Post pone sugarhouse?

[K.I. Joe]

I am thinking about postponing my sugarhouse until spring and if I do I will need to boil out of my garage. I am worried about the moisture, would the steam get out of the building enough through the garage door or would the steam just hang in the garage.

[unc23win]

Well I think it depends on the size of the evaporator and size of garage some. But the steam will pretty much just stay in there with out some sort of vent as it rises up above windows and doors. I had a friend that tried an exhaust fan it helped but nothing like a cupola. Now if you had a steam hood most of the steam would go out the steam stack. Aslo if the building is tight you could have some warping of trusses and such depending on how the building is built.

[Jebediah]

My vote (??) would be open-air, not garage--rain and snow add to the adventure!

[SeanD]

I agree, you are better off outside. I've shut my cupola doors to see what kind of a difference it makes and within seconds I could barely see my hand in front of my face. The worst part for you will be that everything in your garage will be soaking wet and you'll likely have mold everywhere in the spring.

Set up near the garage so you can use it to support a tarp that will cover you and maybe a little of your pan - but a couple of feet from your stack. It won't help if the wind is whipping the rain in, but it will help with a drizzle.

Sean

[Ed R]

I would build a temporary steam hood out of clear 6-mil poly and firing strips and anchor and suspend it from your trusses over your evaporator. Cut in two side vents into the steam hood and insert wire reinforced poly duct work. Run these a high as you can out a window our back through the garage door. I did this as a temporary solution a couple of years ago and it worked great. It took me about an hour to do with the help of my oldest daughter. I would be more concerned about how to handle your exhaust stack.

[K.I. Joe]

I like the temp hood idea Ed, I may just go with that.

[adk1]

yeah go with garage. I converted my garage into my sugarhouse. built the cupola etc. You can rig something up to vent the steam

[Sweet Shady Lane]

I use my 20 ft. by 20 ft. garage as my sugar shack. The first few years I was using a steam table pan with no problems, But now that I went bigger a 18in.x 28in. I had steam problems dripping off of the roofing nails, I am lucky I work construction I was able to get a heavy duty exhaust fan and a heat vent that mounts over my pan. I ran duct work out the side of the garage wall and I no longer have a steam problem. I hope this helps