Sugar House Setup

[royalmaple]

I was originally planning to set up my sugar house with the evaporator facing the back of the sugarhouse. So firing would be towards the front of the building, but when I thought of the layout of my sugar house the wood shed is in the back, so why not flip the evaporator around and not have to take 30 extra steps all the time.

So I think I am going to do that. But interestingly enough it seems every sugarhouse I have been to that you enter on the gable end, the front of the evaporator is right there. I guess our normal thinking tells us to put things from front to back, but in this case it may not make sense.

Anyone else think of this?

[mapleman3]

I have been to a few that have the firebox to the back where the wood is, We all think of the looks for when we show it off, but the serious sugarer will position it in the most efficient way(closest to the wood, you could even have a wood cart to go in and out of the wood shed if it's the same floor level.
If you do have many young visitors just put some kind chain or barrier to keep them away from the flue, one nice thing is your back isnt to the door as they walk in, you can be firing and not get startled that way. I think it's a great Idea.. go for it 8)

[HanginAround]

Most camps I've been in have the woodshed on the end, but you enter under the eave near the woodshed, so someone drawing off would be to your right as you came in, or someone firing would be right in front of you. And of course, the woodshed door is immediately across from the arch doors. This is normal to me, and most camps I've ever been in were this way.

[Fred Henderson]

My wood shed is along the eaves. When you enter thru the gable end the stack will be on your right.You want the firing end near the wood pile. I use a cart with caster wheels on it and you are right is does save a lot of step. May it easy for you.

[brookledge]

If you have the option now, make it so your arch door faces your wood pile. Over time the extra lugging of the wood around to the other side would(if your flue pan faces the wood) require alot more time in labor.
I would never consider having my flue pan facing the wood pile.
With mine My first row of wood is about 4 feet away from the evaporator. And the last row is about 16 feet away. I'm able to stack 16 cord inside.
Make it so it is easiest for you. You are the one going to spend countless hours boiling. Make it so that the wood is as close as possible unless you can move the wood around with forks.
Keith

[markonsite]

Royalmaple, everyone is right but there is another important item to consider other than hauling the wood. When you face the arch doors close the the wood shed door every time you open the wood shed door your arch and pans will cool down. My arch doors are about 4' the the shed door and my temperature drops about 10 degrees when I open the shed doors! Wish I had faced it the other way.

Mark

[royalmaple]

Keith-

I agree with you. I am going to face it towards the woodshed, and cheat it to one side opposite the wood shed door. I was going to use a cart to load up at least several hours of boiling wood, so opening of the wood shed door would be minimized.

I was going to start my cupola about 4 feet off the back wall, go about 10 feet long, then leave about a 32 inch rough opening for the stack, which still leaves me about 3-4 feet to the front gable end wall.

My wood shed area is going to be roughly 8 feet tall, and 16 feet long x 8 feet wide. So should hold some wood.

[H. Walker]

Another thing to consider is draft. If you don't have induced power draft you want the doors facing the prevailing winds to help the fire. Its like burning a brush pile and setting the fire down wind, it don't burn backwards very well. Don't fight any helping hand you might have!!

[Sugarmaker]

Royalmaple,
I set ours up to have the evaporator facing south and the wood shed under the eaves to the west. We use two carts to bring in the wood. A sliding door 6 foot wide is at the south end of the wood shed in the west wall of the boiling room. It has saved a lot of moving of wood. We stack the wood so that we complete one pile the move back deeper in to the wood shed as the wood is used up. We have to bring in a new load of wood every hour or so. We are using a power draft, but get great natural draft too. I set the rig off center about 2 feet and it gives us a lot of room on the west side of the evaporator. Our wood shed is about the same size as yours. Works well for our 3 x 10 King.
Save as many steps as possible. One thing I did was make room so we can walk all the way around the rig and it saves a lot of steps and back tracking. (Kept the feed pipe 8 foot from the floor)

Regards,
Chris