size of evaporator suggested for 250 - 350 taps

[penfrydd]

Haven't boiled in 40+ years, but looking to retire (in 32 days!) and would like to eventually tap up to 350 taps (maximum). What size evaporator do I need, without RO and without steamaway, etc?


No doubt this question has been asked countless times, but I didn't see it.

[collinsmapleman2012]

a 2x6 or 2x8 would be a nice size, especially if this is on buckets or gravity tubing. should process enough to keep up but you will there long enough to have fun

[penfrydd]

It'll likely be tubing, as the site is shallow to bedrock and I'd rather not loose what little soil there is. When I last made syrup (1972), all the extended family owned dairy farms, so we all had roadside maples. I'm on a different farm now, with essentially no roadside maples. So tubing it will be.

[jrmaple]

Will your tubing be on vacuum or on gravity feed? And how long are you looking to boil for? I would recommend a unit that can boil around 55 GPH. Best of luck.

[heus]

If you will be on vacuum I would suggest at least a 2.5x8 or 3x8. If on gravity tubing a 2x6 would be fine.

[motowbrowne]

For gravity I wouldn't want less than a 2x8. My 2x10 is good for 450, but will be run round the clock when I expand.

[jrmaple]

Like everybody else is saying, I agree a 2.5x8 or 2.5x10 would be ideal, or get a Leader MaX flue 2x6 or 2x8 if you're buying new or sunrise evaporator extreme flue pan which has 16" deep flues and will increase evaporation dramatically. Best of luck again.

[nymapleguy607]

I guess it really depends on how mucj you like boiling. For me I would want something that would boil about 100 gallons an hour, give or take. On the other hand if you are retired and have all day to boil sap and you don't need to collect you could keep up pretty easy with a 2x6.

[Russell Lampron]

For 250 taps a 2x6 would be close to maxed out. I was spending many long nights and early mornings feeding wood to mine when I had 350 taps. If you don't plan on ever adding an RO you should be looking at a 2.5x8 or 3x8 evaporator maybe even a 3x10 but that would be a little large for 250 taps. If an RO could be figured into the plan get a 2x6 then the RO.

[penfrydd]

Just as a base for the discussion, let's assume I go with a 2 X 6 and have all day to boil. Once again, this sugarbush has a max of 350 taps, and likely more like 250. I realize I can boil for less time with a bigger evaporator, and that I can save time with a steamaway, and that I can get an RO, but just for my own figuring, I'd like to get an idea of the "worst" scenario. That way I can justify more bells and whistles, at least in my mind.

So the question now is: how many cords of softwood (hemlock) will I burn with 350 taps and a good season?

So many questions, I know. I appreciate the advice.

[jmayerl]

I would not get any bigger than a 2x6. Avg day boil would be 4-6 hours, some longer, some shorter. If you got anything bigger it would take longer to start up and cool off than actual run time. I ran 1000 taps on a 2x7 and yes had long days but remember that there may only be a few good runs in a year. I would never fire up unless I have enough sap for 4+ hours, takes times for everything to get up to temp and going

[jmayerl]

Last year I burned 8 full cord of crap wood to make 150 gallons of syrup. This year with a few improvements and an RO I burned 2 face cords to make 85 gallons. Huge improvement

[jrmaple]

On a good year, with several long runs, and long days of boiling you can expect to use roughly 4 cord on a 2x6 with no forced air, and no wood saver systems, etc. It also all depends on your firebox, draft, how often you fire it, how packed you keep it, what stack temp you are going for, and how small the wood is split, but I think 4 cord is a safe number for a 2x6.

[motowbrowne]

I made 115-120 gallons of syrup with 5 cords of soft wood this spring. Maybe a half cord of oak in there too. 2x10 with 8' flue pan and natural draft.

We usually luck out when it comes to sugar content, though, I never saw the tank below 3% this year, and at the beginning it was over 4. That helps a lot with the firewood consumption.

You could definitely handle 350 on a 2x6. Make sure it's got a 4' flue pan with flues at least 7" deep. I think you can usually get a 2x8 for not too much more than a 2x6, though, so check that option out too.

Good luck.

[Russell Lampron]

Before I added a blower and steam hood with preheater to my 2x6 I would make about 15 gallons of syrup per cord of wood. Now with those goodies, a bubbler and an RO I make 100 gallons of syrup per cord of wood. The wood that I burn is the limb wood from the trees that I cut to feed my outdoor wood boiler which is about 50/50 soft and hard wood.

[cncaboose]

I would go with the 3x8 if you are getting a basic evaporator. If you are using a blower, bubbler, preheater, etc you could use one a little smaller. You don't want to be boiling til midnight and it will give you a bit of extra capacity in case you get crazy and wind up with 400+ taps at some point.

[PerryW]

I tried to use a 2x6 with 275 gravity taps back in 1988 and it was too small. And these were trees w/ small crowns in shallow, ledgy soil.

[BigAl'sSapShack@WBM]

I do about 240 good running taps with pretty high sugar content on a 2X6. Dad works from 6-2:30 all week and now I go to college. Hes able to handle the 240 pretty easily. I think if you had all day and didn't mind spending some time in the sugarhouse you could 350 gravity on a 2X6 but this is just my opinion.

[stoweski]

2x6 with steam hood & preheater.
Gingrich 125 RO

With those two running at top speed you won't have a problem with too much sap. And you won't be killing yourself. Well, with long boils. Instead you'll be drawing off more frequently.

With a smaller rig you'll have more room in your shack for other toys! :)

[motowbrowne]

This is just my opinion, and I don't want to start anything, but with less than 1000 taps, I just don't get the RO. Personally, I like making firewood, and love burning it. If someone told me I could burn half the wood to make the same amount syrup, I'd be leery, then if they told me it'd dramatically increase my time messing with valves and other plumbing as well as cleaning membranes I'd say "forget it". That doesn't even take price into account. What's a cheap RO cost?? I don't think I'd use an ro if someone gave me one. I'd sell it, sell my rig, and buy a 3x12.

Obviously if you've got more taps and a nice heated facility, it starts to make way more sense, but I'll burn the wood

[Russell Lampron]

This is just my opinion, and I don't want to start anything, but with less than 1000 taps, I just don't get the RO. Personally, I like making firewood, and love burning it. If someone told me I could burn half the wood to make the same amount syrup, I'd be leery, then if they told me it'd dramatically increase my time messing with valves and other plumbing as well as cleaning membranes I'd say "forget it". That doesn't even take price into account. What's a cheap RO cost?? I don't think I'd use an ro if someone gave me one. I'd sell it, sell my rig, and buy a 3x12.

Obviously if you've got more taps and a nice heated facility, it starts to make way more sense, but I'll burn the wood

Everyone has a right to their opinion and here is my reasoning for having an RO with less than 1000 taps. I have a 2x6 evaporator and when I got it I built a 12x24 sugar house. Half of it was a 12x12 evaporator room amd the other half was a woodshed. I quickly out grew my 2x6 and was left with 2 choices. Choice one, tear down my sugar house and start over again with a bigger evaporator room and then sell my 2x6 and get a 3x10 or larger evaporator. Expense unknown but in the ball park of $10000 or more. Or choice 2, buy an RO for $5000 and keep my existing sugar house and build an RO room in the woodshed. I also get to keep my 2x6 evaporator. I chose choice #2 and have never regretted the decision. The plumbing, cleaning of membranes and other RO related operations or chores are really not very time consuming and the savings are tremendous. I can boil the concentrate from 1000 gallons of sap in about 3 1/2 hours and make 100 gallons of syrup with 1 cord of wood. The best part is that I get to bed at a reasonable hour so that I can get enough sleep to go to my day job the next day and still function.

[wiam]

This is just my opinion, and I don't want to start anything, but with less than 1000 taps, I just don't get the RO. Personally, I like making firewood, and love burning it. If someone told me I could burn half the wood to make the same amount syrup, I'd be leery, then if they told me it'd dramatically increase my time messing with valves and other plumbing as well as cleaning membranes I'd say "forget it". That doesn't even take price into account. What's a cheap RO cost?? I don't think I'd use an ro if someone gave me one. I'd sell it, sell my rig, and buy a 3x12.

Obviously if you've got more taps and a nice heated facility, it starts to make way more sense, but I'll burn the wood

In my case my RO buys me time mostly to sleep. I work close to 50 hrs per week besides sugaring.

[lpakiz]

Not sure how old you are, but you mentioned that you like to make wood. That used to be me, 20 years ago. Now, at 64, when someone describes a big evaporator, my back starts to hurt. Wood savings would be a major reason for an RO for me.

[motowbrowne]

I knew you guys wouldn't let that fly.

First, guilty as charged, i'm 27, 6'2" and 225, so I understand you guys who've put in your time splitting and are ready for a change are coming from a different perspective. Also, William, since you have 1000 taps, I get that too, like I said originally.

Still though, guys, he's talking about maxing out at 350 taps. I run 400 comfortably on a 2x10. No ro, no blower, plain Jane, as they say. For that many taps I just don't see the numbers working better to design the system with an ro. If you had 200 on your 2x6 and outgrew it, sure, but if you're starting from scratch I personally don't think that's the way to go.

No offense to guys that run them, but I'll stick with the basics for a few more decades.

[motowbrowne]

Oh, forgot to mention, I split it all by hand too. I have a gransfors bruks maul, which I LOVE. I also just got a tractor with a loader and forks. I can drop a tree, buck it in place (or skid with my farmi) split in place on the ground, then get real close with a wood rack on the forks. I pick it up once to put it on the rack, then once to put it in the evaporator, since I can drive to within two feet of the firebox. It doesn't always work like that, and I know everyone's situation is different, but I for me 12 cords split by hand isn't that bad.

[lpakiz]

Sounds like you have things set up really smart and efficient. My dad had a saying " If you don't have it in your head, you need it in your back".
A word of caution-don't wear your body out doing things that are too physical. I tell my young buddies who are proud to be able to split wood all day, " Someday, you will wish you had every one of those maul strokes back"

[Russell Lampron]

Oh, forgot to mention, I split it all by hand too. I have a gransfors bruks maul, which I LOVE. I also just got a tractor with a loader and forks. I can drop a tree, buck it in place (or skid with my farmi) split in place on the ground, then get real close with a wood rack on the forks. I pick it up once to put it on the rack, then once to put it in the evaporator, since I can drive to within two feet of the firebox. It doesn't always work like that, and I know everyone's situation is different, but I for me 12 cords split by hand isn't that bad.

I am 57 years old and do cut a lot of wood, just not for my evaporator since the RO. I have an outdoor wood boiler and my son has a wood stove. We cut around 25 to 30 cords of wood a year to keep all of the wood burning things around here fed.

[stoweski]

What's a cheap RO cost??


Ray's 125 is around $1300 last I knew. Shipping adds another $200 or so.

Built one this year (my season bit the big one so I never used it) total was just over $1200. Nice part is I can add two more membranes if I want. You're right, plumbing and cleaning part are problems that need to be considered but as other people have mentioned, someone with a full time job doesn't have the time to sit up all night and boil. As fun as it is I need my sleep. Although I haven't run it yet, the RO should save me a lot of time boiling and splitting/stacking wood. I was also looking for a way to cut back on my wood consumption.
Now, that said, if I didn't work full time I probably would have opted for a preheater and just split more wood. It's nice to hear everyone's opinion though so it gives people plenty of options!

[PerryW]

No ro, no blower, plain Jane, as they say. For that many taps I just don't see the numbers working better to design the system with an ro. If you had 200 on your 2x6 and outgrew it, sure, but if you're starting from scratch I personally don't think that's the way to go.

No offense to guys that run them, but I'll stick with the basics for a few more decades.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[lastwoodsman]

Ray's 125 is around $1300 last I knew. Shipping adds another $200 or so.

Built one this year (my season bit the big one so I never used it) total was just over $1200. Nice part is I can add two more membranes if I want. You're right, plumbing and cleaning part are problems that need to be considered but as other people have mentioned, someone with a full time job doesn't have the time to sit up all night and boil. As fun as it is I need my sleep. Although I haven't run it yet, the RO should save me a lot of time boiling and splitting/stacking wood. I was also looking for a way to cut back on my wood consumption.
Now, that said, if I didn't work full time I probably would have opted for a preheater and just split more wood. It's nice to hear everyone's opinion though so it gives people plenty of options!


My 125 from ray last yr was 2200.00.
For my needs and how little time it takes to prep it for summer storage it is well worth the value. I love to make wood also but as Larry said when you get older there is better ways to spend your time.
When you see the barrels fill with permeate and that just equates to wood and time saved it is amazing.

Woodsman