5x8 steamaway

[jimsudz]

Brand new 5x8 steamaway on auctions international. Sale closes at 6:20 this evening. Last time it was listed it got up to $5800 but did not sell

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

I know there are no stupid questions, but man I feel stupid asking this. But I need to figure something out. I am using a steam away this year for the first time that came with a used arch purchase. I did not ask enough questions on purchase and can not for sure say how to run it. i.e, what sap level to run at, how water is extracted. Etc...

I have a 6*8 steamaway. Float box where sap comes in, I got that. two outlets on back coming out of 2" copper pipes. One on each side. That is where the concentrated sap comes out, depending on where it drops down into your float box for the flue pan, I think I got that. For permeate, I only see the one small 1" threaded pipe where steam moisture is captured from the underside of the steamaway. What I feel a little slow about is how the sap is condensed, and how/where does the permeate go? Is 50% of the water simply evaporated off? And how exactly does the blower work in the steam away.
Thanks for any information.
Ben

[stewardsdairy]

Concentrated sap will come off out of one pipe and the permeate will come out of the other. We pipe the permeate to the outside from our sugar house, but have a valve with a drop down pipe so we can capture the permeate and use it for washing. The blower puts bubbles in the sap in the steam away- it will look like a rolling boil, but is actually air bubbles from the blower. These air bubbles take away super heated water molecules--steam away!