Mason 2x3 or CDL 18'x48' Wood fired evaporator?

[Jolly Acres Farm]

I'm new to sugaring. This was my first year make syrup. I started the season cooking on a camp stove. After three days of boiling on that I decided I needed to upgrade. Moved up to the camp stove plus a turkey fryer with stainless steel pot. After about 4-12 hour days boiling on that I decided to add a 65000 btu burner. At that point I was collecting much more sap than I could boil. I then made a concrete block wood fired arch, holding 3 stainless steam table trays. That set up worked well, I was able to boil 3-4.5 gallons of sap per hour.
Well I learned a lot and had a great time. The biggest thing I learned was I'm hooked on sugaring! Well I decided that for the 2016 season I would like to increase from 25 taps to 50 taps to make about 10-15 gallons of syrup for family and friends.
Well I NEED a wood fired boiler. I have 2 that are in my price range. The Mason 2x3 and the CDL 18x48 both have flat 3 way pans. The Mason runs about $945 and the CDL $1550, this does not include the normal fire bricking, pipe,ect.
I would like to get some opinions on both of these evaporator, including the pros and cons of each. Thank you for any information you can provide.

[Birddog]

I have a Mason 2x3 with a blower and I really like it. The advice I got before I got mine was to go bigger. If you can afford it you might want to go bigger. But I have no reservations about recommending Bill Mason evaporators. I'm a satisfied customer.


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[Loch Muller]

I'd look into a 2x4 if I were you. Not sure what they run now, but the mason 2x4 I had was in your price range. that was a well built and easy to use evaporator, it would handle 50 taps with ease and give you room to add more if you wanted. Get the blower for it too and figure out some type of automatic feed/float for the warming pan. Fire brick, insulation, and thermometers usually aren't included in the prices on those rigs. You'll have to check to see if draw off valves are included. Good luck.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

Bird dog, thanks for the reply. About how many GPH are you able to boil with the blower? I got the same advice. I have a few friends in the syrup business but they are small scale commercial producers.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

I'd look into a 2x4 if I were you. Not sure what they run now, but the mason 2x4 I had was in your price range. that was a well built and easy to use evaporator, it would handle 50 taps with ease and give you room to add more if you wanted. Get the blower for it too and figure out some type of automatic feed/float for the warming pan. Fire brick, insulation, and thermometers usually aren't included in the prices on those rigs. You'll have to check to see if draw off valves are included. Good luck.
About how many GPH were you getting with the Mason 2x4 and was it with or without a blower?

[maple flats]

How can you consider between a 2' by 3' vs. an 18 ft x 48 ft? I thought the largest was 6' x 18', you will need a bigger sugarhouse. Maybe that was a typo.
Getting more serious, I think you'd be happier for far longer with the Mason 2x4 and it would have better resale if you continue to expand like 99+% of us do.

[Loch Muller]

Sent you a message yesterday with some details on my 2x4. I was getting 12 gph steady with the blower sometimes better. Maple flats has a good point about the resale of the 2x4. When I decided to get into a bigger arch mine only took a couple days to sell for a price that I thought was fair.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

Thanks for the information. I talked to Bill Mason this afternoon, he was extremely helpful and full of information. I'm leaning towards his 2x4 XL with a blower. I'm just a little nervous ordering something that I have never seen in person or been able to examine or touch. If anyone has any photos of a Mason 2x4 I would like to see them.

[Birddog]

Bird dog, thanks for the reply. About how many GPH are you able to boil with the blower? I got the same advice. I have a few friends in the syrup business but they are small scale commercial producers.

I can get between 8 and 10 GPH but I have learned I have to back my blower down a little to avoid melting down the smokestack. I really feel a 2x4 would be your best option. Good luck and have fun!


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[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

18x48 CDL with 18x30 flues and 18x18 syrup pan is a nice little rig and less than $2100 with 10% discount. Comes all stainless with stainless stack. Looked at it when I was at open house last couple Days.

[bcarpenter]

I think you will be happy with Bill's products. I only have the 2x3 hobby evaporator but have posted a lot of information on it including how I went about bricking my evaporator on our website in the signature block. As others have said definitely go with a blower and buy the evaporator with the most square footage you can afford, because if you are like any of us you will start to see possible trees to tap everywhere.

Bill C.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

18x48 CDL with 18x30 flues and 18x18 syrup pan is a nice little rig and less than $2100 with 10% discount. Comes all stainless with stainless stack. Looked at it when I was at open house last couple Days.
Thanks for the information. My Local CDL dealer (RMG) must be high on their prices, I looked at that exact CDL unit and was quoted $2800 if I buy it on their early order program with a 5% discount. That put this unit out of my price range for a hobby evaporator.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

The more time I think about it, I'm think your right with Mason's 2x4 XL. I also think I'm a Maple addict as i'm already looking at Maples in a whole new eye........could taps this one....that one in a few years....and so on. :lol:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

$ 2305 list price and 10% off that. I don't want to cause any problems for your dealer but you can buy it at CDL at that price and your dealer will get still his credit and won't know you bought it until after the fact.


Thanks for the information. My Local CDL dealer (RMG) must be high on their prices, I looked at that exact CDL unit and was quoted $2800 if I buy it on their early order program with a 5% discount. That put this unit out of my price range for a hobby evaporator.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

$ 2305 list price and 10% off that. I don't want to cause any problems for your dealer but you can buy it at CDL at that price and your dealer will get still his credit and won't know you bought it until after the fact.
Thanks for the information.
I wonder that the MSRP is on the 18x48 with a 3 way flat pan?

[On the ledge]

I have a leader 1/2 pint with 50 taps, on a good year I wish I had a 2x4, on a slow year the 1/2 is perfect . If I was do it over again I would go with a 2x4.

[highlandcattle]

Can't say enough about our little 2 x 4 Mason xl Great price and quality construction.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Thanks for the information. I guess RMG in Rudyard Michigan(local CDL dealer) in high on their prices, as fire brick, fire board and 1 gallon of mortar do not add up to $700.
I wonder that the MSRP is on the 18x48 with a 3 way flat pan?

Send me a PM and I will give you a price. Anything you buy the credit goes to your closest dealer based on your address.

[steve J]

I have used both of Bills 2x3 and 2x4 although the 2x4 has a blower which I did not have in smaller rig. I average about 15 gph with blower running half speed. Full speed will cause stack to melt down. I find I get the best boil at a depth of 3/4 of an inch. Its a great little rig.

[sg5054]

I started with a 2x3 Mason/ flat pan. After 2 seasons I bought a Smokey Lake hybrid (drop flue) We had to modify the design a bit by shortening the flues a couple of inches because the stack outlet is on the back wall of the firebox. Not a big deal. VERY happy with the pan. I don't run a blower but think I may need to add one to pick up the pace. Sold the original flat pan in 48 hours for $350 without an argument.
The Mason is great rig. I got mine from Bacon Farm in Sidney. Great people to deal with.
I am planning to move in 3 years. Will be on the hunt for land with a sugar bush to set up a fixed operation and build a house. Right now, I tap offsite and I am getting tired of the after work fire drill to collect.

[Biz]

On my second year with a 18x48" CDL w/drop flues. It was about 2200 plus the preheater pan. Boils about 10-12gph. I'm happy with it, it's a good rig for the money but it has some limitations like no floats. And I was swamped with sap from my 120 taps when I got a big run this year.

Dave

[TedA]

If you like cooking sap and making syrup, I suggest you go a bit larger. We just finished our third season making maple syrup. The first year I used a cement block arch lined with firebrick and we cooked on 24x28 inch flat pan. It worked ok for the sap I collected from 30-40 trees but I was immediately hooked on this syruping business. The next year I upgraded to a Smokey Lake 2x4 drop flue hybrid pan. The pan cost about $1250 and the arch about $900. In 2014, I tapped 80 trees and this spring we tapped slightly over 100. On our Smokey Lake 2x4 we can easily do 15 gal/hour and when I really push the wood, I can get 20 gph. Our 2x4 is big enough to handle the sap from 80-120 trees or slightly more. In 2014, we collected about 600 gallons of sap and made 16 gallons of very fine syrup. This spring we had a fairly long season and I had a hard time shutting it down. In the end, we collected about 2,000 gal of sap and made nearly 40 gallons of excellent syrup. Most years I won't make so much syrup but this process is addictive and fun. I'm very pleased with our 2x4 and I think it is about the right size for someone who taps 80-100 trees. Filtering has been a bottleneck for us in past years but this season, we got that figured out. This summer, we are building a sugar shack to get us out of the erratic spring weather.