - it losens and got filtered and put back thru syrup pan ... not sure if this was the right thing to do but my syrup looked much lighter and my pan did'nt get the niter biuld up that I was getting??? I have read on here somewhere not to scrap bottom of syrup channel / but things weren't going so well after sugar content built up in the flue pan and after the royal flush (as I call It)lol pain in the butt to send back thru ,but worked well for me ???? ok lets hear the right way ???

[wiam]

And a friend in Vt., thats been running a big unit for years ,told me if I didn't change flow,(some of you may not like this ) lol , than to open draw off all the way,thru filters and then send back thru channels and the part I really did'nt like,but did work.was to scrap the bottom of channel (S/S pan) if(anything sticking) with a S/S spatula and as the thinner sap flowed thru - it losens and got filtered and put back thru syrup pan ... not sure if this was the right thing to do but my syrup looked much lighter and my pan did'nt get the niter biuld up that I was getting??? I have read on here somewhere not to scrap bottom of syrup channel / but things weren't going so well after sugar content built up in the flue pan and after the royal flush (as I call It)lol pain in the butt to send back thru ,but worked well for me ???? ok lets hear the right way ???

So what is wrong with scraping the pan?????

When the holder is full and the pan needs cleanig I do not have time to play with pan cleaner!! And hold on because I have used a needle scaler on my front pan before.

William

[maplecrest]

mark i put in a teckno caulk from cdl this year. it seems to help. i pressure wash my flue pan after every boil. and i have soaked in acid once. needs it again. but emptying and hoseing the mud out before every boil have help keep the build up down. the one thing i am fighting is the 'varnish' on the flues. you need to soak the pan in acid for weeks to get rig of that.

[802maple]

We learned the hard way one year with a 3 year old evaporator. When we went to high concentrate the first year and we were not able to lift the hood and all we did was pressure wash thru the door. What we didn't see was the nitre that flaked off and fell to the bottom of the flue and became hardened about 3/4 of an inch deep. All I can tell you was that it destroyed that 5 x 10 flue pan, that only was 11,000 dollar lesson. That won't happen again.