Finishing pan

[tonka]

I have a 2' x 5' pan that I want to make into my finishing/pre-filtering pan. I want the heat source to be on gas and would like to make something that I can hook up to the gas and will cover the whole bottom of the pan to keep the syrup hot and to finish it off. My main questions are: How big should the copper tubing be? (1/2", 3/4", 1") how far apart should the holes be drilled in the copper tubing? and how far apart should the tubing be from each other? 8253

[maple flats]

That would be similar to my 2x6 finisher. It has 4 tube burners. I think they are at 3",9",15" and 21" from one side. (3" in on each side and spaced 6" apart. They are individual tubes for each, and the holes are about 3/8" spacing. Even with 1" tube I doubt you would get a uniform burn if you only use 1 serpentine tube. The holes in mine are about 1/16" diameter. If you run off a 1.5" manifold and tee to 4 tubes 1" you stand your best chance. You also need to have an adjustable air inlet at the beginning of each tube to get the flames just right. I run mine on a 4psi regulator, but I think it would be better on a 6#. At the beginning of each tube you also want a ball type valve. I run mine at about 1/3-1/2 open.

[tonka]

If a person did use the serpentine example could a person get a uniform heat if smaller tubing was used? Like say 1/2", the smaller diameter would help even out the pressure through out the whole tubing, I guess I want to try and stay away from a lot of soldering and seams if possible. Could it be possible for you to post some pictures of yours? I am really interested to see what it looks like.

[maple flats]

Wrong, bigger diameters will aid in holding a more uniform pressure, not smaller for a longer distribution tube. For example, when I irrigated strawberries, I could run 4" distribution header and run 48 sprinklers on my pump if my laterals were no more than 6 sprinklers each. If I used 3" header I could only run 5 sprinklers each and even straight off the 11 hp HP irrigation pump on 2" I could not get more than 6 sprinklers, a 7th would not have good enough pressure and the sprinkler would not do the job. In a gas line you will have a similar effect. The smaller tube will allow the pressure in the tube to fall much faster as you more towards the other end, thus the flame would not be even close to uniform from beginning to end.

[mapleack]

What about using two or three gas grill style burners, you'd get nice even flames.