Questions about a used evaporator

[renaissanceman]

Hi:
I've been carrying on the Maple Syrup tradition from my dad for about six years. I tap about 175 to 200 trees. I built a homemade arch in 2011 to fire a three section flat pan but I only boil about 8 gal. and hour and that is more time than my wife wants to spend in the sugar house. Looking at trying to modify and change my arch and buy a Smoky Lake Hybrid 2 x 6, or buy a used 19" x 66" Waterloo small/lapierre evaporator. 19" x 48" Drop Flue is only used two seasons. The arch comes with the Lapierre evaporator for $1900. The seller does not used forced air and says he boils about 15+ gal. an hour. Anyone familiar With this ? It's the smallest one in their catalog. The Smoky Lake does twice that much per hour but trying to figure the cost difference as that setup would add another $1000 at least If I give up on my arch. I'm getting tired of trying to make -do and would like to just make syrup. Any sage advice? I'm posting a question as to smoking problems with the old arch on another thread.
Thanks,
Orren

[Sunday Rock Maple]

If you can do the extra $1K then do it, if you keep the rig for ten years the cost difference per year is not that big and you will enjoy the better rig with the faster boil.

[BAP]

If you have any plans of adding more taps, I would go with the bigger one. I have a Maple Pro 20"x66" with a drop flue rear pan and flat pan up front. I tapped 150+ last year and will probably add a few more this year. At 200 taps I feel it would be maxed out, unless I boiled extremely long hours on it. The 2x6 would give you more boiling ability.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

At 200 taps I would definitely lean towards the 2x6, so you can keep up with the heavy run and enjoy making syrup. Any upgrade will always help. Good luck this year.

[Sugarmaker]

You mentioned one key word! WIFE! If she is doing some or all the boiling then going from a 30 hour boil to a 16 hour boil is much better. I know you may be limited most of us are in one way or another but I would take that potential 250 gallons of sap and work it into a rig that would allow you to boil all the sap in 8 hours max. or less. So I think you need a rig that will boil about 40 gallons per hour for your wife to be happy:) Gets you done in about 6-8 hours.
Look for a good used one, as it may be a stepping stone for you.
Regards,
Chris