need advice on new dual flat pan setup

[Kyle Baker]

Hey there!
I just bought a new set of pans for next spring and am in the process of building a new oil tank arch to fit them. Ive only ever batch boiled in a single pan. Last year was a single full sized steam table pan.
Anyways, the set of pans are both flat pans. The back pan is 2' x 3', and then there is a 2' x 1' finishing pan to sit up front. There arent any dividers or valves on the pans, though I am considering adding valves to one or both pans.
I was wondering if anyone had ideas on how to run the two flat pan setup? Would it be some kind of manual continuous flow thing? or just a more complicated way to batch boil? Just want to figure out how Im gonna run it before I finalize my arch design.

Thanks!

[Ausable]

Kyle - With two flat pans that are not connected - you would still be batch boiling. It would be like the large pan would be your batch pan and the small pan a preheater pan. You can have a continuous flow evaporator with flat pans - I do. But - they make use of dividers in the pans and the pans are connected to give you a serpentine flow effect (Goes in sap on one end and comes out syrup on the other). So - I have a 250 gallon fuel oil tank for my arch with a 2'x5' surface area to boil on with my homemade - flat pan - continuous flow evaporator. What will your surface area be for boiling? ----Mike-----

[Kyle Baker]

My surface area will be 2'x3' (6 square feet) on the big pan, or if you factor the small pan as well the total is 2'x4'.

I'd love to weld in dividers into the big pan to get the serpentine flow thing going, but probably not this year.
So, I'm pretty much better off just pre-heating in the small pan then dumping in the big?

[SeanD]

If you can't get the dividers in this year, definitely make an effort to put the connections and valves on the pans. You'll still get a continuous flow and be able to draw off.

You'll have to weld on 1" or 3/4" female couplings, but you'll be glad you did. Then you can design your arch as a 2x4.

If you can't connect the pans either, still design your arch as a 2x4 and ladle the sap over. Design and build the arch once and then upgrade the work on the pans as you can.

Here's a link to a thread when I was asking the same questions you are:

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?6325-Spot-Welding-Dividers&highlight=Pans

Sean

[Kyle Baker]

How low on the pans should the bungs be welded on? As low as possible? Thanks!

[Kyle Baker]

Just read that thread you linked. Great info there, answers pretty much all my questions! Thanks

[Sengelaub Farms]

I boiled with 2- 3X4 flat pans plumbed together for years. I did it with copper lines and valves I made with flared fittings. I had a valve on each pan and a drain with a valve. I used a small preheater that held like 10 gallons and drizzled the sap into one pan and let the sweet build up in the front pan. Then just shut the valve to finish. Worked pretty good.

[Kyle Baker]

Sengelaub, did you have dividers in your pans? Or would the sweet always flow to the front pan even without them?
Cheers!

Sent from my GT-S7560M using Tapatalk 4

[Sengelaub Farms]

No dividers. As long as You keep adding to 1 pan the sweet will flow to the other pan. I really don't think the dividers would make much difference. The one pan stayed lite color and the other got dark. Dividers only make smaller batches and allow You to draw off more often. What I did most of the time was to flood the pans bank the fire and go do something else while it boiled.