gauge of ss for an evaporator pan

[Rylan Coker]

I am just curious as to what gauge of stainless steel is best for an evaporator pan, Thanks!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Most companies use 22 gauge and Leader uses 20, may D&G too, but not sure. :?

[Fred Henderson]

20 ga is a little eaiser to weld, That is the ga I used when I made mine.

[Chemist]

I have a guy who will make a 2 foot by 3 foot pan with 18 gauge SS at a cost that is about 30 percent less than the guy who makes pans with 22 gauge stainless. Both use 304.

Am I foolish if I buy the 18 gauge? Is it worth the extra $250 for the pan for the 22 gauge?

Thanks!!

[WF MASON]

The 18ga. pan will last you forever, its alot more forgiving when you burn on a batch of syrup. If you have plenty of sugaring experence under your belt and your batch burning days are over go for the 22ga. it will boil a little faster.
As far as the 28ga. goes , unless you want some fancy flashing on your roof or your going to make up forty soldered floats, I'd pass on that.

[Chemist]

Thanks for the info. That helps and I will be buying the 18 gauge pan. It looks like I will be making a 2 foot by 3 foot arch/firebox in the welding shop at work and buying the pans for about $400.00 wholesale from a guys who does stainless steel work.

With the valves and everything, I should have a nice unit for about $450 that will do 6 gallons per hour.

[PF]

How much less of an evaporation rate would the 18 guage ss give you vs. the 22 ga ss? As an example; if a 2X4 22 ga ss pan did 15 gallons per hour how much less would you expect the same size 18 ga ss pan to do?

PF

[brookledge]

I don't have an answer only to say that the pans would be about .0180 thicker which will certainly reduce the heat transfer through the pan.
Another factor to think about is you may have to pay a little more for the 20 or 22gauge pans but with better heat transfer it will save you alot more money in fuel no matter what type you use.
Keith

[WF MASON]

If you have enough heat in the firebox you can boil with 1/4'' plate. I could be wrong , but I think the soldered pans were 22-24 ga. Being harder to 'production' weld these thicknesses most have gone to 20 ga. but if you have a roaring fire you'll never know the materal is thicker or gph is less or would be less. The point Keith makes about thinner materal costing more isn't correct. Possibly becouse its harder to weld the labor cost goes up. I'm building a stainless diesel fuel tank right now that goes into the back of a pickup.I used 14 ga. stainless, $170. a sheet. 22ga. is half that price. So the cost must be in labor.

[brookledge]

I was refering to the post by chemist who said he could buy 18ga. pan for $250 less than a pan made with 22 ga.
The point I was making was that you will get better heat transfer which translates into better efficiency with a thinner pan. So while it may cost more up front, in the long haul the thinner pan will save money.
Wf mason you are right that you can boil with 1/4" but it will definately reduce your efficiency.
Keith

[NedL]

Hi all,

I just found some inexpensive 24 gauge steam pans. Would these be too thin for evaporator pans?

Thanks,

Ned

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

No, they should work fine as they have a reinforced lip for support and are not big enough to worry about any sagging unless you use them for many years. The lighter gauge would help with boiling a little too!

[NedL]

Thanks for the info!!

[Bucket Head]

I know most of you are going to say thing's like "what?!", and/or "is he crazy?!, but here it goes. My homemade pan's are made of a combination of both 14ga. and 16ga. stainless. Yes, that's pretty thick as far as pan's go. And yes, the flue pan is heavy to move around compared to other's. But they make syrup alright.

There are several reason's why I used this metal. The pan's were just flat pan's when I got them and they were 14ga. At the time, I did not know what thickness factory pan's were. So when I put in divider's and built the flue's, I tried to get "similar" thickness metal. The 16ga. metal was free, and the 14ga. was purchased by a friend through his employer for "pennies on the dollar", as they say. It was insanely cheap. These thicknesses are easy to weld also.

Would I do it differently knowing what I know now about pan's? Yes. Would I build more pan's with this kind of metal if that's all I had? Yes.

How does my evaporator compare to other 2.5x6 rig's? I don't know. I've never operated an other rig this size, homemade or factory built. My rig evaporate's almost forty gal. of sap an hour, and that's with cold sap feeding into it. We hope to better that this year. My father and I are currently finishing up a homemade hood and pre-heater for it.

It might not compare to a factory made unit, but it sure beat's the three small flat pan's we had over concrete block fireplaces that we used to have!

If your going to build a pan, use whatever thickness your comfortable with. Use whatever is availiable. Use whatever stainless you can get at a reasonable price. It will make syrup.

Steve

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Steve,

The last flat pan I had was 16 gauge and I couldn't tell much difference between it and a lighter gauge pan. It may take it a little longer to get hot, but may stay hot better. I don't know, never played with it. I know guys that have 20 or 22 gauge 2x6 evaporators that don't get 30 gph out of them, so sounds like you definitely know what you are doing.

[SBClorite]

If anyone knows where to buy stainless steel sheets "pennies on the dollar" in NH, I'd sure like to know. I plan on building an oil tank evaporator, with the top as an extension (saw some great designs on this site!), but finding cheap pans to fit the length is not easy. As a general rule, I don't like to spend money, unless it's on something totally frivilous (unlike sugaring).
I was considering using stainless steel sinks (posted on craigslist asking for free sinks), which are 22" wide as a general rule, but it would be a lot more work than I like ladeling between the bowls, or hooking them together as chambers. I even thought I would add s.s. tailpipes after reading another thread here.
My brother can cut and weld some pans, but I need a cheap source of materials. Any leads would be great! Thanks.

[lpakiz]

Hi All,
I made pans from the used SS metal that is on the outside of semi-tankers. It is called "overwrap" and if it gets dinged in an accident, the repair shop pulls off the whole sheet-usually 4 feet by about 13 feet or more. Most of the sheet is undamaged and they will sell you the whole sheet, usually with the damage cut off--rolled up in a roll and tied. If anyone really wants to know thickness, I can measure with micrometer and report back.
As far as guage thickness for pans, my take is this. I worked with both SS and "black iron" sheets at a job I had. No matter how new black iron is, there is always a film or layer of sorts that impedes heat tansfer between itself and your finger. If it is hot, the SS will burn you about 5 times quicker and more seriosly than black iron. I think this is because the SS is so "clean" and conducts heat many times better than SS. These attributes "replace" the heat your finger takes from the surface of the metal much quicker, keeping the surface hotter. Bottom line is, I think guage is not so important with SS because it conducts heat faster than black iron, galvanize, aluminum, etc.
Yes, a few seconds longer to heat up, but regained as it cools--minor factors, really. My 2 cents....
Larry

[WF MASON]

SBC, I see your in NH, not shore how far you are from Belmont , but All-Metals is located there and has all you need.
A oil tank is 27" wide , if you use 3'' angle for your top rail a 24" pan will fit.
Thoses can be found or even a 30"w pan would work. Like one cross flow pan or finishing pan. If your spending the big money on stainless , can your bother bend it also , more bends = less welding = less warping.
The thicker the gauge the more weight/cost per pound.

[SBClorite]

I'm not hooked on stainless, but I'm not sure what other metals work well. I've heard a lot about tin pans, which are usually older pans. Are these pans actual tin alloys? Or is it like how we call an aluminum can a "tin" can (they used to be tin).
Also, I've never heard of tin for sale/free anywhere like you do for aluminum and stainless.
I assume galvanized steel is out because of the coatings, and standard steel because of the rust factor. The more that comes off your pan during the boil will be the more you must remove for great syrup.
I was looking for stainless because it seems to be the industry standard.
I also thought about a high temperature, high heat transfering ceramic. My web searching hasn't provided any leads in that direction, but it seems like a moldable ceramic would be a lot cheaper than stainless, if you can keep it from chipping.
I tend to brainstorm way, way outside the box, so please have patience with some of my ideas.
I will check out All-Metals and see if I can locate truck overwrap. These are the kind of leads I was hoping to get. Everyone has their own sources and deals. Thanks for sharing yours lpakiz (Larry) and W F Mason.
By the way, I live in Danbury, NH and do most of my sugaring in Wilmot, NH on an old farm on Mt. Kearsarge.

[lpakiz]

SBChlorite:
If you have a SS repair shop around, just go right to the back door of the repair shop and knock on the door and ask for the foreman...If you can't find a repair shop, ask some tanker drivers where they go to get their repairs.

Larry