Shutting down with cross flow pans

[bairdswift]

At the end of the night how much do you draw off before shutting down.in the past I was not drawing any off when shutting down but have read where people draw off some to re fill syrup pan when starting back up. Please fill me in on what you do. I have a smaller rig and can not shut my syrup pan off from flu pan

[Tweegs]

You didn’t say how big your evaporator is. With my 2x6 I draw off 2 gallons (your amount may vary).

The first gallon is labeled #1, the second #2.

At start up the next time, I bring the pans to a boil, add #2 in right at the draw off I’ll be using, then add #1 in the same place. This helps reestablish the gradient.

[maple flats]

I tried doing as Tweegs says, but the last 3 or 4 years I draw nothing. I just reverse flow at my next start and I get a draw almost as soon as I did with the draw off method. When I shut down, I just quit fueling when I have 20 gal in my head tank (for a 3x8 with about 80 GPH evaporation rate). Then I watch fairly close while I start my cleanup. At about 20-30 minutes later the boil has all but totally quit and I cover the syrup pan, all 3 float boxes, rake any remaining coals apart, shut off the HP over and under fire air and leave. Upon returning the next day the pans are about 1/4" below my operating depth of 1" in both pans.

[wiam]

At the end of the night how much do you draw off before shutting down.in the past I was not drawing any off when shutting down but have read where people draw off some to re fill syrup pan when starting back up. Please fill me in on what you do. I have a smaller rig and can not shut my syrup pan off from flu pan

I would try to find a way to close between pans. If you can not it would seem more important to draw off sweet at the end of a boil. We need to know more about your rig.

[bairdswift]

20x20in syrup pan with a 20x40in flue pan. One float box on the flue pan. Flue pan runs to cross flow syrup pan through a pipe that has no valve or anything. Syrup pan is reversible but you can only draw off on one side. I usually run 3/4 to 1 in deep

[Big_Eddy]

Everyone has a different way of doing things. I like to almost drain my syrup pans just before shutting down and allow them to refill with less concentrated sap. That way I have all the syrup out of the evaporator and there's less chance of something going wrong if there is a little too much heat left. It takes me a bit longer before my first draw on the next boil, but I can live with that.

I have a valve between my pans. I close it off, stop adding wood, take what's left down to syrup a little slower than usual, drain, then open the valve and flood the syrup pan with less concentrated sap back to my 1" depth. By this time my tank is just about empty and I shut off the valves to the float box.

If you don't have a valve between your pans, you can easily make a plug. Take a tapered plug of maple that fits in the flue pan outlet and attach a handle to it. When you want to stop the flow, just stick it in the outlet hole. It won't seal 100% but it will do the trick. Don't jam it in - you want to be able to pull it out RIGHT NOW if your syrup pan gets away on you.