Free Hot Water??

[johnallin]

I know that I'm putting about 30 gallons of hot steam an hour, right up and out the cupoala doors. But what I don't know is how I can grab some of that to use for cleanning up and such.

It's killin' me to not be able to use any of this hot water after I've split and hauled all the wood to heat it up with!

Does anyone have a system - or gizmo - set up that will catch some of the steam and direct it down to a small gutter and pail without having it drip back into the flue pan?

[not_for_sale]

A hood. Just produced a whole lot of hot water trying my hood for my steam pan evaporator.

I thought I could boil in my existing barn without modifying the barn too much. I was successful ejecting the steam but lots of water coming down my steam stack. Too much horizontal pipe though. So I need to punch a hole through the roof.

So looks like I am boiling outside this year.

If you move the steam up a stack, run it into a knee, then a T then up though the roof. Collect at the bottom of the T. If you use 6 inch PVC it's clean water.

[Brent]

We've got a 5' x 30" SteamAway on top of our rig and when you get it going it pees out water at about 1/2 the rate that
you discharge used beer. It will fill a 5 gallon bucket in 5 to 7 minutes, and if you're not watching, you get to clean the floor
much too often. As for what to do with it, I've dreamed of running an insulated pipe in to a radiator in the basement, but only dreamed. The next best idea was to run the line going into the RO through it. Raising RO feed from about 40 degrees to 70 degrees would increase the through put by more than 50%.

[not_for_sale]

You could use a beer worth cooler in the 5 gallon bucket to do that. Or use a side arm heat exchanger. Those can be had on eBay for less than 100.

[johnallin]

We've got a 5' x 30" SteamAway on top of our rig and when you get it going it pees out water at about 1/2 the rate that
you discharge used beer. It will fill a 5 gallon bucket in 5 to 7 minutes, and if you're not watching, you get to clean the floor
much too often.

Thanks for the input Brent. That's exactly what I'm looking for - cleaning the floor and pails, etc - but I don't have any immediate plans for a hood or SteamAway.
Just trying to see if anyone has built, or experimented with, a sheet of stainless, set at an angle, catching some steam and having it run down to a trough and not back into the pan. The angle could be adjusted as needed for the amount of steam coming off the rig and to keep it attached to the sheet of ss. Not steep enough and the steam will drop off...but get it steep enough to just catch some steam and gravity should do the rest..

It would be cool to harness and use some of that steam I heated up and am kissing goodbye and hot water, plumbed out to the sugar house, is the one thing I don't see ever happening, but sure could use.

I think it could work but wanted to see what others may have tried. Come on Brent...if anyone has tried to improve this stuff, it's you.

[cncaboose]

I don't like hoods because I want to see what is going on in there. I have a parallel preheater with 4 fin tubes (4 foot each) suspended over my flue pan with 1/2" aluminum angles suspended underneath to catch the water and run it off. It cost me about $100 to build. I get about 5 gallons every 2 hours. Not a huge amount but it is really handy for washing hands and cleaning the bulk tank.

[johnallin]

That's just about what I'm looking for. But don’t you have condensation on the bottom of the angles dropping back in - Do you have any pix?
Thanks for the reply

[Flibob]

Would aluminum or PVC work in the steam? Much cheaper than SS.