My evap build with oil question

[sportfreak15]

11020110211102211023
So this has been my project the last couple weeks. Came out good and test fired it tonight. Started by trying a 2.75 hollow nozzle and soon realized that we couldn't get enough air with our current setup to get rid of the black smoke. Changed to a 1.1 solid nozzle with cold water and burned clean for 30 minutes. Got a strong boil in the front pans and the first 6" of the flue pan. Ended up evaporating about 10 gallons of water. Plan for tomorrow is to try a 1.75 nozzle. Do you feel this would show much improvement? Hate to see the last 2 feet of the flues barely boiling. Have yet to install the hood and preheater(started this build a little late)but hope to have it ready next week. Very limited time boiling but judging by what I saw tonight I'm guessing around 25gph after boil starts. Is this all I should expect from a 24x30 drop flue and 24x24 syrup pan or should I keep pushing?

[backyard sugaring]

I builted a homemade 2x 4 originally I played around with the oil tips I have found my 1gal 80 degree nozzle was the best. I have since changed my evaporator around and fire in the rear under my flue pan. When my evaporator had the oil gun in the front i never was able to make the flue pan hard boil. Your oil gun heats a ball of flame, if you tilt your gun up towards your pan without letting the flame touch the pan you will see a increase in your boil. This is my 6 year with my evaporator and I have done a lot of experimenting with it. Good luck. Lee

[sugar ED]

11020110211102211023
So this has been my project the last couple weeks. Came out good and test fired it tonight. Started by trying a 2.75 hollow nozzle and soon realized that we couldn't get enough air with our current setup to get rid of the black smoke. Changed to a 1.1 solid nozzle with cold water and burned clean for 30 minutes. Got a strong boil in the front pans and the first 6" of the flue pan. Ended up evaporating about 10 gallons of water. Plan for tomorrow is to try a 1.75 nozzle. Do you feel this would show much improvement? Hate to see the last 2 feet of the flues barely boiling. Have yet to install the hood and preheater(started this build a little late)but hope to have it ready next week. Very limited time boiling but judging by what I saw tonight I'm guessing around 25gph after boil starts. Is this all I should expect from a 24x30 drop flue and 24x24 syrup pan or should I keep pushing?

Hi sportfreak15, Do u have any pictures of the inside ? is there fire brick all around the inside of fire box ? If so? than ,mine takes a good 2 hours to warm up the brick and really start to shake the rear pan ! It's got 2 " thick brick and a heave metal shield angled so the fire hits it and heads for the rear pan ... think the shield was there mainly to protect the brick as it was wood and oil , I also put haft bricks in the flu area with alternate full bricks to make turbulence under the rear pan and that made a big difference ! Good luck Sapping !

[sportfreak15]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzZtUUo6Hng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuzT9si4OdM

So here is a couple videos of our first attempt with sap in the pans. Used a 1.75 solid nozzle and it seemed to help out a lot. Started with a combination of 25 gallons of sap and 20 bucket shaped ice blocks (got a little cold the night before). 7 minutes all the ice was melted and we were at a boil. Shut it down after 20 minutes of running and had evaporated 9-10 gallons. I figure this to be at least 35gph. Is this consistent to what a purchased rig this size should do? Is the intense boil in the front of the flue pan normal? Today I will be starting the hood!

To answer a couple of the older questions I missed. No fire brick. I lined the inside with 2 layers of 1/2 2400* ceramic blanket. I have pictures of the inside somewhere and will throw them on when I come across them.