Started the oversize Oil Tank evap

[SevenCreeksSap]

Finally back to working on the home built oil tank evap. Had to take some time to go fishing I guess. Bought a 2 x 8 set of beautiful pans so have to stretch this thing to fit the pans. Got the firebox part welded up and working on the fire flue extension. Its cut at about 9 inches deep along the length and I figure I can brick it to close off the fire flow against the bottom of the pan. I guess my thinking is if I leave more space there I can close it, but if I cut too small I'm screwed.

Does anyone who'se built one of these have thoughts on the pipe exit from the back. Should I go with it out the back end, which would mean more length, OR - should the stack come out the top behind the rear pan? I've been told if you do that to leave some space btw the pan and the stack because of the stack heat.

Mostly wanted to see if the new photobucket account would link here. Someone please let me know if it will link. Thanks


http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h416/SevenCreekssap/?action=view&current=100_2361.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2F s1108.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh416%2FSevenCreek ssap%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3D100_2362.jpg

[cpmaple]

hello yes your link works fine and looking good i would come off the top behind your rear pan with the stack. i had an oil barrel evaporator and that had a stack behind rear pan and worked great i know have any pics of it on my computer now but if i can find them i will post them cpmaple

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I looked at both of your homemade set-ups there. They look good. I set up my 3 by 5 last year with a cement block arch. I am not sure if we are going with the same evaporator this year or not.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Finally got back to working on the evap. cut some angle iron from a bed frame and made up braces to hold the bottom of the flue/ fire area- What is that area called from the firebox to the stack? Thats what I worked on today. Stretching this to fit the 8 ft pan set, so the regular 5 ft tank length isnt enough. Anyway, got the bottom frame made up and welded on and a piece of metal on the bottom for the brricks to sit on. Made the length total 9 ft from front of firebox to back end. Planning on making the stack come out the top at the very back, so after the pans are on I'll have 1 ft of area behind the pans. I'm thinking with an 8 in stack to start that will leave 3-4 inches between the back of the pan and the stack. Is that a good setup? Someone told me you should leave some space btw the pans and the stack so the heat doesnt affect the boiling in the back pan and scald it.
I am planning to set it up for a blower but that may be next year. Need more sheet metal and 2 1/2/ angle iron. havent scrounged that up yet.
I'll just keep posting updated links if interested.

http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h416/SevenCreekssap/

[SevenCreeksSap]

Welded some more. Haven't welded in years since I quit working in body shops. the thick metal a tank is made of is a dream to weld, hardly blowing any holes through. Anybody in eastern Ohio or western Pa have wide angle iron to get rid of? I need (2) 9 ft pieces at least 2 1/2 in on the sides and still too cheap to go buy it. probably have to. saving what i have to start on the sugarhouse.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Got some more metal on the frame. So far all of the metal has come from the same tank. Just used the top part that was cut off and straightened it out with the mallet. Trying to load pics directly into this but not working. file too Big?? - Cant even get photobucket to work. stupid internet.:rolleyes:

[SevenCreeksSap]

Got the back leg frames welded on solid now. with braces. How much sap will a 2x8 set of pans hold, and what will it weigh? I may be way overbuilding this thing, or underbuilding it :confused:
Went to a giant yard sale a farm family here has in their cowfield every year looking for something to use for adjustable feet. saw a desk and didnt buy it, then the next day a bunch of stuff was sitting there with a "free stuff" sign. got the desk with adjustable feet and got it for free. American Pickers eat your heart out.
:D
Still cant get a pic to load on this page. I have it in the manage attachments with the pic file but dont see how to add it to post. Maybe it will automatically ??? Updated link anyway.
http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h416/SevenCreekssap/

[jmp]

Well if I did my math right a 2' x 8' pan = 16 square feet. 16 square feet x 144square inches per foot = 2,304 square inches. One gallon = 231 cubic inches. So, 2,304 square inches divided by 231 = 9.97 gallons. To fill your pans one inch deep you will need 10 gallons of sap. I am sure that you are going to be boiling deeper than that. 2 inches of sap = 20 gallons, 3 inches of sap = 30gallons, etc.

A gallon of water weights 8.3 pounds. The weight of sap varies but we aren't building the space shuttle :D. 8.3 pounds x 10 gallons per inch = 80.3 pounds at 1 inch deep, 160.6 pounds at 2 inches deep, 240.9 pounds at 3 inches deep.

Hope this helps.

John

[SevenCreeksSap]

Rainy days here so got back to working on the evap. couldnt scrounge any angle iron but did get a piece of C channel and split it lengthwise. 9 feet with a jigsaw with metal blade:rolleyes: Finally got to test set the pans on it. everything level in my garage so I figure with some insulation between the pans and the metal it should get level in the sugarhouse. Still a lot of grinding and painting. The pans are and probably will always be the best looking part of this thing. Got to get the door in too. still a ways to go.

[Shepp]

Welded some more. Haven't welded in years since I quit working in body shops. the thick metal a tank is made of is a dream to weld, hardly blowing any holes through. Anybody in eastern Ohio or western Pa have wide angle iron to get rid of? I need (2) 9 ft pieces at least 2 1/2 in on the sides and still too cheap to go buy it. probably have to. saving what i have to start on the sugarhouse.
I am totally new to welding. Just wondering what size or amperage is your welder for this project?.

[Jec]

That welder is 90 amp. I believe its from harbor freight

[Sugarmaker]

Seven Creeks,
That is going to be a very nice rig and the pans look good too!
Nice job on the fabrication work and making something out of nothing! I lovr that!
BTW Welcome to the trader, where you will fit right in.
Regards,
Chris

[SevenCreeksSap]

JEC pegged the welder and the store. got it for 89 bucks with a flyer. It plugs into 110 in the garage and doesnt need gas. It has shielded wire so I guess its considered like a wire fed arc welder. I used to MIG weld a lot but got away from it and bought it just to weld this evap together. I may be overdoing it because I've used 4 spools of 1 lb wire but almost all the seams are solid weld. I'm not sure how this thing is going to pop and expand/shrink with constant fire, especially when I can get a blower hooked up.
I've got too much already in the sugarhouse to burn it down:rolleyes:
Thanks for the comments. We actually had a beautiful week here so I used it to put the metal roof and windows on the sap shack.

[Sugarmaker]

I also use my Harbor Freight $90.00 welder a lot! Nice little unit.
Need some pictures of your sugar house too! By the way that arch will look even better when you daub on some black High temp paint!
Regards,
Chris

[SevenCreeksSap]

Got the door cut in and the stack mount made up. so far except for the angle iron and door every bit of metal in this came from the original tank. Just need to do more grinding and paint, and add the stack. then move this monster into it's new home. I'll post that when it's done.

Mostly just wanted to test the new site and picture uploads. seems much faster and smoother. Tommy Sunshine did it.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Got a little more done on this thing. I need to get mostly done in 2 weeks because I have help coming to move it. definitely getting heavy. Had to re-weld a door hinge and got some paint on it. almost ready for a test boil.

One concern I have is the depth of the flue area under the sap pan. Its almost 10 in. from the floor to the bottom of the sap pan. I'm planning to layer the bottom with sand, then I have some cement pavers to put down, then a layer of full fire brick. I'm thinking about 3 inches of space between bricks and pan at the front of the rear pan, narrowing back to about an inch. Does that seem like enough space or too much? Its a flat pan, no flues.

I seem to be back to not being able to load pics directly. Is there a max amount of pics allowed in your manage attachments folder? Update on photobucket
http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h416/SevenCreekssap/

[SevenCreeksSap]

These are kind of ugly cause I haven't ground and painted yet but wanted some feedback on the idea. I got some old fence posts that are 1 1/2 ID and cut and welded them into this shape. the pipe goes down through a hole in the bottom of the evap. That hole was the old oil filler hole and I had flipped the whole thing over to start, so the top of the oil tank is the bottom of the firebox. The rusty panel is my ramp to the flue area. need to grind and paint that too.

Under the firebox on the outside i'll pipe it to the back and make up a cone shaped manifold to get the air into the pipe. I'm looking for a car heater fan and switch and will try to hook that up for air into the pipe. Run that off a deep cycle battery. I'll drill a bunch of 1/4 in holes along these pipes under the grate, and block the ends of the pipes to force the air out through my holes.

About the battery, I saw an idea to hook up a car 12v alternator to a gas motor and belt/ pulley system to run the alternator to recharge the battery. another project for this winter. just need an old mower motor. I still dont have elec at the sugarhouse and wont get it for this season.

Sound like it will work?

[SevenCreeksSap]

Finally got the blower piping welded on and finally, actually moved it out of my garage and 4 miles down the road to the sap shack. She's in place and I don't see moving this thing again for a while. took 4 of us to move it off the trailer and in the shack. Its set on blocks and I'll block up the whole floor underneath, and looking for some metal plate to at least go under the firebox area. I saw the pics of the wood floor a while back. dont need that. Now to brick her up and run the stack, and set up the blower, and do a test run. The hardware store had one can of black paint when I was there, so I got green and two toned it. That should make it boil faster,right?
This post has turned into kind of a blog. so Thanks for any input. I'd be totally lost without all I've picked up on this forum. Still trying to get the photobucket updated but my expensive cable connection is really crappy, and my photo album seems to be full but I dont know how to delete old pics. Okay finally got the photobucket to work.
I'm sure it will boil. The question is how much, how fast.

http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h416/SevenCreekssap/

[Brent]

I've got to ask, is your back pan flat bottom or with flues ?

[SevenCreeksSap]

The pans are flat bottom. I'm guessing your looking at the depth of the sap pan area and I have too. I'm planning to fill with sand (right idea ?) and I have 70 firebricks so a layer will go in there too. I'm planning to leave about 3 in. under the front of the sap pan and slope back to about 1-2 in. near the stack. Any other ideas?

[Brent]

Actually what I was concerned about was the number of trees you have and the amount of sap you'd need just to fill a 2 x 8. If it had flues
you'd need something like 45 - 50 gallons for the first fill ... and you still wouldn't have anything in a tank and couldn't light the fire till you had a total of 75 gallons ... you're flat bottomed so that cool.

Don't use sand, get vermiculite. It's cheap, (likely cheaper than sand per cubic foot), it's light, it's an inusulator, and it won't hold the heat. You really don't need to cover it with much unless you get really silly with a blower. It will cool down fast at night, which you want.
You will want to cool off fast to preserve the sap in the pans. With only about 100 taps, there may (will) be days when you don't get a big enough run to start boiling again, so you don't want the partly boiled stuff sitting for a day with warm sand under it.

Great project. It looks like it's going to work out well.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Yeah I'm a little concerned with feeding this thing too. I have 100 spouts for tubing and 10 taps for buckets. I'll probably shoot for up to 120 total but right now it's just me and her and I don't want to wear her out. I did get some plastic barrels for storage so kind of planning to get about 200 gal. stored up for a boil. I see your point about not leaving the sweet too long in the pans. I may have to chase with water sometimes and just clear it out but going to this step from last year is a bunch for me. Guess i have a steep learning curve.