better perduction from my 3x8 evaporator question

[miller maple]

i have a 3x8 small brothers waterloo, and i want to make it more efficient, it is just a traditional wood fired arch and i would like to add a forced are grate system, and the question is to make it worth the money do i need to put a air tight from on the arch as well, or what is the best way to make the evaporator more efficient. thanks

[nymapleguy607]

Air tight isn't a necessity but it is nice. An air tight front will allow you to run the blower faster and get faster combustion. To increase effiecientcy ie(less wood consumption) that would be adding air over fire, there are a bunch of threads about how to do this. Other things to help efficientcy would be a preheater or steamaway. Insulating your arch will also help some.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Air tight isn't a necessity but it is nice. An air tight front will allow you to run the blower faster and get faster combustion. To increase effiecientcy ie(less wood consumption) that would be adding air over fire, there are a bunch of threads about how to do this. Other things to help efficientcy would be a preheater or steamaway. Insulating your arch will also help some.
what he said

[tuckermtn]

I had a whole new arch built this past year for my 2.5x8 raised flu. I had one built based on a design from 802maple and Ryan at BreezyLane. It has air everywhere...

I went from a natural draft arch and pans boiling 50gph to the 802maple arch with a high pressure blower boiling 100gph. Sometimes it will do even more. All with the same set of pans.

I had the arch custom built for around $6K, including blower and duct work. A far cry from the 12 or 13K that CDL wanted for a similar arch. Hate to think what a Leader vortex would have cost. I am very happy with the design and how it came out.

I would like to post some pictures but cannot figure out how to delete the old photos so I can upload some new ones...

[jimsudz]

Eric,would like to see some pics.I built my own airtight arch for my lapierre 2.5x8 raised flu pans and can only get 75 gal./hr, have hit 95 gals.a few times.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I had a whole new arch built this past year for my 2.5x8 raised flu. I had one built based on a design from 802maple and Ryan at BreezyLane. It has air everywhere...

I went from a natural draft arch and pans boiling 50gph to the 802maple arch with a high pressure blower boiling 100gph. Sometimes it will do even more. All with the same set of pans.

I had the arch custom built for around $6K, including blower and duct work. A far cry from the 12 or 13K that CDL wanted for a similar arch. Hate to think what a Leader vortex would have cost. I am very happy with the design and how it came out.

I would like to post some pictures but cannot figure out how to delete the old photos so I can upload some new ones...
I stopped trying to upload pics to this site it sucks and very frustrating. Just add them to your photobucket account and post the link again

[tuckermtn]

I will post some photos to photobucket when I get home later today.

[tuckermtn]

just uploaded new picts to photobucket.

[500592]

I know this thread is a little old but I have the exact same evaporator and I am going to use firebricks for grates with forced air and I also wan to know what you get for a boil rate now thanks.

[miller maple]

when i bricked my arch i lined the arch with fiber blanket before i bricked that kept a lot of the heat in, i think i was getting about 80 gal/hour in 2012 on a good day, my wood supply wasnt as good as it should have been, im gowing to add some form of forced air for 2013 season.

[mapleman3]

My 3x8 Algier raised flue has forced air and grates. Insulated doors and hood and 1" preheated and can hit 100gph. Yes get the grates and forces air. More air more fire and fire every 8 min about.

I also have a 14" stack so it really has a draft the pulls that fire through the back pan.