CharlieVT
11-12-2011, 04:39 PM
Gents and Ladies,
Newbie here, I jumped in with both feet when I bought the contents of a sugar operation. My previous post queried how many taps would I need to keep a 4x10 evaporator going. I appreciate the replies I got.
I'm still trying to figure out how I can utilize this evaporator. I now have about 115 taps on tubing, I can reasonably get up to about 300 taps with addn'l tubing and buckets. I can get about 100 of the taps on check valves with vacum.
I don't want to spend a lot of time boiling, and am willing to pay the price either in wood or fuel oil to do frequent, short boils during the season.
The evaporator I purchased, but have not yet moved into my sugarhouse is an oil fired 4x10 with a preheater and hood over the flue pan. The pans are lead-free soldered stainless. It is a nice rig and I'd hate to part with it, but I'm realizing the problems of using it with only about 300 taps. I've even consider buying some sap at the beginning of the season to get the rig started so I don't have my own sap sitting and waiting for enough quantity for my 1st boil.
Opinions please: should I keep this evaporator and deal with the problems of not having enough sap to "feed" it? Or should I sell it and get a smaller evaporator? And if I should get a smaller one, what size? Please consider I'd rather not stay up 'till 2AM boiling.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.
Newbie here, I jumped in with both feet when I bought the contents of a sugar operation. My previous post queried how many taps would I need to keep a 4x10 evaporator going. I appreciate the replies I got.
I'm still trying to figure out how I can utilize this evaporator. I now have about 115 taps on tubing, I can reasonably get up to about 300 taps with addn'l tubing and buckets. I can get about 100 of the taps on check valves with vacum.
I don't want to spend a lot of time boiling, and am willing to pay the price either in wood or fuel oil to do frequent, short boils during the season.
The evaporator I purchased, but have not yet moved into my sugarhouse is an oil fired 4x10 with a preheater and hood over the flue pan. The pans are lead-free soldered stainless. It is a nice rig and I'd hate to part with it, but I'm realizing the problems of using it with only about 300 taps. I've even consider buying some sap at the beginning of the season to get the rig started so I don't have my own sap sitting and waiting for enough quantity for my 1st boil.
Opinions please: should I keep this evaporator and deal with the problems of not having enough sap to "feed" it? Or should I sell it and get a smaller evaporator? And if I should get a smaller one, what size? Please consider I'd rather not stay up 'till 2AM boiling.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.