When to add wood

[Fred Henderson]

I have been taught to add wood when my stack temp drops by 50 drg. Example, if I am running a 550 stack temp when it drops tp 500 time to add wood. How do the rest of you wood fired guys do it.

[Russell Lampron]

I watch the boil in my front pan. When it starts to die down I fire the evaporator.

Russ

[Parker]

I have an egg timer and set it for 7 minutes,,fire one side every 7 minutes,,(5 minutes with pine),,,the Glenn Goodrich method

[ibby458]

I think a lot depends on your wood and evaporator. With the rig I used last year, I found 15 minutes between firings worked best. More often and the pans cooled too much from the frequent opening of the doors. Let it go too long, and the fire died down too much.

I'll have to figure out this new rig again from scratch. Raised flues instead of drop, 30 wide instead of 24. Natural draft instead of forced. 8' long instead of 9. 14" stack instead of 8 - It's gonna be a whole new ball game!

[Dave Y]

Depends on your rig. Do a test boil and experiment and see what fireing frequnecy give you the mosy concetant boil. your wood and your draft will be a big factor.

[maplwrks]

Fred and Parker are correct on this one. Firing more often with less wood will keep your rig boiling better. This will also help keep the gradient in the pans moving, preventing large draws of syrup which can get you in trouble when the stuff won't move! It will also help you make a better grade ---Hotter Fire= Less time in the Pans= Better grade

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I fire mine 8 times @ hour. 1 time each quarter of the hour on the clock and 1 time halfway between which equates to every 7.5 minutes. :D

[maplehound]

I have been asking this question to many producers. I was always filling my firebox up till the wood touched the bottom of the pan. Then a dealer and long time producer told me I had to have at least 4" of air space between the wood and the pan. The tio of a flame is hotter than the base and you want tose tips licking the bottom of your pan . So the more often you fire with less wood is better. WE try to fire one side at a time but on our 3X8 it isn't always pratical to so so. Larger rigs are much more easy to fire one side at a time.

[Sugarbear]

I like to fire with the little bit and often method.Also one side at time,never have both doors open at the same time.I have found that I can tell when it is time by just listening to the evaporator.I have never timed it but I probably fire somewhere around every 8 to 10 minutes.What you hve for wood can make a difference too.

[802maple]

When I had a woodfired evaporator I was constantly firing. I split my wood small ,if I could, I would not have any pieces bigger than 4 inches in diameter and would fire every couple minutes ,no more than 2 pieces, with the door not open no any longer than 10 to 15 seconds keeping the fire at its peak.

[maple flats]

I did mine the previous years like Parker, a timer/every 7 minutes/ fire on half and next 7 fire other half. This worked good with my 2x6 drop flue. This year with the 3x8 raised I plan to start from there and adjust if needed. I did however just read in the new maple producer's manual that some producers think doing both halves at once and then go longer between is better, I will also try that. Basically try what fits your needs best. The manual said the both sides at once method gives you more time between to accomplish other tasks but then you still need to keep a close eye on the pans so I think I will try both but lean towards the 7 minute/half method myself.

[Sugarmaker]

We fire about every 4-5 minutes but the hard wood/ soft wood mix of pallets and the kindling size, forces us to fire more often.
We can also tell from the sound that the fire is not roaring.
I never boiled with a stack thermometer but it would be another control if you watched and or had a damper to control the draft in the smokestack.

My guide is to try to boil as hard as possible. I want a good rolling boil in all compartments. I guess after boiling for a lot of years just seems natural to be running about wide open.
I do have to watch that we don't get the stack base too hot. At that point we dial the draft back on the blower tunnel or go to low speed on the blower, but fire about the same time intervals.
Chris

[Ed K]

I fire 5 to 7 but only on the sap side. Every other time I poke the hot wood to the syrup side. I was taught to keep the door open only a few seconds if possible.

[Father & Son]

We tried the one door at a time but found out that with the size of the door on the 2 x 6 it was hard to get the wood in in a timely manner. The first year we completely filled the fire box front to back each time we fired. Last year we fired every 8-10 minutes, built the fire in the front of the firebox only and each row of wood was stacked the opposite direction 3 or 4 pieces each time (1 row). Worked well.

Jim

[maple flats]

We split our 20" long wood quite small, none of it needed 2 hands to handle it. Made it about wrist size. Good hardwood with very little soft slab mixed in (just trying to get rid of slab from the saw mill). I found it took little time to fill 1/2 at a time (every 7 minutes), usually was like 3-5 pieces/filling, left it about 4-6" below pans and kept draft almost wide open (it seemed like wide open didn't burn any faster but with more cold air rushing thru the boil slowed slightly)