How to keep from Scorching a pan?

[Dfrenzy]

Ok I need to know how to keep from scorching a pan? On a wood fired evaporator there is no way to kill the heat when the flue pand drains to the finish pan at the end of your run. Rite or wrong? Also in a drop flue pan how do you get the sap out of the bottom of the vanes or is that just waste?

[Flat47]

Gotta keep sap in reserve to flood the pans when you hit that point when you can no longer boil.
Seems like we talked about the drop flue drain issue last season. Try searching the forum.

[RileySugarbush]

The key point to remember is that you don't completely drain the evaporator every time you boil. When you're running low on sap, let the fire in the evaporator die down. Make sure and leave enough sap to keep filling the evaporator during that cooling down process. Then cover up the pans leaving sweet in the syrup pan and sap in the flu pan ready for next time. You only completely drain those drop flues at the end of the season.

[spencer11]

If you leave sap in the flues if it didn't go through an RO could it freeze and crack flues?

Spencer

[Brian]

Yes but only if the temp drops below 0 deg For so. Then you had better drain the flue pan.If the pans are frozen when you start, keep the fire small until liquid covers the bottom of the pans. some people put in a small electric heater in the arch when it is going to be real cold. Some people build a small fire,(card bord ect.) to keep it warm from time to time. As long as the ice can be broke with your finger,there is no danger.

[spencer11]

wel thats good to hear. dont want my flues or drop tubes on the pan im gonna build to break.

spencer

[wiam]

Ok I need to know how to keep from scorching a pan? On a wood fired evaporator there is no way to kill the heat when the flue pand drains to the finish pan at the end of your run. Rite or wrong? Also in a drop flue pan how do you get the sap out of the bottom of the vanes or is that just waste?

To keep from scorching a pan keep liquid in them when you have a fire. My "flue" pan only gets empty at the end of the season. You should always be maintaining the same level and drawing syrup off as ready in this type of evaporator.

[red maples]

Ok I need to know how to keep from scorching a pan? On a wood fired evaporator there is no way to kill the heat when the flue pand drains to the finish pan at the end of your run. Rite or wrong? Also in a drop flue pan how do you get the sap out of the bottom of the vanes or is that just waste?

#1 its never waste lets get that out of the way.
#2 concentrate is left in the pans from begining of sweetening the pans to the end of the season. The only time it comes out is to clean the pans which I clean my syrup pan almost every day with vinegar solution if you let it build up too much you could get hot spots and scotch your syrup (not your pan) and I do filter out my flue pan everyso often with a vinegar boil about mid season if the niter contentent gets too high. and my drop flue has a drain that I can completely empty the all the flue if needed.
#3 When I am down to 15 to 20 gallons of sap left at the end of boiling I shut it down. as the evap is cooling which can take a few hours it can still evaporate as much as 10 gallons or more I don't wanna over flood my evap with raw sap because then it takes to long to get things to the correct density in each section of the pans.
#4 If It gets really cold I do have a small propane space heater I put directly under the arch facing my float box and that usaully will kepp things thawed even if it dips below 0. I am not worried about a thin surface layer of ice its usually slushy never really freezes.

The key is never run "out " of sap always have reserve on hand at least 15 gallons. depending on the size of the evap. I always keep a 5 gallon bucket of sap next to the evap anway for that just in case moment it doesn't hapeen very often but its a good safety net if things aren't flowing just right. I run my evap Lean (low sap in pans ) you get a better evap rate. Which you really need to watch closely.

Hope this helps.