Where can you get an inexpensive flowmeter?

[Bruce L]

I have watched how evaporators boil at open houses for two years now,and have watched the flowmeters working to tell what kind of evaporation rate the rig is doing per minute.Can you find these water? meters at Lowes,etc,or do you need to buy them from the evaporator companies?
Thanks

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

i am getting one from our local DPW for free, like the ones that monitor water into your house. I have been told the most accurate one is the paddle type which is the one am getting.

[maple flats]

I bought 2 a few years back. I use one to moniter the flow rate thru my UV. Might hook the orther up someday to the evaporator. For now I just use a level guage tube I have for my head tank. I measured the first 25 gal by dumping water in an empty tank and marking 2 gal intervals up to 10 gal, then I have one at 18 (this is my stop fueling now level) and a 25. After that I marked a few other gallon indicators based on gal marks from the truck tank as I unloaded. Those are rough marks but are good enough. I get my GPH rates by knowing how much I start with and how long it takes to finish.

[xyz5150]

Flat Lander Sugaring

i am getting one from our local DPW for free, like the ones that monitor water into your house. I have been told the most accurate one is the paddle type which is the one am getting.

If you live in Poultney VT and your water meter is missing.........:lol:

[njburg]

I found a company on E-Bay that is selling a 5/8 x 3/4 Flexible axis meter for $69.95. I haven't set it up yet so I don't know how it will work. A friend told me that water is a diferent viscosity than sap so it may not read true, but I think it will be better than looking at the side of the tank and guessing.

[DrTimPerkins]

I found a company on E-Bay that is selling a 5/8 x 3/4 Flexible axis meter for $69.95. I haven't set it up yet so I don't know how it will work. A friend told me that water is a diferent viscosity than sap so it may not read true, but I think it will be better than looking at the side of the tank and guessing.

The viscosity of sap is close enough to water to not make any difference. However, if you use it for sap (or concentrate) to feed your evaporator, be sure to set it up so you can disconnect it and rinse it after each boil. Otherwise you may find it binds up half-way through the season, stopping the flow of sap. Nothing worse than a warped (or melted) front pan full of black char. You'll also want to either put it in a warm spot or be sure to drain all the sap (or water) out of it when it gets below freezing.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

The viscosity of sap is close enough to water to not make any difference. However, if you use it for sap (or concentrate) to feed your evaporator, be sure to set it up so you can disconnect it and rinse it after each boil. Otherwise you may find it binds up half-way through the season, stopping the flow of sap. Nothing worse than a warped (or melted) front pan full of black char. You'll also want to either put it in a warm spot or be sure to drain all the sap (or water) out of it when it gets below freezing.

the guy I talked to at DPW said the exact thing Doc, sorry I forgot to mention it. Didn't remember it until doc said it.
He said the tolerances for the paddle are pretty tight

[Amber Gold]

What about using the style found on RO machines? Those seem pretty straightforward w/ no moving parts to bind up. They'll also drain completely after use. What are they called, and where can you find them?

I'd like to put a meter in to see what my flow rates are, and how firing differently changes the flow rates...try to find the best compromise between wood efficiency and boil rate. There would also be a bypass pipe in case there's issues with it, it could be taken out of service.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

What about using the style found on RO machines? Those seem pretty straightforward w/ no moving parts to bind up. They'll also drain completely after use. What are they called, and where can you find them?

I'd like to put a meter in to see what my flow rates are, and how firing differently changes the flow rates...try to find the best compromise between wood efficiency and boil rate. There would also be a bypass pipe in case there's issues with it, it could be taken out of service.Google Blu-White Industries and I think the Pro-flo dynamics website also had them.
Neil

[nymapleguy607]

I believe the ro flowmeters need presurized sap flowing through them to read. I don't think you would have enough presure to push the sap through.

[NTBugtraq]

Well, I hope this doesn't sound too silly, but here's my plan in my new setup.

1. I have a 65 gallon storage tank. Its black, so no way to tell how full it is, and I figured that was a recipe for disaster.
2. I got a tee and added it to my outlet on the tank, then, got a piece of clear hose that's taller than the tank. Mount same, and tape the top of the tube to the top of the tank. Don't put any end on the tube in the top side.
3. If you mark (say with a piece of painters tape or something) the level in the tank at the beginning of (whatever, boiling, draw-off, pick your time)
4. And mark it again at some other point (e.g. an hour, 1 gallon of syrup later, whatever)...

you've got a flow rate. No "devices", just observation (can you tell I am a DaVinci/Elementry fan?)

Now you might say, how can I tell how many (gallons/litres) have flowed from the distance between two pieces of tape? Well, just measure (in in/cm) the overall tank size, divide that by the number of (gallons/litres) it stores, and multiply that by the number of (in/cm) between the two pieces of tape. Of course if you have a barrel storage tank on its side, you need more math involved, but if you do you clearly have too much space in your sugar shack and too much money, so you hire an intern to do the math...;-]

If, otoh, you're looking to get a number like 15.4325gph, then you're clearly not spending enough time with your evap.

Cheers,
Russ

[lpakiz]

On my sight gauge, I slipped several snug-fitting O rings over the tube, I can move them where ever I want them, to indicate a start point, a stop-firing point, etc.
To calculate how many gallons You are evaporating in an hour, move an O ring to the sap level right at, say 10 AM. At at 11 AM, measure how many inches the sap has dropped from the O ring marker.
And as suggested above, calculate how many inches is how many gallons, or how many gallons to one inch, or 10 inches,or gallons per foot, etc.

[jfh57]

McMaster Carr has a good selection of water flow meters. 50 dollars for a plastic gallon per hour meter.
I have used one for several years to set the flow into my preheater pan.

[Amber Gold]

I do the measure tank vs. time calc., but looking for something in real time.