may be a dumb question?

[bowtie]

i am looking at a new rig next year, 2x8 or 3x8 and was looking at steam hood/pre-heater. my question is how do you skim under the hood? i know that there are slide doors on them but if you are opening them to skim every couple minutes doesn't it slow the pre-heater and burn your hands? i was thinking about "hanging" a steam hood about 18-24 inches above the evaporator, i know this will not be as efficient as a "tight" hood but i am skimmer and like the thought of being able to look in and also skim frequently.

[spencer11]

i dont think you usually skim on the flue pan just the syrup pan where the hood is already elevated. thats what im doing anyway when i get my hoodand new evap.

spencer

[ennismaple]

With proper use of defoamer you hardly have to skim. All the scum gets pushed to the back of the flue pan and in a 10 hour boil I may get bored once and skim it. If you hang the steam hood over the pan you'll get very little pre-heater effect.