the new leader Clear Filter press anyone get one???

[red maples]

I was wondering if anyone purchased the new Leader Clear plastic filter press yet? looks pretty cool. I will be looking for a filter press for next season. Just wondering if it stands up to what they say it will do. If funding is there (that is if this season ever gets going and we can make some syrup!!!!) then I was thinking of maybe looking into one!!!! I am sure if you do have one you might have been able to use it??? but probably not!!!

But any feed back would be good.

[markct]

I love the idea and looks like a nicely made unit but i dont want to own a unit that takes non standard filter papers just to cover there mistake.

[BAP]

If it works out that plastic filter presses are the way to go, then I would imagine that other manufacturers will follow. If they do, I suspect they will be smart enough to make them in standard sizes.

[markct]

I agree Bap, it was an unfourtanate mistake on leaders part and i understand not wanting to retool but i think it realy hampered the sales of an otherwise good press

[whitetail farms]

I got a deal on one at Verona, havent used it yet but when I do ill let everyone know how it does

[Homestead Maple]

I agree Bap, it was an unfourtanate mistake on leaders part and i understand not wanting to retool but i think it realy hampered the sales of an otherwise good press

I have heard that the papers don't cost any more than the regular 7".

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Gets old on here continual blasting of Leader. I have had nothing but tremendous products and support from them. Had problems with Lapierre products and dealer buried his head in the sand and couldn't get anything done. Bought a really nice 320 gallon feed tank from Lapierre and it was a disaster trying to get anything from them and took months. If Leader was made in China, I think everyone would be happy. No wonder why American made products aren't in demand anymore.

[wwright]

I agree with WestVirginia! We have the clear filter press and it has worked wonderfully

[karl evans]

Thank you ,West Virginia. Now thats way they call it "almost heaven".

[BAP]

I don't think anybody here is against American made products. What people are against is poor designed products and poor follow up product support when something happens no matter who makes it. If you have had good support from Leader, Great, some others haven't. If you have had bad support from Lapierre, that to bad, because many people have had good luck.

[markct]

I am not saying the filter papers cost more just would worry me that down the road if they don't sell a lot of these then eventualy they will either stop selling the papers or they will be expensive due to the limited volume they sell. I love the concept of the press and had they offered one in 10 inch at the time I would have bought it in a heartbeat when shopping for a press. I agree that leader does take a lot of beating, yet at the same time they push themselves as higher notch stuff at a higher price so when things are not right I think that adds to peoples frustration level. You pay more you expect more!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I am just making a point. I know there are plenty on here that have had problems with every company out there but seems the consensus on here is to really let Leader have it a lot. I wouldn't have brought up Lapierre, it was just saying I have had 2 bad experiences with them and probably plenty of others have too but no one seems to bash the other companies, just Leader. I did not post this to try to offend anyone in any way. Dr Perkins was the developer of the check valves and I know there are problems with them and I am sure he hates it as much as Leader. They are likely made by a Canadian company as that is who used to make all their spouts and fittings to my knowledge.

[Homestead Maple]

The spouts are made in Vermont. The recent problems all go back to a problem with the mold that some of the CV2' were made in and not every CV2 mold had problems. Leader contracts with a business to make the spouts for them. I know it's fun for some on here to keep taking pot shots at Leader but if you really look at the whole story behind the recent CV2 situation there's more than what meets the eye on the Trader. Call Leader and they will gladly explain things for anyone.

[wiam]

What astonishes me is that the big suppliers don't seem to look at these forums.

[WESTMAPLES]

I agree with wiam, I would think someone would pay attention to what people say in these threads.

[Spanielslovesappin]

How did this turn into a CV issue I thought folks just wanted to know how the new presses are working?

I too am tired of the leader bashing... they make very good equipment, they employ american workers at what i assume to be decent wages, and they seem committed to advancing the maple industry and improving our ability to be productive. Obviously thats not just Leader but they are one of the key players and also the only american company doing this on a large scale.

Re: the filter press... i have one... It does not take standard papers because its not a standard size press... we should get more syrup through the press i.e. fewer frames with a larger capacity while having less temperature drop and fewer blown out papers. Innovation...

As for the papers if its really a concern you have three alternative choices:
1. Don'd buy this press, i am pretty sure Leader is not sending out their sales force with shotguns demanding you buy their products.
2. Buy bulk filter paper and take a bit of time that would otherwise be used complaining about Leader on the old maple trader and cut out your own papers for the season.
3. Develop, manufacture, market and distribute an even better filter press that uses standard size papers and capitalize on the markets disdain for Leaders unstandardized products.

I will offer a 4th choice as a bonus...
Buy the papers and use them happily knowing you are filtering more syrup with less cost for papers (you use fewer), Fuel (syrup cools less prior to packaging) and perhaps even DE...

[noreast maple]

I dont have one of the clear presses, but the way one of their sales people told me was they designed it that way so you would have to buy whole press instead of buying just the frames to swap out wiyh your old ones. to me that makes good businness sense and im glad they did it that way. shows you that they are thinking anyways.

[markct]

At the maple meeting last fall the guy from leader told us the odd size was because the co making the molds had scaled down a 10 in press and thats how it ended an odd size since a 10 press is actualy 10.5

[TheMapleMoose]

We have one also but have not used it yet. I also assumed that it was an odd size to keep people from trying to put the frames in their aluminum press

[red maples]

Thanks for getting back on track and not a company bashing thread. just wanted to see how the Clear Presses worked. that's all thanks again for the feed back!!!

[markct]

I was very impressed with it when they demonstrated it, I like the stainless mesh instead of the waffle plates, a lot harder to blow a paper that way. I also think it would be great for visitors to see and understand instead of just your syrup going into an aluminum block and then coming out the other side. I have a feeling in time someone will come out with either a complete standard press in plastic or atleast plates to retrofit standard presses. Leader planned to, they just had a mistake in the design process and didn't catch it till the molds were already made, I have some experience with injection molds from when I worked at a company that manufactured small fans and I can tell you I don't blame Leader for not wanting to scrap the tooling and make it a standard size, I once had to take a mold for a 4 inch dia fan blade to the injection molder, it weighed over 2200lbs, they didn't want to ship it freight, not only cause it cost $280,000 to make, but because if it was lost it would take months to make a new one. So as I said I don't blame Leader for going the route they did, but its unfortunate that it happened that way as many people will shy away from it for being non standard, just like when I had my 5 inch press, yes papers are available still but not as easily nor as cheap since its no longer as common, same with the round filter presses that were made years ago, try getting papers for them!

[syrup2nv]

I went with Leader's 15 bank "Clear", just finished putting 125 gallons through it without any issues. Only requiring 23psi to push at the end. I upgraded to the SS Air pump when I ordered it in the fall. No more by-pass valve, and always looking at the pressure gauge. Now, I have my compressor outlet set at 50psi and start with the pump regulator set at 5psi. When the syrup stops pumping I increase at the pump by 5psi.

Its very easy to clean as well. Just be careful when cleaning the hollow plates as there are very sharp spots near the syrup ports.

The #1 reason I went with this press was paper support. There are no low spots like a waffle plate.
Also there is no "hot" area on the press. Luke warm at best. One less thing to worry about when there is visitors.

With only 200 gallons filtered so far, it is up to my expectations.

[markct]

I heard this second hand today, a sugarmaker not too far from here had bought one of leaders clear presses, used it a few times, had just walked out of the room for a minute and came back in to syrup sprayed all over the room due to a plastic frame having blown out. Honestly gota say I didn't expect that to be an issue with these presses but it is a lot of pressure to hold back when you think about it and plastic and heat often arnt the best of friends, lucky it didn't happen while someone was watching it closely! Not beating up leader just relaying info of the incident that I heard

[TheMapleMoose]

We have a 10 plate clear press, and this is out first year using a press. Our pump is frame mounted. The problem I have is the pump won't self prime from a supply source lower than the inlet. In order to get it to feed from my draw off tank it would have to be 16" off the floor..... I'm not working on my hands an knees. Looking for a few pointers I guess. How do I get my press primed and keep the press at a workable height? Or am i back to drawing off into a pail and dumping it over into a higher container?

[wiam]

I would ask Leader why it won't prime. Any I have used would.

[TheMapleMoose]

I mean, it will prime, if the container is higher than the press, but it will definitely not suck syrup from lower container.

[sugarbush dugway]

Hey there "The Maple Moose", we love ours......of course the first time we used it we were ready to go back to the old cone filtering, said a few chosen words and decided to turn off the by-pass valve and we don't have a problem what so ever!! I know the manual tells you to open the by-pass valve but we found that it will not pull the syrup consistently with the by-pass open. We run ours with it closed and it pulls the syrup just fine (even with the press on the stainless steel table and the finishing pan on the floor) the only time we open the by-pass (a little bit at a time) is when it gets over 40 PSI. I hope this helps.........it was just a lesson we learned the hard way. Can't wait to hear back from you stating that this worked for you and you are now loving your press!!

[Randle]

This is our 1st season using the new 7.5" poly press and we absolutely love it. We use the air pump and would never go back to the old style. We filled our 2'x6' finishing evaporator with syrup (about 80 gallons) and we filtered the whole thing into 3 barrels in 30 minutes. Love the ability to see how the filter aid is layering and we add a bit as we go and whisk it in. I feel we could easily do 100+ gallons at a shot and not have to break down the press. On top of that during our last filtering only 4 drops (yes drops) came out of the press into the drip tray. Love this press. Filtering is now super fun (and short) and not a chore.

[ToadHill]

We bought one of the 15 plate presses with an air diaphragm pump. Today we pumped 180 gallons through one set of filters. We did 2 1/2 barrels in the morning and 2 more this evening. With the clear plates you can tell how full the plates are and knowing that and the pressure you can decide whether to push more through it. It never went over 40 psi. When we started the last 2 barrels it was cold and the pressure was over 30 psi, but then dropped back as it warmed up. The air pump took a little getting used to, but like others have said, I will never go back. Also, Leader gave us a plate so we can block of part of the press if we don't have a lot to filter. The only thing I don't like is the drip tray arrangement. It doesn't drain completely and you can't tilt it to drain it. We plan to modify it. Lastly, handling these plates is so much easier than our old 10" aluminum plates.

[theguywiththename]

its the classic monsanto vs dupont. why should one company get bashed more than another that sells the identical product at identical quality. but thats another disscusion. why not go wth some canadian built equipment from d & g? ive seen there equipment and it looks good. i talk to a sugr maker in quebec when i was there who was running alot of d&g equipment and had nothing but good things to say aout there products. also if its used in quebec where the big boys play, it should be good quality!

[whitetail farms]

I have a clear 5 frame press and the first time I used it I couldn't get it to take in any syrup found out it was wired backward once I got the wiring figured out,I ran 5 gals through it and it came out great,I took a couple frames out and put some spacers in cause I don't make any more than 5 gallons a night, but I love the press and couldn't believe the junk that was on the filter papers.

[TheMapleMoose]

We called leader about our pumps lack of suction and they put a new one in the mail. We had it 3 days later. My wife and I had a baby yesterday do I'm not sure how the new pump works but my father has t said anything so I'll take that as a good sign. Always pleased with leaders service.