Newbie question on the flues/compartments in a boiling pan

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

So...what is the purpose of them? Does the sap flow to the front as it becomes closer to syrup and the sap with the higher water content stay in the back compartments? I guess I have never seen a "real" setup running and im curious whats the purpose of the sections in the boiling pan.

Thank you!

[Jeff E]

The idea of compartments is to have a flow of the sap. It enters the pans via a float box, so the level stays constant. As water evaporates from the sap, the level drops, and more sap goes in to the first compartment via the float box. The new sap pushs the sap that was boiling forward into the next compartment, which does the same into the next forward compartment. The net effect is that the sap that has been boiling the longest keeps getting pushed to the last compartment, which gets more and more concentrated.

The Flues simply are a method of getting a lot more surface area for sap to contact the hot pan. In other words, bigger boil. My flue pan is a 3x8, or 24 sq Ft. if it were flat. Because of the flues, it has a surface area of about 100 sq ft.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Thank you very much!!!

[Jeff E]

Your welcome. Enjoy the evaporator.
Regarding you signature comment of 60-1. I have done some agressive management of my woods, helping the maples get more crown by opening the canopy around them.
I did the majority of this work 6 years ago and have seen my average sugar content steadily go up. I was averaging about 2% back then, and now am up to 2.75% last year.
Something to think about.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I wish i had that option....most of my trees are in the woods and are surrounded by 60+ft tall pines....the whole wood line is a mix of maples and giant pines. Its just something I have to deal with unfortunately.

[feathercast]

So I have to ask, in order to make this set up work, does it go in level or do you make it slope? Also I've read that syrup comes out the other side. Do you still have to filter & finish it?