Average life span of a stack.

[Tweegs]

Making some improvements to the shack that required the arch be moved. Of course, this meant disassembling the stack.

I wasn’t at all surprised to find that the base section of the stack, the first inch or so anyway, was paper thin and needs to be replaced.

The arch is 6 years old now. Seems to me that the galvanized stack started rusting after the second year, especially around the area where the stack meets the arch.
Excessive heat, a little moisture (it appears I have a leak up at the stack hood as the arch board was wet underneath) and galvanic corrosion (galvanized in contact with cast iron…dissimilar metals) have probably accelerated the decay.

The leak is a relatively easy fix.

The heat? Well, that’s what we do, no gettin’ ‘round that.

Breaking the direct contact between the stack and arch is a bit more of a challenge.
The material needs to be non-metallic, able to withstand the heat, and yet not trap or hold moisture in the off season like pan or fireplace gasket might.
I’m at a loss.

Since I have to replace at least the base section of the stack, the obvious question becomes galvanized again or go stainless and replace the entire stack ($$)?

The decision to go stainless should be based on the life span of it vs. galvanized. Which, over the long term, is more economical?

So for you folks that have been playing this game a while:
Which type of stack do you use and how often do you replace it?
And what, if anything, are you using between the stack and arch?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Go stainless on entire stack. Mine has been through 12 season and many hours of 1400 to 1700 degrees and still in great shape.

[sugarsand]

We have all stainless base and stack, before that it was all galvanize.with the old stack we would remove the upper portion of pipe after season and cap the hole. The base would then be set on wood blocks to keep it off the arch. This prolonged it's life but what a pain it was to put up and take down the stack. With the stainless pipe and rain cap that can be opened from inside, it stays up all year.

sugarsand

[maple flats]

I went all stainless but it's only had 1 season. My old one was 14 yrs old (galv.) was rusted but still solid until it got to a section where I made a triple wall to protect the trusses and rafters. Inside the triple wall it was rusted to paper thin. The base, while it had rust, was still solid, but it just didn't look good against the shinny pans and hood.

[Tweegs]

I figured it wouldn’t take much of a nudge to push me towards the stainless.

I’m throwing a lot of money at the shack right now and this upgrade certainly wasn’t in the budget, but we’ve scaled back some of the plans to cover most of the cost. Sales are good, inventory is good, so getting the rest won’t be a problem. (hate dipping into the personal piggy bank to buy stuff for the shack…should be self-supporting, yes? :lol:).

I’ve got a few scraps of thin stock stainless stashed in the barn, thought I would make a sacrificial shim from it to put between the stack base and the arch.
That should solve the corrosion problem, a few years at a pop anyway.

Thanks for the thoughts guys!
Pouring concrete today, better get to it.

[brookledge]

First of all how long to you antisipate keeping the arch? If more than another 6 yrs I'd definitely go stainless. The cost is probably double the cost of galvanized. My stainless stack is 13 yrs old and is still fine. If I had galvanized id be on my third stack. And I never take it down
keith

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

3 maybe 4 years on galv if I was lucky. im on second year with stainless, except for some slight discoloration looks brand new, I went round all the way up didnt pay for the fancy base stack dont need it with AOF AUF.

spend money on stainless you will be happier.

[Tweegs]

The arch is going to be with me for a while.

I’d have to go off property to expand my tap count and that won’t happen until I retire (5+ years), if even then.

An R.O. is going in this year and having that gives me quite a bit of room on the 2x6 should we decide to increase taps or start buying sap.

Ordering the base section this week as there could be a long lead time to get it. The straight sections shouldn’t be hard to get and the rain cap is in stock from a different supplier, so both of those can wait until I’m ready to reassemble the arch.

[PerryW]

My 15" x 20' tall galv. stack started rusting in a couple years and needed to be replaced after 6 years. The stainless one is still rust free after 18 years of use. It did turn golden color after running it so hot there was a flame shooting out the top for most of the boiling for the first couple years.