where to put my feed tank?

[The Sweet Spot]

I am building my sap shack and was thinking of putting the feed tank inside. Is this a good idea or would it develop condensation?

[adk1]

some folks use a head tank located in rafters of their shack so that they can gravity feed their evaps. IT must be pumped up to it from a tank. IT is noted that you need to keep the sap as cold as possible so that it doesnt start developing bacteria due to the warmth from the evap. that would be the only concern

[Ausable]

I am building my sap shack and was thinking of putting the feed tank inside. Is this a good idea or would it develop condensation?

Howdy Sweet Spot - The beauty in all of what we do - is a lot of improvising. You can do it any way You please - That said - I would agree with ADK1--- algae, bacteria etc - could be a problem. Sap is simple - it likes the shade and to be kept very cold and behaves pretty good in these conditions. Keeping the feed tank outside has advantages - Easier to fill and to clean in my opinion. My Feed Tank is along the side of my Sugar Shack with my holding tanks (50 and 25 gal. plastic drums underneath) I pull up alongside the holding tanks and empty sap into them (cloth filter over the drum opening). When doing a boil I use a submersable sump pump to transfer sap from my holding tanks to my feed tank and gravity feed from the feed tank to the evaporator. Only problem I have had is that during freezing weather - the feed tank drain line freezes from the feed tank to the Sugar Shack. I hang a mantle lantern under it and it thaws out in a few minutes. Once You have a flow going to feed your evaporatior freezing is no longer a problem. However - Your idea could be better then mine - give it a try - if it dosen't work out - You can always change it. Best of Luck in the coming Season -----Mike----

[cpmaple]

Hello sweet spot,
I did what you are talking about a few years back when i was boiling on a 2x3 which only boiled 7gph. I put a tank in the rafters farthest from the evaporator and to make a long store shore i ended up dumping 300 gallons of sap out because of he heat in the sugarhouse soured it. So my idea would be not to put the majority of your sap inside maybe just a feed tank which you would boil off before shutting down that way any left would be out where its cool.Just my two cents. Good luck this season

[steve J]

I boil on a 2x4 with a blower and I set up a 50 gallon feed tank on the rear inside wall. That tank represents about 2.5 hours of boiling so worst case if I am on a long boil it gets refilled every 2.5 hours via a pump. It works fine for me.

[adk1]

I like that lantern idea. I will keep that in mind. I was going to use my heat gun but, the lantern idea allows you to go about other chores..

[maple flats]

My feed tank sets outside, elevated. The lines have not frozen in use, but if I forget to drain the line overnight it can freeze. When this happens I use a propane torch, my lines are copper but I have vinyl tubing and clamps for couplings. If it freezes I just aim the flame on the copper and the main valve but keep the flame about 2" from the couplings. The worst freeze I ever had took about 5 minutes to get flow. Usually it doesn't freeze. My tank is on the north northwest side and gets almost no sun except some very filtered sun shortly before dark. The main valve doesn't freeze over night but will with a longer freeze. When that freezes solid it can take maybe 10 minutes to get it to open fully. My tank has the original milk flapper valve, not a ball valve. If you use a ball valve and it freezes the valve will burst, unless the valve was not full of sap or water inside the ball when closed.

[abk]

I built a new sap shack in 2010 and used it for the 2011 season. I built it large enough 24X36 so I have a seperated area insulated to house my sap storage tanks. I have 1 500 gallon SS tank and 1 400 gallon tank. Both tanks setting about 50 inches off the floor this arrangment gives me a chance to have 1 tank clean to put fresh sap in while the other tank is being emptied. It keeps the sap cold because it is insulated and has a outside door I can leave open at night if I need to. The other bennifit is the tanks stay cleaner because they are inside. I built a walk way on each side to help with cleaning and the lids can be opened to get into the tank. The head pressure is high enough to feed the evaporator and completly empty the tank. I also installed a sight gage in the evaporator room to monitor the sap level in the tank.
ABK
207 taps
New 2X8 Thor Evaporator

[sjdoyon]

your primary concern is bacteria. We have three SS 1,500 tanks inside our sugarhouse. Two of the tanks hold our raw sap and one holds the concentrate. The concentrate tank is about 50" off the ground so it has a gravity feed into the evaporator. The 1200 gallon permeate tank is also elevated above the two SS tanks so we can wash our equipment each day.
Our evaporator puts out minimal heat so the sugarhouse will be very cool. Some of the local producers have their tanks installed outside of the sugarhouse since they heat the inside.

We were hobby producers at first and just expanded. If you can find someone local with years of experience, never hurts to visit the operation. We've probably visited 50 makers over the past few years and took ideas from most of them.

3x10 Inferno Arch
4,000+ Taps
7,5 HP Vacuum pump
Lapierre 600gph RO
3 SS 1500 gallon tanks
24x32 Sugarhouse

[The Sweet Spot]

Thank you all for the great information. After reading all the posts and seeing a few shacks (respectfully) I have decided to build a hip roof off the east side of our 14X40 shack. I will side it and install doors to the inside of our shack allowing in some heat if I wish and a door to outside to cool. Once again this is all great to read. Have a Great Day Troy