Thinking about moving sugarhouse

[heus]

I am seriously considering moving my sugaring operation to my house which is about a half mile down the road from our maple trees. I have a nice two story barn that I am thinking about relocating the evaporator into.
Pros for moving to the barn:1. Concrete floor
2. Head and storage tanks easily fit into 2nd story.
3. I can drive right into the middle of the barn, pump out, then continue driving out the back.
4. Very close to house which is nice for all night boiling sessions on work nights.
5. More amperage available for possible future RO.
6. Easier for visitors to access. Current sugarhouse is up a hill in the woods.
7. I have gutted and cleaned the barn, its ready for a sugaring retrofit.
8. Existing sugarhouse can be turned into a hunting camp which I want to build.
9. Security reasons. Less chance of stolen equipment.
10. Available wood storage right by evaporator.
Cons for moving to the barn:1. I've gone to tubing and I will be able to pump to sugarhouse with no sap hauling needed.
2. Moving the evaporator and rebricking will be a pain.
3. Its in the woods. Nice and peaceful.
4. Building built specifically for sugaring.
5. Tradition. Its the 3rd sugarhouse on this land in the past 100 or so years run by my family.
Any opinions?????

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Perhaps moving is more attactive if you plan on expanding? If not, it looks like a nice (and fairly new) setup that you have now.

[heus]

Thanks. Actually I've added on 2-3 times since the pictures online.

[3rdgen.maple]

Hues I can tell you that having the sugarhouse close to the house is a great advantage. Atleast for me. No worries about theft, meals are only a short walk away, bathroom close, WiFi reaches the sugarhouse, Bride can check in on me to make sure Im okay. If you got the means to haul the sap to the barn I say go for it. Hauling sap mixes things up a bit and helps break up the monotany of just throwing wood in the evaporator for hours and days and weeks lol. The only concern I would have is how you plan to get the steam out with the 2 story barn. Do you have a hood? I stack the majority of my wood right next to the evaporator and it is another bonus as Im not running in and out for wood all the time.

[Bucket Head]

If it were me, I would go with the barn idea. More pro's to that than con's. More convenience for both you and the family and customers/guests. You would still be carrying on the sugaring tradition. Many multi-generation sugarmakers are not in the same place as the first generation.

Unfortunately, the "peaceful and quiet, in the woods" thing will wind up keeping you awake at night. Nowadays, with the value, and scrap value of maple equipment being what it is, it's risky not having it in sight. I personally know sugarmakers who had stainless tanks stolen and their sugarhouses vandalized because they were out of sight.

Steve

[3rdgen.maple]

Not to mention the bonus of a HUNTING CAMP.

[heus]

Hues I can tell you that having the sugarhouse close to the house is a great advantage. Atleast for me. No worries about theft, meals are only a short walk away, bathroom close, WiFi reaches the sugarhouse, Bride can check in on me to make sure Im okay. If you got the means to haul the sap to the barn I say go for it. Hauling sap mixes things up a bit and helps break up the monotany of just throwing wood in the evaporator for hours and days and weeks lol. The only concern I would have is how you plan to get the steam out with the 2 story barn. Do you have a hood? I stack the majority of my wood right next to the evaporator and it is another bonus as Im not running in and out for wood all the time.

Yes I have a hood ordered from A&A. Three stacks will be coming through the roof. I would be doing this in my present SH anyways.

[heus]

Thanks 3rdgen and Buckethead. Good advice.

[3rdgen.maple]

If you got the hood and stack on order Thats a plus for sure. Next question I would be pondering is how much smoke stack is going to be needed. I think at some point too much isnt good but not quite sure on that either. How many feet are you looking at for that?

[maplemat1]

hues if you need a few hands movung the evap let me know can round up a few guys and lend a fellow sugarmaker a hand .wish my sugarhouse was in my backyard not 20 miles away. covinence is everything

[Father & Son]

Heus,
With enough hands and a trailer, I would think you could leave the brick in the arch. Your move isn't that far and you could go nice and slow.
If you need hands let me know.

Jim

[maple flats]

Sounds like you'll have a barn/sugarhouse. You should never need to expand that. I see far more advantages. The biggest con seems to be the hauling sap. What will you haul sap in?
I will have 1200-1400 taps this next season, all on 18-22" vacuum, and the 2 bushes are 7 and 10 mile haul, one way. Looking for bigger haul capacity.

[heus]

Maplemat1 and Jim,
Thanks for the offer to help. Still not sure which way I am going to go with this.

[3rdgen.maple]

Hues take the bricks out. One wrong move and you could twist that arch and then you will be kicking yourself in the arse everytime you put that extra thick gasket under one corner of the pans to get it level again. Sometimes shortcuts are just not worth the chance of saving a few hours of work.

[heus]

Yeah I was thinking about that. Patrick and I and my dad were able to carry the unbricked arch no problem when we set it up. I also have plenty of insulation blanket left if I need it. I think the big holdup is having to get onto the high metal roof to install the three roof jacks. I measured and its going to be about 18 feet to clear the peak.

[heus]

Well I haved thought about it and I am going to continue to use the current sugarhouse. Our hope is to build a house here in the next 5-10 years so I might as well keep the SH where it is. My dad and I added on an 8 foot overhang for wood storage today. Not done yet.

[3rdgen.maple]

So does this mean the hunting camp is going in the garage?

[Father & Son]

Heus,
If you keep adding on you'll be able to live in that place. Pictures, we need pictures! Which direction is the add on going to go for the RO room?

Jim