Anyone utilizing a wood chip boiler in their sugaring operation?

[Ball Brook Maple]

I am toying with the idea of burning wood chips in my evaporator and have already made a few calls about having a boiler built. Is anyone burning chips in their evaporator?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

VVS High School, Verona NY

[Ball Brook Maple]

We have two colleges, a middle school and high school burning chips in Bennington. I own a few big chippers, chip transferring equipment etc. and while I was bucking slab wood this weekend I was thinking how much easier it would be to just chip the slabs into my wood shed. I burn about 25 cords of slab wood each year in my sugar house and it's getting old lol. I had the contact info for a guy building pellet burning furnaces in the Burlington area so I'm waiting to see if he'd be interested in building a wood chip burner.

[syrup junkie]

I think Danielsonsugarbush, a member on this forum, has a wood chip evaporator.

[n8hutch]

Pretty sure there's at least one in Vermont, think they built it themselves, search old posts I think there is a thread about it.

[tuckermtn]

yes, member name Mark on here has a wood chip burner he designed and built himself. lots of old threads on this - search wood chip

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?21082-Burinig-wood-chips&highlight=wood+chip

some discusion toward the end of this thread:

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?20913-Pellet-arch-journal&highlight=wood+chip


The Gagnes from Highgate Vt. I think also had a chip evaporator - think they adapted a Leader?

[Jason Gagne]

Yes we burn woodchips and it works great for us. We added four feet onto the front of a Leader 5X14 to except the woodchips, we auger them in continuously for a constant heat. Its a lot of small pieces that work to make one big one. Made over 13,000gallons on it this year. The wireless vacuum monitoring system(TapTrack) has alot to do with making that production level.

We will be one to the stops on the Vermont Maplerama tour this year, come see it run.

[nymapleguy607]

Has anyone on a small scale just shoveled in chips over the coals after the fire is established?

[madmapler]

Theres a guy in Colrain, Ma. who uses one. He's "Rockmaple" on the trader. Although he does'nt post much, you could try to contact him. I know he likes it.

[Jason Gagne]

A friend of ours built a wood chip unit for his 2 by 4, his name is Josh Laroche in Swanton. He tinkered with it all season and made close to a barrel of syrup off it.

[ennismaple]

Has anyone on a small scale just shoveled in chips over the coals after the fire is established?

My guess is this would be difficult unless you have air under fire and air over fire. A few shovels of damp(ish) wood chips could smother a bed of coals pretty quick with a natural draft.

[maple flats]

The closest I've ever come to burning ships, is when I clean up around the front of the evaporator while boiling. It seems I often get a qty. of bark pieces mixed in with lots of chainsaw sawdust/chips. I sweep it and sometimes there is enough to fill a really large dustpan (industrial size). I open the door and toss it in, this does not smother the fire, it flashes immediately and burns. This however is not the same as filling the arch with chips as a main fuel. I think however, if you can add then often enough in smaller batches it could work. However I think that may keep you overly busy and detract from other things to do, along with some of the enjoyment.

[Mark]

I was told D&G would put a larger feed tube in their pellet arch for chips if someone wanted to give it a try.

[Mark]

9734

Here is a picture of the one I built.

[Ball Brook Maple]

9734

Here is a picture of the one I built.

That's awesome! Nice job I really like how clean the fabrication was done.
I'm looking to use chips but on a smaller evaporator. I have a 30" x 8' forced draft unit with max combo pans. I have the clean wood, I have the chippers and trucks and even a machine to transfer chips.
I have located a chiptec boiler unit that was set up residentially and removed because they couldn't find chips. I'm hoping to some how modify this unit to fit my evaporator but I'm still learning about how to burn chips.

[Mark]

That's awesome! Nice job I really like how clean the fabrication was done.
I'm looking to use chips but on a smaller evaporator. I have a 30" x 8' forced draft unit with max combo pans. I have the clean wood, I have the chippers and trucks and even a machine to transfer chips.
I have located a chiptec boiler unit that was set up residentially and removed because they couldn't find chips. I'm hoping to some how modify this unit to fit my evaporator but I'm still learning about how to burn chips.
I would like to bolt mine on the front of a steam boiler and boil with a steam pan. I have been reading the regulations on steam boilers in Michigan and it looks like it would be costly even if I already had the boiler.

[maple flats]

Steam is nothing to dabble in. Don't try to make your own. If you do use steam, buy the unit and then fit the pans with the exchange tubes. Steam in homemade rigs are a real explosion hazard. Steam has an almost unlimited force if done wrong.

[Mark]

Steam is nothing to dabble in. Don't try to make your own. If you do use steam, buy the unit and then fit the pans with the exchange tubes. Steam in homemade rigs are a real explosion hazard. Steam has an almost unlimited force if done wrong.
I wouldn't try to make my own and would have someone set it up. What I mean is my chip burner would power the boiler. A local guy 20 years ago was putting them on boilers at schools. It was a neat setup but the price of oil went down and they went back to oil. Mine is the same size as the ones that went on the 250hp boilers.

In Michigan even if you had it set up by a person with a boiler installer license you could not change a steam coil in the pan on your own. I did some checking, you would need a union worker to come in and work on the coils if they need to be removed or reinstalled. I have been told by a guy that boils with steam in Vermont that there are no regulations in Vermont and no inspections. It is completely different than Michigan.

[maple flats]

After all that being said, Bascom boils for his 60,000 taps (or maybe he's up to 80,000 now) on a single steam powered boiler. It looked to be maybe 6' x 16' (but I didn't measure it), just a single syrup pan. In each channel is a steam tube. Done right steam is a super method. As I understand it, boiling with steam you can burn the syrup nor the pans.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bascom is running 82,000 taps now and they told me it was impossible to burn the syrup.

[GeneralStark]

It is impossible to burn a pan or syrup with steam. I suspect MapleFlats had a typo there. I think for large producers steam makes a lot of sense if done correctly. I was involved for several years with an operation using steam. We were using waste oil which made it tricky sometimes to keep the burner going. Chips would be a good fuel with a boiler and steam pans.

The disadvantage to steam is it is way more complicated and more parts and pieces that can break, and you need a good water supply at 30+ PSI to be safe.

[S&STappers]

Mark, have you checked out RMG's operation in Rudyard? I believe their finishing pan is run on steam.

[Mark]

Mark, have you checked out RMG's operation in Rudyard? I believe their finishing pan is run on steam.
No I have not, I would like to run the whole thing on steam and burn chips. If you were going to do just a finisher a small oil fired boiler would be a lot easier. The boilers that I have seen for finishers don't look much bigger than a water heater.

[Ball Brook Maple]

So I purchased the chip burning unit that I'd like to bolt to the front of my evaporator. The price was very reasonable and I believe the unit is well built. The burner is a chiptec B2 which I think is only a 200,000 BTU unit. I have a 30" X 8' inferno arch and I have to believe the combination of wood and air is burning hotter than 200,000 BTUs?
Also, the hopper is made of heavy gauge stainless steel and when I opened the lid used to fill the hopper ( which is held shut with two cam type locks) and the inside of the hopper has a coating of creosote over it. So..... I'm guessing the hopper is actually part of the burn chamber? The chips must start to gasify in the hopper then the gasses are burned along with the chips through the burn process?
I figured whether or not I end up using it with my evaporator I will utilize it somewhere

[tuckermtn]

I think for a 30 x 8 you would like to have closer to 600-700,000 BTUs an hour. my pellet rig runs around 100 lbs. of pellets an hour, and pellets average around 7500-8500 btus per pound.

[Mark]

Green chips are around 4,300 BTUs. For me it really makes a difference in performance if the chips are dry or not and free of fines.

[Ball Brook Maple]

Green chips are around 4,300 BTUs. For me it really makes a difference in performance if the chips are dry or not and free of fines.
So the chips quality/moisture content play a bigger role in the BTU output than the actual size of the boiler or combustion chamber?

[Mark]

So the chips quality/moisture content play a bigger role in the BTU output than the actual size of the boiler or combustion chamber?
Both do, but if the volume of chips is limited try different chips. Get a temp probe and experiment to find out what works best. When we start back up after a pan change the arch is still warm so we load some poor chips to keep the heat down on the first draw off.

[tuckermtn]

I am no expert, but I think even with the perfect chip (dryness, uniform, no fines) you would be hard pressed to generate enough BTUs with a burner rated at 200K for a 2.5 x 8 evaporator. Not trying to discourage expermentation and advancement, just thinking that BTUs are BTUs...
Perhaps Sam from CDL can chime in?

-E

[Mark]

How big is the grate area? Do you have any pictures?

[dan moore]

I recently bought a Chiptec B-2 chip burner attachment. I want to put it in my cellar to heat my house. I tried to contact Chiptec in the Burlington area for a week. I finally got a call back from there guy. He said he wanted absolutely nothing to do with there product that was built over 20 years ago. He wouldnt tell me one thing about it. Basically they have no customer support and I would recommend not buying anything from them.

[GeneralStark]

I recently bought a Chiptec B-2 chip burner attachment. I want to put it in my cellar to heat my house. I tried to contact Chiptec in the Burlington area for a week. I finally got a call back from there guy. He said he wanted absolutely nothing to do with there product that was built over 20 years ago. He wouldnt tell me one thing about it. Basically they have no customer support and I would recommend not buying anything from them.

I'm confused. Did you buy the burner from Chiptec? Is it over 20 years old?

[dan moore]

I bought it private sale and it is old. Im looking for any info I can find on it like a manual or someone that is using one. Thanks Dan