Another Homemade 2x6, but on steroids

[sniperdodo]

Hi everyone,
I thought i would document the progress of my new evaporator and arch. I am making the arch with 1-1/4" angle and skinning it with 14 guage sheet metal. I am going to run a forced air system inside with 1-1/2" square tubing and weld 3/8" dia. jets to force the air through. I plan on making a two pan system. The back pan will be a drop flue with 6 4-1/2" deep flues and then a front syrup pan with 3 dividers. I have some pictures of the progress so far and will post them later tonight. A special thanks to Mapletrader.com for all the great and inovative ideas, cheers

[sniperdodo]

As promised here are some pics from the past two weeks of evenings in the garage.
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[sniperdodo]

Im not sure how many pics I can put in 1 post so I'll do them 4 at a time 53485349534753485350

[cpmaple]

Looking good keep up the good work and i read you have a homemade sap puller what is that made out of?

[sniperdodo]

thanks cpmaple. i have a lot more photos but the site wont let me post them (past my quota). click on my facebook link and see the albulm "building my new 2x6 evaporator". I will try to figure out another way to post pics

[sniperdodo]

I have uploaded a bunch more photos in the members galleries section. check out "sniperdodo"

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

looks good man, did you add AOF also? are you going to insulate with ceramic blanket?

[sniperdodo]

Yes, it will have AOF. I havea 500cfm carpet blower fan that will be ducted in through the back of the fire box and run through some square tubing. From the tubing, I have welded a bunch of 3/8" dia. pipes that will act as "jets".
I insulated the door with ceramic fibre but I havent quite made up my mind about the rest of the unit. I went to a local fireplace/woodstove dealer to check on arch board and firebricks and he mentioned that woodstoves only have ceramic in the roof of the firebox because it would be too difficult to suspend bricks. I havent ruled it out yet but I am leaning towards just fire brick. Does the blanket make much difference? If i use refractory cement to mortor by bricks together, the back side of the bricks should be cool anyway right?

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Yes, it will have AOF. I havea 500cfm carpet blower fan that will be ducted in through the back of the fire box and run through some square tubing. From the tubing, I have welded a bunch of 3/8" dia. pipes that will act as "jets".
I insulated the door with ceramic fibre but I havent quite made up my mind about the rest of the unit. I went to a local fireplace/woodstove dealer to check on arch board and firebricks and he mentioned that woodstoves only have ceramic in the roof of the firebox because it would be too difficult to suspend bricks. I havent ruled it out yet but I am leaning towards just fire brick. Does the blanket make much difference? If i use refractory cement to mortor by bricks together, the back side of the bricks should be cool anyway right?

bricks do not insulate, with heat against them long enough the heat will penetrate and make the tin of the arch untouchable. I did 2" ceramic blanket over entire arch except fire box, i did 1" there with bricks so when i put wood in it would rip up the blankets. With help my first night boiling this year didnt even try hard we got 32GPH all pine. seems to boil harder by keeping all the heat in.

[sniperdodo]

Wow, 32 GPH. well its hard to argue with success so i will definitely be insulating it. I found 1 sheet of 1/2" arch board that i will use inside the fire box and I will follow your lead and use 2 layers of ceramic blanket in the ramp. Thanks for the great advise. I will still put bricks in the firebox but do I need them in the ramp? The evap is finally done and I will be moving it into my little backyard sugarshack on the weekend. i will get a few pics up.