Considering a 3x8, have questions for the experts

[bison1973]

I can buy a 3x8 raised flue with a hood and pre heater. At this point I know it will easily handle my 600 taps. But down the road I could possibly put a total of 1300 taps to it. If I add forced draft and a steam-away in the future will the 3x8 be adequate?

Thanks for your opinions,

Tim

[Pete33Vt]

I don't see why it shouldn't. Is it wood or oil fired? Also think of the time you have avalible to boil. There is one operation up here that is running 2400taps on a 3x8 but with R.O.. That would give you the ability to do it.

Good luck
Pete

[tapper]

Pete is right. 600 or 700 taps on a 3 x 8 is probably all you want to do with out an ro. I think a lot of guys team this size evaporator with an ro and do well over a thousand taps.

[maplwrks]

I run 4800 taps on a 2 1/2x8

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Yeah, Mike, but you are special. Not too many other guys can draw off 15 to 20 gallons of syrup per hour off of a 2.5 x 8 either. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mapleking on here has a 3x8 and with an airtight arch and preheater, he can boil off 100 to 120 gph. Add a steamaway to it and probably to push 150 gph or more. :D

[mountainvan]

I have a 2 1/2x 10, same boiling as 3x8, and had 1500 taps before I got my ro. It can be done, but it makes for long days and nights on the big runs. Most days it was not a problem.

[brookledge]

Tim
I had a plain 3X8 with no preheater and a basic arch that I averaged 50-55 GPH. I had around 650 taps and was boiling way to many hours on a good year. If you have a good vac. system and are making 1/3 to 1/2 gal. of syrup per tap then its alot of work.
I now have a 3X12 that I'm getting 140GPH with 700 taps. Most days I'm getting over 1 gal of sap per tap with my vac. system so my boil time per day is around 6hrs. per day.
If you have a new 3X8 with all the bells and whistles and are getting 90-100GPH you do the math and decide what you are willing to commit to hours in the sugar house.
Everybody is different as far as how much time they have to boil every day. I have a full time job plus 2 small kids so I don't like to boil more than 6 hrs. a day.
But if I was able to spend more time boiling I'd go get more taps.
Remember that most ratings on tapsize for evaporators is 10hrs. of boiling per day
Keith

[bison1973]

Guys, thanks for your responses so far. To answer a few questions that were asked... this is a new unit, it is a food fired arch, these taps are all on buckets and gravity tubing, probably wouldn't ever go to a vaccum system, and I could committ 12+ hours to boiling if it had to be done. So could up to 1300 taps be done eventually on this evaporator with all the modifications but no R/O?

I'm looking forward to more input from all of you!

Thanks,

Tim

[Sugarmaker]

bison1973,
We can get about 80-90 gallons per hour on the old 3 x 10. We push it hard to get that much. Our rig is not as efficient as the newer evaporators. No air tight doors and less flues. So your 3 x 8 with some add ons may do 120 + GPH.

1300 taps x 2 gal /tap ( big run) = 2600 gal to boil / 120GPH = 22 hours of boiling! That's a bunch! Forced draft and the steam away would help! But I don't think on a big run you could get it all boiled in 12 hours. And 12 hours of straight boiling is ....well tiring, especially with wood. Just a lot of moves to make. Or you need some good helpers to boil for/with you.

I would agree that 600 taps sounds like it would close to your limit, with out spending a lot more money.

I take 1/2 days of vacation to gather 400 + taps on buckets and then boil in the evenings, makes for a full long day. Our biggest run was about 800-900 gallons of sap in one day. If I was considering 1300-1400 taps or more seems that a R.O would be the way to go with a medium sized rig like a 3 X 8. If we had a R.O I think I would consider oil fired. Since it would cut down on a lot of labor and the cost of oil per gallon of syrup would be lower.

Sugarmaker

[bison1973]

Well, the reason I'm tempted to buy this rig is that it's a very good deal. It's a complete raised flue evaporator with stainless arch and stack. Stainless hood w/preheater with stainless stack. Both stainless roof jacks and stack covers. And it's thousands less than a basic 3x10 drop flue(galvanized arch& stack with no other options) I was looking at.

Tim

[Russell Lampron]

Sounds like a good deal. Get the 3x8 and when you outgrow it buy an RO machine and add more taps. I rarely boil for 6 hours or more with 500 taps and a 2x6 with RO machine. Before the RO it would take 6 hours to boil in 150 gallons of sap, now it takes 6 hours to boil in 600 gallons of sap.

Russ

[Parker]

I would think if it were that good a deal you could always sell it ,,make money on the sale and get something bigger..the bigger you go the cheaper they are,,I know of a 6x16 for $2500 and its not half bad,,,,just dont build your sugarhous too small

[oneoldsap]

Bison1973








Bison1973
The steam away is always a good choice, Doesn't use any power, Doesn't require Cleaning and rinsing at least once a dayand that sucker don't have any moving parts, plus it only costs 1/2 what an R.O. does. If you enhance your arch with forced air You will more than double your evaporation rate so go ahead and add on those taps, feed your addiction my friend I';ts perfectly legal.

[maplehound]

I do 700 taps on my 3X8 Dellair. We do boil some day s10 - 12 hours just to keep up but for the most part it keeps up. If I would to expand at this point to more taps I would have to add an RO machine. WE figure that our rig with out a preheater does 90 - 100 gal an hour and this year we were going to be using a new hood and preheater on it. ( just have to look at it now though with my back and all) WE were hoping for 120 gal per hour. Always next year.