Turkey Fryer Question

[Bucksaw]

I have an evaporator but the past couple weeks didn't have much sap so I just used the turkey fryer to boil. Yesterday I read on here that there were some modifications you could make to make an inefficient turkey fryer a little more efficient. I wrapped the base of the fryer in aluminum foil and it seemed to help quite a bit. Is this safe to do? Are the fumes given off by the foil toxic? Anything else quick, easy, and cheap that I could do to improve efficiency of the fryer? Up until last week I had been using it as a preheater for my preheater to cut down on the condensation falling back into my pan...worked great but if there is a way to save time / money I am all for it.

[jstaples]

How much sap are you talking about? How big is your evaporator now?

[Bucksaw]

How much sap are you talking about? How big is your evaporator now?

Not much...only boiling small batches of around 7-8 gallons on the turkey fryer. Evaporator is a 2x3 but I only run that if I have at least 20 or so gallons.

[happy thoughts]

There's a couple of other threads about shielding turkey fryers. Cake O Maple linked to her pics in this thread

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?20064-Anyone-using-propane-to-boil-sap&p=217553#post217553

You probably don't need expensive firebricks. Regular bricks or cinder blocks should work just as well. Just leave some gaps for airflow to support the flames. The foil will probably work, too. It doubt that if used as a shield as you're doing that it will get hot enough to melt or vaporize.

[325abn]

And move the burner right up under the pan.