Looking for a Food Grade preheater head tank

[GramaCindy]

I am trying to figure out what to do. I had originally planned on using a 20 gallon sprayer tank, (like I use on the ATV for sap collecting) for my preheater feed tank. And INSIDE. After reading someone's post, I see that it is a good idea to have one that can be cleaned thoroughly and often, due to the heat in the shack. Is a galvanized stock tank going to work? I see alot of people have them, mostly on the outside of their shack. I like the idea of having them outside too, as that leaves more room inside and keeps the sap cooler until it gets fed into the preheater. Although I can see problems with freezing temps and the metal tank. How do you know what the level is in the tank and when you need to pump more sap into it from your storage container? Try to keep it simple here guys, it's getting pretty late to go to too much work, Too many other things still yet to do.

Thank You for any help you can give, Cindy

[heus]

Make a sight tube with clear hose. Tee it off where your line enters the shack and extend it up towards the ceiling.

[GramaCindy]

I have seen others with that, is it really that easy? Now a new pic search begins….Thanks heus!

[adk1]

My poly truck tank is easy to see the level of sap in it even though it appears "white". IT is marked on the side with the gallons in it.

[adk1]

also thinking here, you have the Mason 2x4 so you are looking for a small tank to feed your Mason pre-heater tank right. How many gallons of capacity are you looking for? I would think that a 35 gallon poloy tank would be ideal

[GramaCindy]

Yes adk1 so is mine, but what good does that do if it's out the back of the shack? You can't see it. I like the idea of the sight level. Sounds interesting. Do they freeze, and how do you "empty them", I am assuming that they empty when the sap level is gone?

[adk1]

yes tht would be the case, obviously the level in the tank matches the level in the sight tube. as the tank level drops as does the sight tube.

5108

[Jec]

You have to make to have some sort of drain for your plumbing. Something like a ball valve you can crack to have a slow drip. This will stop freezing and crack pipes.

[wiam]

Make a sight tube with clear hose. Tee it off where your line enters the shack and extend it up towards the ceiling.

This works, but will not read accurately when sap is flowing. To be accurate when sap is flowing it would need to come from a separate port in tank. Mine is after a 1.5" valve then feeds 1" to evaporator. It stays pretty close to level but not quite. Advantage to putting it in feed line is if it is after the valve it empties when closed and will not be a freeze problem. Also should go higher than tank in case it burps.