How many guys using oil instead of wood.

[RiverValleySugarhouse]

I have been using wood but thinking about going to oil whenever my free wood supplies ends. :) Sometimes I think oil would be better than wood even with the oil prices. Just wondering how many of you guys are running oil.

[325abn]

I do! Putting out the cash for oil is painful but I am not doing the labor of wood. So it is a trade off. Right now oil works best for me. I come home, fill the pan, flip a switch and have a rolling boil in 3 minutes. Late at night when I am done turn the switch off, turn of the lights and go to bed.

Now when I am done working for the man:) and have more time I do have plenty of standing firewood.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

This will be my second year burning oil. Before that we boiled with wood for 20+ years. The last year burning wood, we made 3400 gallons on a 5x14 CDL Intensofire. Would never go back to wood. Way too much work. With oil,I have time to run more taps and therefore make more than enough syrup to offset the cost of oil.
Neil

[morningstarfarm]

After always boiling with wood, last season I made the switch...and I'm never going back! That said a ro is the secret there...in the end it ended up costing me about 2/3 gal of oil for each gal of syrup...

[325abn]

What is your oil : syrup ratio?

[325abn]

Never mind. I guess I am done with the sodas for tonight! :)

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

What is your oil : syrup ratio?Right around 1/3 gal. oil per gal. of syrup.

[RiverValleySugarhouse]

I have a 2x6 how many gal per hour burner should I run. I was thinking 3-4????? Could I use a burner out of a furnace. Right now I do 4 or so gallons an hour depending on wood and weather...

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

As morningstar said, ro is key here. I don't think I would go oil without ro. Cost per gal. would go way up.
Neil

[RiverValleySugarhouse]

I have one and am running around 8% most of the time with 1000 or so taps. I would not think about without an ro cause I was doing like 1 to 1-1/2 gal an hr.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Just went to oil. However do boil concentrate. Sorry but I don't know how anybody can boil raw sap with oil?

[325abn]

Simple math, if it cost me 2gal oil / gal of syrup @ $4.00/gal thats only $8/gal. That's not too bad in my mind.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Simple math, if it cost me 2gal oil / gal of syrup @ $4.00/gal thats only $8/gal. That's not too bad in my mind.

Well I guess the saying "to each his own ".

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

syrup made on a oil fired arch just doesnt taste as good as on a wood fired arch

[325abn]

Well that is certainly debatable! :)

[maplwrks]

Taste? What bunch of BS!!! I could never run and oil rig with raw sap. I would have 2 gallons of oil into every gallon of syrup. My goal to to concentrate to 18%+ so that I get my oil cost down to a $1:00 or less per gallon of syrup. Keep in mind that this is much easier to accomplish when you have a larger run. Smaller runs take more oil to get rolling. I really strive for .33 oil to 1 gallon syrup.

[grumpy]

we switched to oil after we burned down our first sugar house due to wind and a hot ember. its much safer to just turn it off and have the fire go out. I wouldn't go back to wood though, regardless. an ro is key to making it economical. our first oil fired arch was with a burner off a boiler, it worked good

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Taste? What bunch of BS!!! I could never run and oil rig with raw sap. I would have 2 gallons of oil into every gallon of syrup. My goal to to concentrate to 18%+ so that I get my oil cost down to a $1:00 or less per gallon of syrup. Keep in mind that this is much easier to accomplish when you have a larger run. Smaller runs take more oil to get rolling. I really strive for .33 oil to 1 gallon syrup.
Its ok Mike I understand, thats why the bulk buyers blend high RO oil fired syrup with us little guys hardly RO at all if any wood fired and blend them to get the syrup to go farther. With just a little of our wood fired caramelized syrup mixed:o in with 20+ gallons of high RO syrup:cry: they can make a lot of semi caramelized Real VT Maple Syrup and then market it as the best syrup in the world. :lol::lol:
I hope this means we are still friends and all

[tuckermtn]

thought about converting to oil this year, but this will be our first year with wood pellets. I don't concentrate much above 10%, so I am curious what my syrup-per-ton ratio will be. I ordered 7 tons of pellets to be delivered next week. Cost was $1760 delivered. For the BTU equivilent in oil it would have cost me $3045. That will help payback the extra costs of the pellet arch and silo...but at that rate it will take 3 years of savings to make up the extra set-up costs of the pellet system. And I hope I am still making syrup 3 years from now...

and will my syrup taste like it was made with a wood fired rig?

[BAP]

Its ok Mike I understand, thats why the bulk buyers blend high RO oil fired syrup with us little guys hardly RO at all if any wood fired and blend them to get the syrup to go farther. With just a little of our wood fired caramelized syrup mixed:o in with 20+ gallons of high RO syrup:cry: they can make a lot of semi caramelized Real VT Maple Syrup and then market it as the best syrup in the world. :lol::lol:
I hope this means we are still friends and all
Flatlander, you hit that squarely on the head. Woodfired real Maple Syrup can easily be distinguished from highly concentrated, over defoamed, oil finished syrup. Anybody who says otherwise, has never tasted them side by side. Highly concentrated looks pretty but lacks taste.

[325abn]

I don't have an RO don't use much defoamer and my syrup is certainly real :) :) Never had any complaints about taste!

[Thad Blaisdell]

Its ok Mike I understand, thats why the bulk buyers blend high RO oil fired syrup with us little guys hardly RO at all if any wood fired and blend them to get the syrup to go farther. With just a little of our wood fired caramelized syrup mixed:o in with 20+ gallons of high RO syrup:cry: they can make a lot of semi caramelized Real VT Maple Syrup and then market it as the best syrup in the world. :lol::lol:
I hope this means we are still friends and all

Actually they blend my light tasty syrup with your dark old mud to make an adequate syrup for the general population

[325abn]

Does Bascoms use oil to heat their steam?

[Mark]

12 years ago in my area you could buy #2 oil by the tanker load at 55 cents a gallon. I considered going to oil but never did and now with the high prices I am glad I did not. With my chip burner I can make 4000 gallons of syrup on a semi load of chips that cost $800. Don't have to cut any wood but have to push the chips into a conveyor.

I would like to go to a boiler powered by woodchips and boil with steam. Does anyone know where anyone is using wood to power a boiler?

[tuckermtn]

Mark - depending on what scale you are talking. Plenty of medium scale schools and hospitals around here are using bole chips to run primarily steam for thermal loads. Typically in the 1000-2000 tons per year scale. I work on the supply side of the equation (making chips), but know plenty of folks on the boiler end who could speak to that end of things. But if you are talking about one load of chips per year (30+ tons) that is a much different scale.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Mark - depending on what scale you are talking. Plenty of medium scale schools and hospitals around here are using bole chips to run primarily steam for thermal loads. Typically in the 1000-2000 tons per year scale. I work on the supply side of the equation (making chips), but know plenty of folks on the boiler end who could speak to that end of things. But if you are talking about one load of chips per year (30+ tons) that is a much different scale.

Those numbers are catching my eye ? Dry chips ? Who makes a arch for wood chips ?

[RiverValleySugarhouse]

I just got the new CDL catalog in and they sell a wood chip evaporator with automatic loading system. Looks like it could be a few $$$$$

[tuckermtn]

Mark does...check out his website.

[Mark]

My chip bin holds a load and a half of chips. I am worried about my supply this year and am planning on buying pellets if I get into a bind. I built the arch I am using now and I could easily put my gasifier on a boiler. It would lose a little efficiency because of an extra conversion. Putting the heat into the boiler is easy but how the rest works is what I would like to learn. I like the idea of not being able to burn a pan. What steam pressure are people using? Would low pressure work or do you need high pressure? How often is the niter cleaned off steam coils and how? It seems like you don't need a very large pan from what I have seen.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Actually they blend my light tasty syrup with your dark old mud to make an adequate syrup for the general population
ROFLLLLLL, just you wait once I get that HE injection going and it sterilizes my pipe line at the same time delivering me more sap you guys dont have a chance with quality