compensation for RO processing

[ejmaple]

wondering what type of compensation people have given to have their sap processed from an RO. lets say i bring him 500gal of 1.5% sap and he runs it up to 10 % i think his unit is a 600 gph.

thanks ed

[unc23win]

I would say the easiest way is to do it on percentage. I like the barter system especially between neighbors one hand washes the other. Granted an RO is a piece of machinery in the farming world most would charge a by the hour or gallon rate or a percentage. Some neighbors might run it through for no charge knowing they may need something in return someday of course there is a big difference between 500 and 5,000 gallons.

[regor0]

I say let him keep the purified water, and your even!:lol:

[Jeff E]

I have a 600gph CDL, and I typically offer 3 options.
1 is the trade, I keep half the syrup, and give you half the syrup. If you want concentrate, I can give the equivelant in concentrated sap. So 500 gallons of 1.5% would make 8.6 gallons of syrup. If concentrated to 10%, that would 8.7 to 1, sap to syrup ratio, so I would hand you 8.7 x 4.3 (your share of the syrup), or 37 .4 gal of Concentrate. I wouldn't provide a discount for not running it through the evaporator, because it would be a bit of a pain in the butt to do this :)

The second option is simply charge you for it. My syrup making is a business, so just helping out doesn't make sense for me. I will help with the firewood, the kids, the dog, but this is my business, and I have big overhead costs for this stuff.
As greedy as it sounds, I figure me owning, maintaining and running the syrup making equipment is $160 per hour. (If curious, I can explain how I got that number. It is based on what the syrup is worth if I run your sap and I get half the product. Basically in this situation, 8.6 gallons of syrup per hr, I would keep 4.3, which is worth about $160 bulk)

So if you want me to run 1.5% (500 gal) to get to 10% (75 gal), first pass takes it to 4.5% and 500 gal becomes 125 gal in 1 hr, running it for another 10 min would get it to 10%, or 75 gal.

1.17 hrs x $160=$187

Guess what? Lots of people bring me sap. Most take option 3, a check (1/2 the value of the syrup made), some take the syrup, no one has ever taken concentrate and handed me a check. Can't blame 'em!

One other note. I would most likely not be able to give you your own concentrate back. Odds are if you have sap, I am running thousands of gallons myself that day. Odds are your sap gets mixed in with mine.

[wiam]

I would agree with Jeff and add that most RO's are sized to the operation and would need extra tanks and plumbing to do this