evap. setup. gph

[palmer4th]

I was just wondering what size and setups people are running and how many gph you are getting? Also how many taps?

[TheMapleMoose]

Leader 2x6 oil fired with a max flue (all raised) and patriot syrup pan, reverse flow, and homemade parallel flow heater. Processing about 55 gph using 4.25 gal oil per hour, usually averaging 8%
Probably the last season on this rig as we will be outgrowing it over the next few seasons but its a great little evaporator

[Ren]

Homemade 2x5 wood fired arch with Phaneuf Pro Deluxe 2x4 pans. I have AUF,homemade pre heater and average 25gph. If I run it real hard with well seasoned hard wood I can hit 30gph but I have to be firing it every 5 to 7 min. I run 150 to 200 taps.http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd441/Creekside8/0888c95b85333f95c0051076794012a2.jpg

[Mike's Sugar Shack]

I run a 2x6 cdl raised flue last year probally averaged 32 gph. Hope to add a hood and preheater this year. I had 200 on vac and 120 on buckets.This year going to have hopefully another 300 on vac should be a busy year. Would like to hit 100 gals of syrup this year.

[whalems]

In the past I ran a 4x11 with a king drop flue tin pan and a bill mason syrup pan and was doing about 130 gph. This year I will be boiling on a 4x11 smoky lake maple set of pans! Cant wait.

[boondocker]

Running a 2013 CDL 2.5x8 raised flue with no blower as of yet. Avaraged about 55-60 gph this past year but the way i see it it will only get beter because i do plan on adding a blower this year. I had around 400 taps this past year on gravity and ended the season with just over 100 gallons of finished product. It needs a preheater because the intake of raw sap is so fast that i have a hard time keeping the corner of the flue pan boiling where the sap enters. I am adding another 200+ taps this season.

[palmer4th]

Thanks guys, I hope people keep them coming!!!! I think its interesting to find out the rigs people have and what they are able to do with them!

[twin6]

Homemade 2x5 wood fired arch with Phaneuf Pro Deluxe 2x4 pans. I have AUF,homemade pre heater and average 25gph. If I run it real hard with well seasoned hard wood I can hit 30gph but I have to be firing it every 5 to 7 min. I run 150 to 200 taps.http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd441/Creekside8/0888c95b85333f95c0051076794012a2.jpg

VERY nice setup Ren! Can you tell us roughly how much the pans cost, without the temp gauges? If you're not comfortable doing that, no sweat, I understand. In poking around, I've not been able to find anything on Phaneuf product pricing. I'm deep in Leader and CDL country, and don't think either offers a setup like this for a small arch. We use a homemade 2x5 arch as well. Thanks, and good luck.

[Ren]

Twin6, the Phaneuf pro deluxe pans cost me $2152.50CDN. That was including $150 to ship and 5% tax That also includes a float box, which is on the other side of the pans. The only things not included were the dial therms.

[Sapboy]

3x12 leader with a steamaway. Cooks off about 145 gph give or take depending on who is running it and the kind of wood we are burning. A mix of hard and softwood split down to about 4 inchs in diameter seems to work best for us. We have about 950 taps at 20 inches of vacuum and about 400 pails in one woods and added 750 taps at 26 inches of vacuum in another woods 2 years ago. We boiled raw sap up till this past season when we added RO because we just couldnt boil fast enough to keep up anymore. Im not sure how I lived without RO for so long. I dont miss not getting any sleep because of trying to keep the evaporator going around the clock and I definitely dont miss spending the entire summer making the mountain of firewood I was burning.

[optionguru]

8102I have a home heating oil tank that I cut the top out of and put in 3 6" deep steamer table stainless pans. So the total pan area is about 20" x 40". I still have to bucket the sap from the back pan to the front pan as it evaporates. I get 7 to 8 gph. I firebricked most of the fire box and welded in a baffle to keep the flue gasses right under the back two pans. Prepping for next year I've started to make a preheater by wrapping 3/4" copper pipe around the stack 10 times. I have a brass ball valve to adjust the flow of sap coming into the back pan. I'm hoping this gets me an extra GPH versus pouring cold sap in the back pan. Still can't quite figure out how to attach the pipe to some sort of bucket and if I will need to vent the pipe somehow.

[palmer4th]

If you wrap several layers of tin foil around the copper it will help heat up the sap. I used to have a pre heater like that and with out the foil it did not heat up that much

[red maples]

I have a 2x6 Phaneuf Drop flu wood fired with 4 ft flu. I added air under fire and hood last year. I average about 43-45 gph burning all soft woods. If I added on a pre heater I am guessing I would be pretty close to 50 gph.

I will be up to 525 or so taps mostly on vac. so this year upgrading with a 300gph RO. that should cut the wood consumption and boiling time down QUITE A BIT!!! had a few 10 hr days last year. not many but they are rough on you for that long!!!

[optionguru]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that. Just finished my thermo syphon tubes and they seem to work well. Can't wait for Spring.