help planning dividers

[mi-maple]

I'm trying to plan out the pan that I'm going to have built by a friend who is very skilled at working and welding stainless steel. I'm thinking I want a 2x8 continuous flow which I plan on putting on a nice block arch. What is the most efficient way to put the dividers and should they be bent to a 90 with a small lip and welded on to the pan? Do they need to be welded all the way across or just spot welded? Also how do you plug the dividers when you shut down? Thanks everyone

[superiorsyrup]

HI and welcome to our addiction. I am by no means an expert and have found this site has a lot of great info on it. I can tell you what I did and it seams to be working for us. I have a 2x6 sap pan and 2x2 syrup pan. On our sap pan I ran the dividers 6' (two of them). I did bend a small lip and tacked the pans together ours are also stainless. IT takes a good couple hours to get a gradient going but we get one every time. I also have a 16" x 10" x 2' copper pre-heat pan. With our home made set up we have it on our own custom built arch and we are currently cooking 20 gallons per hour. Last year our average GPH was 15.625.

Have fun and enjoy the sweet rewards

[mi-maple]

Thank you for your help. Do you seal your dividers somehow when you shut down?

[Ausable]

I'm trying to plan out the pan that I'm going to have built by a friend who is very skilled at working and welding stainless steel. I'm thinking I want a 2x8 continuous flow which I plan on putting on a nice block arch. What is the most efficient way to put the dividers and should they be bent to a 90 with a small lip and welded on to the pan? Do they need to be welded all the way across or just spot welded? Also how do you plug the dividers when you shut down? Thanks everyone

I have a 2' x 5' flat steel continuous flow pan that one of my Son's and a Grandson built for me. Yep - We made some mistakes - but - we also did a lot of things right. Is Your pan going to be flat? Many like flues or drop flue sap pans - it gives You more surface area to heat when doing a boil. Ok - Your sap area should take up at least half of the total pan - mine is less than that - but - still works. OK - My idea - side to side divider in the center. You now have a 2' x 4' sap section and syrup section. In the back of the pan - toward the stack - is the sap section - put in one divider lengthwise - You now have two 1' x 4' sap sections. In the front - on the fuel door side - in the syrup pan - two dividers lengthwise which will give you three syrup sections 8" x 4'. Before welding anything in - work it out on paper and figure how you want your serpentine path to go - starting in the first sap section and winding through to the last syrup section and draw off valve. I have two tapered plugs and receivers with a handle welded on each plug (flat stock) One located between the last sap section and the first syrup section -- The other is located between the second syrup section and the last syrup section. I use this to isolate my continuous flow when I pull the fire and put it to bed till the next boil. that way the gradient doesn't mix when it cools down and when I crank up again - I'm making syrup a lot quicker. My other openings in the dividers are one inch x one inch. Hey! I missed some things - but I hope I gave You the general idea. I run mine without a float valve just by adjusting flow from my feed tank. So it can be done that way - a float valve makes life easier. --I'll stop here. Good luck.

[Ausable]

Oh Yeh! My dividers are welded all the way. Although - some just spot weld. Nice to have a Grandson that is a very skilled welder and likes his Grandpa. lol