New homemade evaporator for a partimer

[brikel]

8810



Here is a evaporator that I have put together with an old wood Burner that I no longer needed to use. what are your thoughts and or suggestions.


2nd year making syrup. used a turkey fryer last year on 5 taps. planning 12 taps this year and firing up this homemade evaporator.

[G0J0]

looks nice. much easier than cement blocks =)

[happy thoughts]

Have you done a test boil? JMHO and I mean this kindly :), but I think you're going to burn a lot of wood and not get the evaporation rate you want or need especially if you'll be running more taps than last year. If you want to speed things up, put some smaller pans on the top to use for preheating. You're wasting heat there. Andt that said, I think you'd be better off with a block arch, a longer firebox and more pans that could be set directly over the fire for more efficient heating,

[brikel]

Thanks happy thoughts, I have not done a test boil yet, I plan on that this weekend. Just finished it up yesterday. I do have plans on setting warming pans by the stack to utilize that space. I also cut the flat part of the wood burner out under the pan so that the fire has contact with the pan. I put a gasket material around the cut out to help retain heat to the bottom of the pan.

[happy thoughts]

I also cut the flat part of the wood burner out under the pan so that the fire has contact with the pan. I put a gasket material around the cut out to help retain heat to the bottom of the pan.

That should help a lot I think. That's similar to the stove we used to heat our old house. I know that going full blast with dry hardwood and the doors and damper wide open, getting a large flat pan of sap to steam and bubble on that lower tier took longer than you would think. Just the same, good luck with it. Hope you make lots of syrup this year.

[Big_Eddy]

Looks good for 10-25 taps. As suggested, add a warming pan on either side on the top shelf so you always have hot sap to add. You could even cut out the top on either side for better heat transfer, but I don't think I would.

[maplerookie]

It looks great. I like the wheels for ease of movement. be sure to lock em down when firing. nothing worse than a run away arch coming down the street at you!...lol. seriously I think it will be fun to use. do you have a draft door at the bottom. I would suggest that...it will really get your fire cranking. Best of luck this season.

[brikel]

Bill,
The doors have draft controls in them. I will do my best to keep it locked down LOL.

[Stilrz]

I will be trying something similar with a pellet stove. My plan is to surround the stove with insulating fire brick. Hopefully getting enough convection heat to boil the overhangs. Alas my RO unit won't arrive till next week so I do not have experience...

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[brikel]

I boiled 11 gallons of sap this past weekend finished a quart of syrup. all in all I was pleased with the results and will do some tweaking of a few things as the season goes. if we get some good weather.