Venting the Sugar Shack...

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

I have seen most buildings in here using the venting through the roof, the additional dormer style, with the flip down panels to allow the moisture out. If I use a hood over the evaporator is it still a good idea to add this to the structure? My wife smiles and comments on the pictures of fellows sitting in theirs and you can hardly see them for the steam but isn't that the fun of it? I like the way it looks with the addition on top but my shack is 90% built and questioning the work to add it. Suggestions?

[MN Jake]

Building a dormer on a roof for cosmetics is much easier than one that serves a purpose. As long as your design is suited for snow load you shouldn't have a problem with the extra weight. I build for a living and also like the look of dormers and such, but you don't need it with a hood.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

You are talking about the Cupola I think. If you have a hood you can vent that directly through your roof and get steam completely out of the sugarhouse. No drips on your head is nice. However, I would add the cupola for looks, fresh air and natural light either way. I have the cupola, and added hoods this year. But will not be cutting steam vents through roof since I can't afford the roof jacks this year. Will be just venting into cupola and hope that's enough. In the future I plan to run vents out roof to get the steam away.

Yes the steam filling the sugarhouse is nice for a little while, but it does get old when you get dripped on for hours on end.

My 2 cents.
Ben

[maple flats]

I've vented into the cupola for 11 years. Mine works very well. My current pans have hoods over each pan, 15" diameter. I extended them into the cupola where they vent out. Each has a China man's hat type cover and is suspended into the 15" stacks. I use 13" hung from in the cupola and that just hangs down inside the 15" coming up from the hoods. I did it that way, because I have cables on the hood , hooked to a winch and I can raise the hood about 2' for cleaning the pans, without having to remove any stack. Even with the 13" going inside the 15" about 99%+ of the steam goes out the cupola.

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Thinking to put one on it this summer for the looks. Jack

[Sugarmaker]

Jack,
I like the looks of the cupola also, but chose not to add one when we built our sugarhouse 13 years ago. Long debate. Have not regretted it. Steam is vented through 10 inch stacks and steam in the room is almost zero. Very nice to boil in that dry room with out being in a rain forest. I had boiled for years with pen pans and steam hovering at the pan level throughout the sugarhouse. I like this much better. We are generating about 100+ gallons of steam per hour. Question have you boiled in both?
Regards,
Chris