parallel flow pre heater build.

[bairdswift]

im going to try to build a parallel flow pre heater. when everyone is talking about venting it how do you do this. i understand why just do not quite understand how. i do not plan on having a good do to the cost so how can i catch the drips and still get the steam to warm my copper pipes? any tips and pic would help. attached picture is of what im going to try to build. my back pan is 20x40in

6042

[wiam]

It needs to vent at the highest point in the preheater. Mine has a piece of clear 3/4" tube that goes above the top of my feed tank. This ends in a bucket up in the rafters as it will burp hot sap.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Leader has a picture of one on page 14 of their catalog.

[Dennis H.]

Not sure what to do about the drips if you can afford a drip pan. You really need that in order for the condensate not to go back into the flue pan.

As for the vent, as the others have said you need to put the vent at the highest spot in the preheater.
I vented by by running a lenght of 1/4 tubing down to my float box. It bubbles out and drips sap all the time.
I do have a small valve for the tubing so that if I leave sap in the head tank it will not slowly drain thru the vent line into the flue pan.

[maple flats]

I just vented mine from the highest point, thru a valve and an 8" piece of 1/4" copper. That dripped into the flue pan. The valve is only opened at initial fill time and then closed. I never had sap (concentrate) flow quit after that.

[bairdswift]

So in the pic I posted that's what the valve is for? I do believe that would be the low end tho. Would the copper pipes still get hot with a solid try under it and without a steam hood?

[whalems]

cant see attachment. it says "invalid attachment specified see administrator"

[Dennis H.]

Probably not, The hood is a key part to the hood/preheater.
Without the hood the solid tray would just deflect the hot steam away from the preheater.

Even if you had a tray that had holes in it to allow steam thru I still think you would see little if any temp increase.
You really need the enclosed area of the hood to hold the steam in to allow it enough time to transfer the heat energy to the copper pipes of the preheater and thus to the sap inside.

Now maybe if the preheater is a one long pipe that snakes back and forth above the flue pan and is above a drip tray that has holes to allow steam thru you might see more temp increase. It would give the sap the longest possible time to gradually warm up till it exited the preaheater. With a parallel flow it would just not have enough time to any thing.

[FDA]

The Smokey Lake Guy advertises that this preheater doesn't need a hood. He sells them on Sugarbushinfo.http://www.sugarbush.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/173/title/smoky-lake-preheater-system-2c-patent-pending/cat/500

[Dennis H.]

That is the exact preheater I am using. I had Jim make my hood and preheater for me.

Now I did not see anywhere it states that it will work without a hood I just know for a fact from a previous attempt at heating sap before the hood/preheater that it will not make much of a difference in temp in what enters the preheater and what exits the preheater.

In order to get the most out of the preheater you really need the hood. If you can't afford both yeah go and get one of them this year and the other the next, but for the cost I would want to get the most out of it so I would think you want to try and have a hood also.

[lpakiz]

Could you make a temporary hood out of plastic sheet, 2X2s and a couple plywood ends? Wouldn't be any difference in steam in the sugarhouse between that and no hood....

[maple connection]

You could make it out of plastic. It just depend how sanitary you really want to be. aluminum or stainless is the first pick but, that isn,t alway in the budget. I put a pre- heater on my evaporator two years ago. I have a aluminum hood. the pre-heater sits in the hood at about a 45 degree angle with the low side pointing to the back side of the flue pan. the water runs down the copper pipes to the low end were i extended the drip channel of the hood so it under the ends of the pre-heater pipe. Works great. But the first year I had the hood above the pan about 3 to 4 inch and I could only get the sap 80 Degrees. This past year i set the hood on the pan and sealed it with aluminum tape. a consistant 180 Degrees. Moral of the story build a sealed hood of some sort to hold the heat on the pre-heater.

[FDA]

That is the exact preheater I am using. I had Jim make my hood and preheater for me.

Now I did not see anywhere it states that it will work without a hood I just know for a fact from a previous attempt at heating sap before the hood/preheater that it will not make much of a difference in temp in what enters the preheater and what exits the preheater.

In order to get the most out of the preheater you really need the hood. If you can't afford both yeah go and get one of them this year and the other the next, but for the cost I would want to get the most out of it so I would think you want to try and have a hood also.

I read this on SugarBush some guy named Haynes said that on post # 10. http://www.sugarbush.info/forums/showthread.php?t=937&highlight=drip+tray&page=2

[Springfield Acer]

My rig for the last two years was a 20 x 40 divided pan. I made a hood out of a discarded piece of new galvanized duct for nothing. I made my preheater out of parallel sections of 1/2" copper and suspended 'V' shaped pieces of stainless under each tube as individual gutters. Each of these gutters sloped to another SS cross gutter that extended thru the hood side wall to drain. the copper tube was the main expense. I had the gutters made from 22 ga SS and bent into a 90* formed angle for next to nothing. It worked well and caught all the condensation.

[rayi]

Pictures are great but I'm one of those guys that have to see and touch before I can get it. Is there any one in lower half of lower MI that has a home made preheater that I can take a look at?

[bairdswift]

talked with smokey lake today. he told me his preheaters do NOT need a hood. He thinks they are the best on the market because his set-up allows the steam to go up through the preheater where most make the the steam go around the preheater. I will say he has some nice looking stuff. For my rig (20inx40in back pan) he thought a preheater would be $750 or you can buy just the drip pan for $350.

[Father & Son]

I also had Jim at Smoky Lake build my preheater and hood. Couldn't be happier. I do not have my preheater vented and haven't had any problems.
A friend of mine used a tap in for an ice maker in a refridgerator, placed it at the highest point, and just lets it drip into his flue pan.
Smoky Lake's drip pans inhance his preheaters. Lets the steam around all the pipes.

Jim

[Gary R]

If your looking to "build", many of us have done just like Springfield Acer explained. I used aluminum flashing to form the "V" under the pipe. It can be pop riveted together. Very cheap, just the copper pipe is expensive.