couple of 2x3 evaporator pics

[jake22si]

sorry about the pics? Haven't figured out ash door setup, if any. May use a blower setup. 2x3 flat pan with a 1" outlet. Hopefully tapping just over 30 trees this year, moving up from just 5. 6212 6213 6214

[Shawn]

Looks good. Our arch was made by one of the guys that helps us and with the ash door I went to Home Depot and got a four inch furnance pipe to attach onto a blower and used a small sheet of furnance sheeting to slide into the ash door on the inside and cut the hole in the center for the blower pipe. Works well. This year I insulated the arch with blanket and also new bricks. We also have a back pan on ours that works at our preheater.

[jake22si]

That's something along the lines what I was thinking with the ash door. I couldn't afford to buy a preheater pan yet but its coming. Would a 18x24 preheater be too big for my 2x3 pan, or should I just go with 12x24?

[Shawn]

I will take some photo's for you of our set up if you want and send them to you. Our back or preheater is a flat pan and an old one that someone gave us. It works very well for us. I have two front pans that I switch back and forth and I clean the front pans every night after we are done boiling. We are lucky we have a tin smith near us that does a lot of pan work and also making of same and arches. He made us a second front pan last year. I will get some photos and get them to you, off the top of my head (in which I cannot remember crap) our front pan is like 2 by 33, the friend that made our arch is a welder and we had some friends come up that are big producers and they were very impressed by the arch he made. We started in 2001 and as of this year we have three hundred taps with 198 on pipeline and the rest with buckets. Sooooo if you want I can take some photos and get them off to you.

[jake22si]

I don't have to have the pics. My arch is just over 4' so there is no room for another pan with the 2x3 and the stack. The preheater pan will sit on top of the 2x3.

[Shawn]

Gotcha, if it were me I would stay with the smaller of the two for the preheater unless you want more sap in your back preheater pan, and then you look at the room the larger of the two will take up towards the front and back on your front pan. Trial and error!:)