Preheater

[Soggy Syrup]

I am new to syruping, and have only used turkey fryers so far. Through my limited experience, I am hooked and am looking to get "real" equipment for this coming spring. My question is about preheaters that sit on top of the pan, I believe referred to as piggy back heaters. How much do the increase efficiency? Does it slow down evaporation in the main pan? How big should my preheaters be in comparison to my main pan?

[madmapler]

A piggyback is a far more complicated apparatus that is used mainly with larger evaporators. It evaporates water with the steam from the pan. A preheater does only that " preheat" the sap so as to maintain the rapid boil in the pan. Once you figure out what you are going to use for an evaporator next year, do a search on this site for preheaters and you'll find all sorts of info.