Syrup Draw - Lapierre Junior 18x60

[maplebird]

Hi folks,
Finished up the season today. This year I had 50 taps (buckets) and made 7.5 gallons syrup. This was my first year with an 18x60 Lapierre Junior evaporator with a blower into the draft door. I know there are many factors that affect evaporation rates, but I'm wondering if others out there with the same/similar rig could share how frequently they draw syrup and how many gallons per draw? I averaged a draw of about 1 gallon every 3 hours or so. I've boiled on larger evaporators before and I expected to be less efficient with this evaporator but those numbers seem really low to me. Thanks for any input.

[Big_Eddy]

An 18x60 without a blower can boil 15-20 gallons of sap an hour with small wood and hard firing. Add a blower and I would expect that to increase to 20-30. At 20 gallons an hour on raw sap, you should be producing about a half gallon of syrup every hour (after the initial sweetening)

Depending on evaporator design and sap depth, you might draw as frequently as every hour or up to 3 hours apart. After I reestablish my gradient for the day, I tend to draw about a gallon every 1 1/2 - 2 hours on my similar sized home built evaporator.

[YAZER]

I have the same evap as you, I will also draw off about a gallon every 2 to 3 hours. I ended up shutting the valve to the syrup pan float and would open and close as needed to have quicker draws @ smaller quantity's. I don't remember last year waiting so long in between draws when I let the float do the work. I also had the problem as Yooper Kevin with the CDL 18x60, sap pan was golden yellow, when I noticed this that is why I started playing with the valve to try and make syrup quicker. This was not an issue last year @ all. I don't run a blower and my front pan boils great all 3 sections.

[maplebird]

Thanks Yazer and Big Eddy. Yazer I manually controlled the syrup pan float as well since it doesn't seem to create a decent seal. I may have been running the syrup pan too deep. Tried to keep liquid covering the thermometer probe which is probably 2 1/2 - 3 inches deep. Otherwise the thermometer seems to give an inaccurate (low) reading.

[Clinkis]

Thanks Yazer and Big Eddy. Yazer I manually controlled the syrup pan float as well since it doesn't seem to create a decent seal. I may have been running the syrup pan too deep. Tried to keep liquid covering the thermometer probe which is probably 2 1/2 - 3 inches deep. Otherwise the thermometer seems to give an inaccurate (low) reading.

I have the slightly smaller lappierre propane evaporator which I purchased 3 years ago. I believe it has the exact same float boxes on it and I had the same issue with syrup pan float box not sealing properly. After fighting with it for a couple weeks I called my dealer and he got me another one and it did the same thing! At the end of the season I talked to my dealer and he talked to lappierre and they sent me a redesigned float valve and I have had no problems since. When you have properly working float box you can keep a lower level in your syrup pan without worry which I found will draw syrup more frequently. I run mine between 3/4 and 1 inch and I draw about 2L every 40 mins or so. Now I am using an RO so my numbers are probably going to be different.

[randomseeker]

Hi folks,
This was my first year with an 18x60 Lapierre Junior evaporator with a blower into the draft door.

Maplebird, I have the same evaporator (with the same syrup level control problems). I would like to add a blower. What did you use and how did you fit it?

[maplebird]

Sorry for the delay in responding - haven't been on the forum for a while. My blower setup is crude but does add to boiling efficiency. I took a squirrel cage blower, attached duct hose to it with an aluminum can drilled with randomly spaced holes taped to the end. Took the draft door off the arch and replaced it with a piece of sheet metal I had cut to just fit into the space (from the inside) and cut a hole just large enough to insert the can into. If you haven't already insulated the arch door I would recommend it as before I insulated mine the fire got hot enough to make the door glow red. Not the best way to utilize the extra heat output I got from the blower. Good luck!