open top pre heater

[monterey]

As all of us know the hotter the sap is when it hits the pan the faster it will start to boil and evaporate. So one thing that I have been trying this year is a open top pre heater .Is what I did was take a 18 x 20 pan about 1. 250 deep and set it on top of the dividers and ran the sap from the float valve to the pan ware it could do some evaporating before it went into the pan,and started the cooking down processes. It seems to be working very well and I was wondering if there is any one else who has tried something like this before.
The other thing that I noticed was that the temp in the pan got hotter faster ,just like a lid on a pot on your stove .I liked that also.

Thanks for reading Roger the electric arch guy

[motowbrowne]

In your design, is there a way for the moisture that condenses on the bottom of your preheater to leave the area and not drip back into your pan?

[monterey]

This year there is not but I have found once the pan gets up to temp that is not a issue like the pipe pre heaters .Next year I am thinking of building a continuous flow pan about 1 1/4 deep and cover more of the main pan.
With that cover on there is get hot an right now .

Thanks for the feed back Roger the electric arch man

[mellondome]

Pipe preheaters use a drip pan to catch the condensation and direct it to the hood channel.

[beaglebriar]

Do you have a picture? Sounds like this would kill your evaporation rate but I could be wrong.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

sounds kinda like a mini steam away with out air injection.

would think there has to be condensation, your bringing in 40 deg sap into a very hot closed environment.

[motowbrowne]

There either is condensation or you aren't heating the sap. That's how steam transfers it's heat, by condensing. If you aren't removing the condensation it's going back in your pan.

[monterey]

Well first off I don't preheat the way everybody else dose .I preheat in the first of the 4 pans on continuous flow pan there for I have no condensation .Then the sap goes to the float where it then is directed to the open top pan that sets on top of the pan and then the preheated sap can evaporate before going into the first of the 4 pans .This works very well .Then pan on top acts as a lid so the pan heats up faster and boils harder. And the sap is not only 170 degrees hotter going in but it is sweeter. A win win for me .The steam or vapor that is coming out from around this is almost like a pot that is over boiling .It is something that is cool just to watch .One thing that I have found out is your vapor will generate about 170 or so degrees so if you incoming sap is close to that life is good on the condensation thing .One thing that I am not going to do is to stumble over a a few drips of water to pick up a drip of sap..When you think of condensation you get that when there is a degree of difference on one side or the other when the two sides are the same there is none or very little .So when this system gets up yo temp boiling is very good.
And as one reader pointed out next year I want to try putting air into the mix st help evaporate .The only down fall I can see is then the sap will cool down some and I might have to add a drip pan I hope not as that will slow down the heating up time.

Thanks for all the feed back great info here Roger the electric arch guy