converting floats

[arm08260]

I have a set of 2x8 small brothers raised flu pans that i would like to convert the floats over to a better set up and was wondering if anyone has done this and if its possible. The floats that are on there now dont work well and am constantly fighting with them. Any thoughts?

[JoeJ]

I bought a Leader steamaway five or six years ago that had a float that just did not work and had to be constantly adjusted as the sap feedtank level dropped. Last year I saw a float on a new Small Brothers evaporator that looked like it was a great design. I contacted Lapierre in Swanton VT and they had me meet with Gerry Dion (who had worked at Small Brothers for years, Lapierre now). I brought my Leader float box and a drawing of the float system that I had seen to Gerry. He wrote up the order. Lapierre altered the float box, installed the float system that I had seen, and returned the finished new float system in about 6 weeks. It cost me $300. I installed the new Small Brothers float on my Leader Steamaway, adjusted it 2 or 3 times during the first boil and that was it. The new float works perfect under any pressure from the sap feed tank and I did not have to adjust it again all season. $300 might sound expensive, but the new float was more than worth the $300 in solving a 5 season continuing headache.

Gerry told me that Small Brothers built a lot of different float systems so he might be a good source to solve your problems. He sure did a great job for me.

Joe