36" x 48" Flat Pan

[Pete S]

I will need to run our Oil Barrel evaporator one more year as I have yet to build the next generation of evaporator. We currently have a 2' x 3' flat pan, with a 1' x 2' preheat.

I haven't really done much math or looked at what our current boil rate is, but with the new evaporator I will go bigger. (I just got permission)

SO, I was thinking on keeping the 2'x3' pan and working it with a crossover pipe to a larger pan. Initially my thought was to have my kid TIG weld up a 3' x 4' pan for the new build in 2014.

To get some ideas, etc I looked around and there is NOTHING that size.

Is there a reason that most/all run about 2' wide, then longer?

I considered looking to use a divided pan, but we are looking to eventually make only 20+/- gallons of syrup, who knows.

Advice and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to boiling this spring as we had a WET fall,.............which may mean nothing.

Thanks!

[Bruce L]

Our previous set up was a 3 x 16 with a 3 x 4' pan in the middle, I believe it had 3 dividers in it.Pans are out there,keep an eye on internet classifieds,etc.

[Bernie/MA]

I built a rig that was about 3x8 with a 3x3 pan in front conected to a 3x5 pan in back, which had Vee-shaped "flues". It boiled good but it took a lot of sap to fill the Vees before you could start. Ending was no problem because you could chase the end of the sap with water. Dividers make a big diference and I'd put them in the new pan. You might be not able to get the used pan clean enough to weld on but if you can dividers would help there too. Lay out the dividers so you draw off from the front pan from the center of one side, next to the back pan. I've made several that way and they work good. I'm a retired welder with a pretty good shop I putter in now.

[psparr]

A flat pan that wide would end up with a pretty good bow in the middle with sap in it. (Just my guess)
Maybe an angle across the top of the pan with a support welded down to the bottom of the pan?

[maple flats]

I see no reason why 3' wide wont work. My 1st set of pans on my 3x8 arch was a 3x2 syrup pan and a 3x6 flues pan. Nothing warped. But then the reason you don't see a 3x6 size made, is because of efficiency. A long narrow evaporator is more efficient than a short wide one of the same surface area. With a 3' wide you can't extract as much heat if only 6' long as you could with 8 or better 10' long. The 3' wide burns more wood than a 2' or 2.5' wide of the same total sq. ft.

[morningstarfarm]

There are plenty of 36" wide evaporators...the main reason most run 2' wide then longer is that you only need a fire 2' wide and the extra length uses more of the heat made already...

[psparr]

3' wide, but do they have dividers to keep the bottom from sagging from the weight of the sap?
Seems like quite a span for a flat pan.

[morningstarfarm]

I have never seen one without dividers for support...

[maple flats]

I also have only seen a few without dividers. I'll bet they sagged but I didn't see them in use, just when empty and it was so long ago, I couldn't say for sure if there was sag or not. My guess is that there was sag.

[Sugarmaker]

Seems like your 3 foot wide flat5 pan should work. partitions are better to keep the sap from mixing and will provide some strength too 3 foot wide pan flat pan with no partitions should not sag much if any. There should not be that much sap in there, maybe 8 gallons of sap at 1 inch deep?
Regards,
Chris

[maple flats]

In regards to sagging, I have noticed in both my old finisher, 16" x 34" and in my 16x24 canner there is some sagging, but both are used far deeper than 1 or even 1.5" deep. My math at 1" deep says you will have about 9.35 gal in a 36" x 60" flat pan. If the average density is even only 10#/gal, that is crowding 100 lbs in the pan. It is sure to sag. Dividers might be needed for strength, and the side benefit of less mixing will yield lighter syrup.