Thor Equipment

[tmessier79]

Hi all,

I wanted to let everyone know about Thor Equipment in Cowansville Quebec. I sold my 2x6 at the end of this season, and shopped around for a new 2x8. I decided on a CDL 2x8 wood fired rig, as they offered me the best price. However, just before I forked out the deposit, my wife got cold feet and decided we couldn't afford to finance the rig. Anyways, CDL wouldn't even quote me for the pans after I backed out, so I shopped around. The best prices I found were from Thor Equipment. They are building me a set of 2x8 pans, with all fittings and valves for $3100. Sunrise metal wanted $3600, Smokey Lake wanted $3500, Leader wanted $4200, and Lapierre wanted $3700. I just drove up to their shop and placed my order today. Their pans are great looking quality. I wanted to let everyone know about them in case you were looking. They are a start up company, and I believe they have their roots in the old Small Brothers Company. They have a web page, but it's not that great. You are best calling and asking for Arnold if you don't speak French. I've already placed the order and laid out a deposit, so if anyone has their equipment, please let me know how you like it. Also, I couldn't afford a full evaporator set up, so I'm looking for an old 2' wide arch, any length to rebuild if anyone has one. Thanks!!

[madmapler]

What are they building you for a flue pan? Length, dropped or raised flue? and depth. Thanks.

[maple flats]

I had them make a set for me last year. I got a 3x3 same side draw syrup pan 16" sides and a 3x5 flue pan with 10" tall flues and 24" tall sides. Thus my specs were custom. They only charged me $6682 at the May discount, leader wanted almost $14,000. I drove up to get the pans and got a tour around the factory. Everything looked top notch, welds were perfect. After 1 season on those, I have ordered a second syrup pan to match at $832. Great people to deal with and they do great work. Thad Blaisdell suggested them as he has their pans too.

[maple flats]

I forgot to mention, it included all the valves in SS too, except the 2 drain valves on the 2 sections of the cold sap box, there they only had a SS nipple welded in the bottom, I added valves, but the could have just been capped if desired.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I was extremely happy with their work. I would buy from them again without hesitation.

[bees1st]

I bought a 2.5 X 10 deep raised flue set up fro them last year. I bought their Tusnami arch, which I thought needs some improvement. Ther is no way to control the air above and below separtely. I was told after the fact that the wider evaporators ,3 ' and up, have two blowers for this. Mine came with one. I also feel that there need to be more holes in the back wall of the fire box for air injection. I talked with Arnold up there a month ago and he is going to send me another blower, no charge.My plans are to tear apart the back wall and put a manifold in to be able to direct the air to where I want it. Still I got the whole rig for the cost of just the arch from one of the "other " companies. So I can afford to retrofit it. I believe if you talked to them they would make the arch for you any way you wanted it . And after talking to Arnold for some time they know at this point that it's not the best design and can be improved upon.

[tmessier79]

What are they building you for a flue pan? Length, dropped or raised flue? and depth. Thanks.

I could have went custom, and they were willing to build anything I wanted for an additional cost. I opted for the standard 2x8 package, with a 2x5 raised flu pan, with 9 7.5" flues. I'm not sure of the height of the sidewalls. They usually build cross flow syrup pans as that is the biggest demand, but were willing to build me a standard reverse flow syrup pan, 2x3 at not extra charge.

[tmessier79]

I had them make a set for me last year. I got a 3x3 same side draw syrup pan 16" sides and a 3x5 flue pan with 10" tall flues and 24" tall sides. Thus my specs were custom. They only charged me $6682 at the May discount, leader wanted almost $14,000. I drove up to get the pans and got a tour around the factory. Everything looked top notch, welds were perfect. After 1 season on those, I have ordered a second syrup pan to match at $832. Great people to deal with and they do great work. Thad Blaisdell suggested them as he has their pans too.

I agree, they are great to deal with. The only thing that I have a question mark on now is, how did it work out for you crossing the border? How much duty did you have to pay?

[maple flats]

When I crossed the border, the guard gave me a little hard time when I said I had no reservations for lodging since I had no idea how far I was going to drive that day. Coming back I understand there was supposed to be a import fee of some sort, but the lines were very long and one guard asked the other if they really wanted to go thru the hassle. They then waved me thru. I guess there is an allowable amount duty free if you are bringing it back for personal use, my pan set exceeded the limit but I lucked out. The lines were very long because I was foolish enough to make the trip on Labor Day Weekend. I will plan better next time. I have ordered a second syrup pan.

[bees1st]

I had every thing in order to cross as I had beed held up for three hours a few years ago. Thor paid the broker fee,but it doesn't hurt to talk to a broker, they'll get everything in order. To me it was worth it as my crossing last summer was a breeze. And they did ask for my "paper work ".

[abk]

Hi
I purchased a 2x8 wood fired raised flue reverse flow rig from Thor in 2011 and this is my 3rd season. I am very satisfied with the workmaship. Now I need to get a steam hood for this unit, just can`t buy everything at once.
ABK

[DucFight]

Canadian manufactured products are free of duty when brought into the US. Avoid broker fees and bring the merchandise back to the US yourself.

[bees1st]

Ducfight, You can bring it in yourself, But if the item is worth more than $2500 you need a broker. I talked to several custom officals at two different port of entry,and got the same story.Check it out.

[tmessier79]

When I crossed the border, the guard gave me a little hard time when I said I had no reservations for lodging since I had no idea how far I was going to drive that day. Coming back I understand there was supposed to be a import fee of some sort, but the lines were very long and one guard asked the other if they really wanted to go thru the hassle. They then waved me thru. I guess there is an allowable amount duty free if you are bringing it back for personal use, my pan set exceeded the limit but I lucked out. The lines were very long because I was foolish enough to make the trip on Labor Day Weekend. I will plan better next time. I have ordered a second syrup pan.
Wow, what a lucky day. I plan to make two trips, purchasing the two pans separate. I spoke with a customs officer too, and he said this is perfectly legal, and ok to do. I live so close to Cowansville that it is no big deal. Two trips at $10.75 each seem worth it. I hope it all goes as planned:)

[maple flats]

Living close solves one issue we did have. After entering Quebec we discovered that lodging seemed to be an issue, coupled with the fact we don't speak French. We discovered why the crossing guard asked if we had lodging, or maybe he was just a p@$^k. We drove towards Cowansville and looked for a motel as we drove. We took the low route that ran us past the Champlain Lake edge, thinking it would be a tourist spot. We never did find a motel. We finally stopped at a camp ground and asked if they had any trailers to rent. They didn't, but they called one on the same road, just 1/4 mi back and they had a camper. We drove back there and ended up with a great travel trailer at $100. Clean, TV, shower, and all. They even supplied fresh towels and the linens were fresh. When we arrived at the factory the next morning I asked about lodging and was told there is none. My guess is that they don't want tourists, on the US side there is an unending line of motels etc. at any large lake shore.

[Howard]

I bought a 2.5 X 10 deep raised flue set up fro them last year. I bought their Tusnami arch, which I thought needs some improvement. Ther is no way to control the air above and below separtely. I was told after the fact that the wider evaporators ,3 ' and up, have two blowers for this. Mine came with one. I also feel that there need to be more holes in the back wall of the fire box for air injection. I talked with Arnold up there a month ago and he is going to send me another blower, no charge.My plans are to tear apart the back wall and put a manifold in to be able to direct the air to where I want it. Still I got the whole rig for the cost of just the arch from one of the "other " companies. So I can afford to retrofit it. I believe if you talked to them they would make the arch for you any way you wanted it . And after talking to Arnold for some time they know at this point that it's not the best design and can be improved upon.




I'm looking into the tsunami. What is a deep raised flue?. How did your arch run? Noisey or semi quiet. How often did you add wood. gal per hr.? Size of your wood. wet or seasoned. Any info would help. Howard

[maple flats]

That is just what I bought last year.. I didn't realize they made others that way, I told them what I wanted and they built it that way. I wanted the 10" high raised flues for faster boil and it sure did boil faster than my old 7" high raised flues.

[maple flats]

I agree, they are great to deal with. The only thing that I have a question mark on now is, how did it work out for you crossing the border? How much duty did you have to pay?
I actually lucked out and paid no duty. I crossed on the Friday before Labor day heading north and returned mid day that Saturday. The lines were horrible and there was a back up that took about 2 hrs to get across on the return. When I got to the crossing booth the guerd asked a lot of questions and then was not sure how to proceed. Another guard was walking across the lines at that time and my guard asked him. They talked a few minutes and then the more experienced one said to my guard "you don't want to hold the line up that much do you?" Then they waved me thru, duty free.

[bees1st]

I really wasn't happy with how the arch performed. In fact I'm about to tear it apart and make it better. There is only one control for the air , so you can't tone down the under air and crank it more above. The blower is noisy ,but I believe any would be. I plan to isolate it more and build a box around it using Sound Down insulation. But as I said before the arch was cheap enough that I can easily spend some time on it to make it right. When I made the purchase ,they paid the import fee, but I was told there are other things you need to do to make the crossing easier, so I jumped through the hoops.
Talk to them , I'm sure they would make this arch anyway you want it. But you need to know how you want it built. My fault was I assumed it would be like the competition. Their work is top notch , and I would buy from them again.

[maple flats]

Maybe you could do something like I have. I have 1 HP blower that feeds both air under fire (AUF) and air over fire (AOF). The blower sets outside under my elevated head tank and is connected with a 4" PVC pipe (yes, they are noisy). Then under the arch, a Grimm arch (with Thor pans) the 4" PVC splits at a Y into 2- 3" PVC pipes. Each then has a ball valve, the AUF goes in under the grates, on the floor of a trench I have in my concrete floor thrua 4" heavy gauge smoke type pipe. This pipe lays in the center and goes forward to 6" from the front. In this pipe there are 3 rows of 5/16 holes drilled at about every 4 inches. The AOF after the valve enters the ramp area underneath (the slope) and at that point is a 2" square tube in the firebox at 6" below the pans and a 1/4" black iron pipe nozzle every 6" aimed down 15 degrees. Even though you have a Tsunami, you might be able to valve it similar. I experimented with several different valve settings and finally settled on having the AUF valve open about 25% and the AOF about 70% open. This seems to give excellent results, a great boil and lower stack temp than before, because the heat is being used in the pans and not up the stack. My HP blower is in a foam lined box on all but the side away from the sugarhouse

[bees1st]

Yes , I have looked over your pictures , And they have given me ideas. I love this thing they call the intertnet.

[Howard]

I'm using a 30by10 lightning, used 5.50 cords of wood last year. Evaporating 80 gal per hr. firing every 9 min. How will the Tsunami compare to that if I use the 10 in. flue?

[maple flats]

It would increase but I won't even hazard a guess how much.

[Winters Harvest]

I am the NY dealer for Thor and in answer to your question, they make up to a 14" flue.

[supersapper]

How do you contact them?

[Thad Blaisdell]

http://www.thorinc.ca/indexen.htm