can't get a boil going

[jake22si]

I can't get a solid boil going in my 2x3 pan. The pan is 18 gauge, 2'x3' no dividers. Think its too big for my evaporator? I can have it cut at 2' and get a 2x2 and 1x2 pan out of it or I could just put a divider in? I could get it steaming like crazy but no boil, even with the blower on high and 3/8" depth of the water. My stack is 16x8 tapered to 8" all the way up, maybe I need a dampener in there? The ramp is fully blanketed and partially bricked (just leftovers thrown in there neatly). Burning dry pine. Any ideas?6235

[sugarman3]

what size is your evaporator,stack should be twice the length of evaporator,blower mght be blowing heat right out the stack,plus dry pine last about 1-2min of good hot heat

[cpmaple]

the 8" pipe might be to much for that small rig i had a 2x3 and it used 6" pipe with damper always boiled good all over the pan

[jake22si]

total length of the rig is 54". I'll try reducing the pipe to 6", that might help. Should the stack be at least twice the length or is that the max? Right now I've got 12' of pipe, not including the 2' stack.

[mapleack]

Have you tried it without the blower?

[maple2]

try puting a row of brick at the top of the taper in the firebox. this will force the flames to the bottom of the pan

[jake22si]

Have you tried it without the blower? Yes, without the blower it just steamed a little with small bubbles barely starting at bottom of the pan. with the blower on the bubbles covered the bottom of the pan but weren't rising.

[Dennis H.]

Without the blower how was the draft?
I had a barrel evap when I started and had no problems with getting a boil.

As for the stack length, I was told double the evap length was just the starting lenght. The longer the better for draft.
Now with forced draft the lenght isn't that much as an issue.

How long were you firing the evap? It can a little while to get it going. Also what was the depth that you were running the pan?

These all effect how it will boil and how long it will take to get it boiling.

[jake22si]

Made a little progress. I closed up the air gap on the ramp by raising with more brick and put a row of brick at the beginning to hold the flames in the box. I used some hardwood this time and put the blower on high. Finally got a boil going. Tomorrow I'm gonna grab a reducer and switch to 6" pipe see if that helps. I have only been testing for a few hours at a time, think once it gets warmed up it will run better? I was hoping to run off natural draft.

[rookie]

a couple questions to be asked,
1. how deep are you runing your sap?
2. how often are you firing
I'm no expert but when i was boiling on a 2x2 pan I was told to run my sap shallower, like 1'' to 1 1/2"
and also that I should be feeding my arch every 3 to 5 minutes, wheather it needs wood or not. I set up an egg timer. that really helped. but it would still take while to get going. I almost want to say a couple hours

[jake22si]

I have tried with under an inch of water, but only going for about 1-2 hours. Just practice runs before the sap starts running. It's getting better, tweak this, bend that, reduce that thingy,....

[valleyman]

Hey Jake,
I have a block evaporator and I tapered the back up so the bottoms of the 2 rear pans were close to the firebrick and I couldn't get them to a rippin hard boil in my 1st season- until I actually removed a layer of brick which created more air from fire to stack and that solved it for me.

I know this sounds foolish, but make sure you get a huge ripping fire going under the pan(s). Again, during my 1st year I posted a pic of a test boil and our Maple Trader friends said my fire looked like it was for roasting hot dogs not boiling sap! Good luck with the 2013 which is really close down here in CT.

[jake22si]

Finished up my adjustments today. Revamped my brick technique and reduced the pipe size to 6" with a dampener just after my stack. I also added a support for the pan 2' in. I started with just pine then added a few sticks of hardwood and it really took off. I'm probably gonna have to buy a cord of the hardwood. I hope the pics come out straight, for some reason they are always sideways when I post to this site now.
62566257625862596260

[jgrenier]

no they are still sideways