Cleaning The Flues Makes a Big Difference

[Bruce L]

Went at it this morning , woodpile burnt back away from front of arch so I can get the 14' pole with brush in. Had 500 gallons of sap in the tank, lit the match, sap gone in under 2 hours.

[ennismaple]

It is worth the effort and soot on your face Bruce! We brush ours before every boil. When we swap out the front pan we climb into the firebox and to make it easier to reach the back of the flue pan with the brush.

You still loving your Leader evaporator?

[Ontario Ian]

never really did this in the past. but last year we cleaned the evaporator with ropy pan (cdl) and never took the pans off. never thought much of it but they never got pressure washed (which they always do every year). our first boil this year seemed like we where only boiling 90 gallons an hour, rigged up a brush and we where back 150gph. they where pretty bad.

[Bruce L]

Hi Marty, never lift the pans off here as with the revolution pans I just reverse direction pretty quick, also afraid of the gaskets falling into the arch if we were to lift the pans. Very happy with the Vortex evaporator, it sure can walk through a pile of sap in a hurry.