Would like advice on building new arch

[huntingken111]

I was just given 3 ft by 10' pans. They are old pans made from english tin. Dropflue pan has a drain in the back that I would have to design arch to accomidate. My question is this. A lot of you built your own or are dreaming about building new arches with new designs so what would you change or make better on you arch. Should I put in door in very back so I can clean flues? Put in aof and air under fire? and how do I make the start of the chimney? Should it be rectangle to a rouund and if so is it three ft wide good or can I go smaller or start right at 8 inch diameter since I have 5 sections of 8 inch diam triple insulate stove pipe, can I use it or does chimney need to be bigger diameter? I am on a wife driven strict budget. Thank you all for responding to this and my other post. I plan on switching to gravity fed tubing that I have to take down every year with about 350 taps so I may have more questions in future.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Those are some good questions. I would be interested to hear what people have to say.

For a 3' arch and the stack base dimensions, what I can find is around 30" by 7". Tapered to 14" or 16" with a height of around 6'. For your 8" stack, you may have trouble getting the draft you need. New stack can get pricey in a hurry though. Unfortunately I just sold my extra 14" stack. But you may be able to pick something up on craigslist. I think if you are going with AUF/AOF, you will need the 14 or 16" stack.

Ben

[Sugarmaker]

ken,
First off there could be a problem with the wife driven budget thing. I would expect you may have $800 to 1200 in this arch before your done. I may be on the low end.
-Have you tested your pans for water leaks yet? Set them on some saw horses and fill them up with water. What are the lengths of your pans? Drop flue back pan and syrup pan?
-The drain just comes through the side of the arch with a pipe extension and a drain valve. Most rigs of this size have them and they are needed.
-For this size rig with wood fire you will need at least 12 inch dia stack to get good draft. The 8 would work but will be a little restrictive. If i was on that budget I would start with the 8 inch and see how it works. 350 taps are not going to overwhelm you so you may not need to boil as fast.
-The english tin pans are probably lead soldered. Do your research in using this type of older equipment to reduce lead levels in your syrup and plan to get your syrup tested for lead. That's the only way you know for sure.
Yes a door in the back is good for cleaning flues. Most rigs of this size have them. Too long of a reach to clean the soot off the flue pans from the front.
AOF and AUF both help boil faster harder and consume a little less wood. But if your considering these features to improve/aid in combustion, the 8 inch stack would need to be 12 inch min, and 14 inch as recommended would be better.
On the base stack my 3 x 10 King starts as a oval about 30 inches by 6 inches and tapers up to 12 inches at 5 feet above the arch. I built my own base stack with minimal tools from used stainless sheets. And used stainless pop rivets to secure joints.
You might find a old 3 foot wide arch that needs retinned. That's what I started with, saving the work of building the front and rear castings. and leg supports. Still felt like a complete arch build when done:)
Your set up with the gravity tubing is similar to what we have used for the past 6 years.
Design your arch with a new set of stainless pans in mind., and let the wife know now:)
Good luck and let us know your progress. You can PM me if needed. I think there are still a bunch of pictures on here of our arch.
Regards,
Chris

[huntingken111]

Thanks those dollar numbers are what I thought and prepared her for. As soon as I get going on arch I will take progress pics and post them. My pans are both 3ft by 5ft with drop flue pan having 9 drops that are about 1 inch wide. Last year the people before me made 328 gallons on it last year and been using pans for about 25 years and gave me the front cast iron piece and all the cast grated and leg. Also the used 10 inch stack and told me they have great draft.