Home made arch for a smokey lakes full pint pan.

[gbwaterski]

Hi I am working on designing a new arch for my smokey lakes full pint pan. I have always had an issue with getting the front pan to boil. What is critical in an arch design? I was thinking about pushing my pan back 8 inches to allow the flames to contact the front pan better. How large should the fire box be? My current arch has the flues in the fire box. Is it better to build an arch where the flues are on the ramp to force the heat and gasses to pass through my flues?

[buckeye gold]

gbwaterski, I modified my half pint arch to better fit the full pint pan. I left the arch as is in the back, but extended the front 8 inches. I had to modify the grates. Do you have a fire wall in the back, the original half pints do? I moved my firewall back just a bit and built it right to a half inch of the flue bottoms. I also added AOF to my firebox. If I get time and remember the next few days I'll take some pics and post for you. I also put blanket behind the bricks. I left a very thin ridge in the front for the pan to sit on. With the 8" extension I can keep fire right under the syrup section. I have an air nozzle aimed right at the pan bottom there too. It made a big differ in my front sections and my overall efficiency. I also have what is equivalent to a stove top in the front now. We did weld in bars to hold up fire brick in the top of the extension.

[Super Sapper]

If I was looking at moving my front pan back to get a better boil, I would look at using a preheater pan in that section up front where you had trouble getting a boil. If the new design boils better up front you can always move the preheater pan to the back.

[gbwaterski]

Buckeye, yes I have the fire wall in the back. Do your flues still sit in the fire box? I noticed on my rig that the fire seemed to get sucked through the flues and out the stack without touching the front pans. I was wondering if I made the arch larger and started the fire wall at the front of the flues if that would help with the boil. My flues had no issue boiling but I never had a good boil in the front pan. Last season I added a steel plate under the flues to force the fire and heat to move to the front of the pan before it could get sucked out the stack. This seemed to help but my front pan still did not boil well. I added a 70cfm fan last season. I My fan introduced air under the fire. Pictures of your rig would be great. How did your build your AOF?

[buckeye gold]

I will try and get you some pictures. I'm not sure I want to take the pan off to get a good look inside the firebox, because I already have it set for this fall with the pan gasket glued to the arch. I would hate to tear my gasket. I don't think I would put the fire wall forward. I think you would really lose heat on your flues. when you get your fire centered more forward there will be more heat on the syrup section. Gradient is hard to maintain in these pans after shutdown so I finish on propane. I'm about to go to work so I'll try and get some pics and do a more detailed post in the next couple days, ok.

[buckeye gold]

Here are three pictures of my modified half pint arch and smokey lake Full pint pan.

11953

This shows the 8" extension I made to the firebox. I used a piece of angle for a pan stop. Before any one says anything I am planning on a coat of high heat paint. That front flat top come in real handy to have a pan of warm sap on. Since it is insulated underneath it will only get luke warm, but It's great for washing my hydrometer and finishing gear. This allows me to keep most of my fire forward. Leaving enough space to keep coals from falling out the door puts a lot of fire right under the syrup sections and then the heat gets sucked back through the flues.
11954

This shows my firebox. I moved the old grates forward and added some heavier wider gapped grates in the back to let big coals fall through. This way I can push coals back when firing and keep my fire forward. You can see my firewall just behind the flues. There is 4 inches of space behind it to the stack outlet. You can see my air manifold and makeshift nozzles (yup my support burnt through and it slumped a bit, but it's an easy fix). I just used 3/4 steel pipe reduced to half inch then a quarter inch insert to create a nozzle. They actually work well. I will re-aim them before start up this winter. I have insulation blanket behind all the brick. There are half bricks in the top of the extension w/insulation.

11955

This is a full view of my modified little rig. I run 100-125 taps on this and average about 13 GPH start to shutdown. At full heat I estimate I'm cooking 15-17 GPH.

[gbwaterski]

Buckeye thanks for the pics that helps a lot. What kind of fan are you powering your air over fire with?

[buckeye gold]

Gosh I don't know what kind it is. I actually salvaged it off a vac system and reverse plumbed it. I done it on a whim to see if it would blow enough air. It turned out it does just fine so I kept it and hooked it up permanent. Every year I think I'll get a new more appropriate one, but it's hard to spend money on a new horse when the old nag still pulls the plow. So I can't tell you the CFMs or Hp, it just blows plenty of air. :cool: