BlueberryHill
01-04-2014, 02:50 PM
I have a budget preheater that I am working on:
Mason 2x3 with little pre-heater tank in the back.
6" Stack.
I have a copper coil around the stack. Then I wrapped kaowool around the coil and shielded it with an 8" pipe section.
15 gallon keg sitting on the ground with a cone shaped collander that is a good for for 8qt pre-filters.
The plan is to dump raw sap through the prefilter into the 15 gal keg that sits on the floor a few feet away from the evaporator. I want to pump out of that keg and through the coil around the stack and then have it discharge into the preheater on top of the evaporator pan. I always try to keep the valve on the pre-heater outlet cracked open just enough to feed the 2x3 pan at the right rate to keep my desired level. I hope to find a pump that will pump at a rate slightly higher than I will be boiling off. To keep the pre-heater tank/pan from overflowing I plan to drill a hole as high as possible on it and fix a fitting onto it that will drain back into the keg.
The idea is that I will not need to monitor the pre-heater level. It will be automatic. I just need to make sure that my preheater discharges at the correct rate to feed my pan. That is pretty easy to do, and I do that already. Then I just need to make sure that I don't let the 15gal keg run dry. I am hoping that this continuous-feed system will solve any problems as far as scorching or vapor lock. Anything to help heat up the sap before it hits the pre-heater would be great.
So my question is... what would be the best pump. I have scavenged most of what I have into this system and I would rather not drop $100 on a pump if I don't have to. But I also don't want to have to buy a new pump every year either. I found a submersible aquarium pump on Amazon and the price is right and the ratings are good. I just thought I would run it by the experts here first to see if it's a good idea or not. Feel free to bash the pump, or the whole pre-heater idea if you choose. I can take it. If this system is not worth trying I would rather find out now than when the sap is running.
http://www.amazon.com/Aquatop-NP-302-Aquarium-Submersible-Pump/dp/B006K31WLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1388863723&sr=1-1&keywords=pump
Thanks!
Mason 2x3 with little pre-heater tank in the back.
6" Stack.
I have a copper coil around the stack. Then I wrapped kaowool around the coil and shielded it with an 8" pipe section.
15 gallon keg sitting on the ground with a cone shaped collander that is a good for for 8qt pre-filters.
The plan is to dump raw sap through the prefilter into the 15 gal keg that sits on the floor a few feet away from the evaporator. I want to pump out of that keg and through the coil around the stack and then have it discharge into the preheater on top of the evaporator pan. I always try to keep the valve on the pre-heater outlet cracked open just enough to feed the 2x3 pan at the right rate to keep my desired level. I hope to find a pump that will pump at a rate slightly higher than I will be boiling off. To keep the pre-heater tank/pan from overflowing I plan to drill a hole as high as possible on it and fix a fitting onto it that will drain back into the keg.
The idea is that I will not need to monitor the pre-heater level. It will be automatic. I just need to make sure that my preheater discharges at the correct rate to feed my pan. That is pretty easy to do, and I do that already. Then I just need to make sure that I don't let the 15gal keg run dry. I am hoping that this continuous-feed system will solve any problems as far as scorching or vapor lock. Anything to help heat up the sap before it hits the pre-heater would be great.
So my question is... what would be the best pump. I have scavenged most of what I have into this system and I would rather not drop $100 on a pump if I don't have to. But I also don't want to have to buy a new pump every year either. I found a submersible aquarium pump on Amazon and the price is right and the ratings are good. I just thought I would run it by the experts here first to see if it's a good idea or not. Feel free to bash the pump, or the whole pre-heater idea if you choose. I can take it. If this system is not worth trying I would rather find out now than when the sap is running.
http://www.amazon.com/Aquatop-NP-302-Aquarium-Submersible-Pump/dp/B006K31WLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1388863723&sr=1-1&keywords=pump
Thanks!