Making Homemade Arch

[woodey24]

We have a two 200 Gallon fuel oil tank that I am going to attempt to make into an arch. We have a 2x3 continuous pan with an 18 x 18 in pre-warmer pan. We have a few questions.
1. Has anybody ever seen 2 oil drums on placed on the sides attached so that the fire can be bigger in the bottom drum and the pans set into the top one? What about putting the 1 drum on its side?
2. Can you use patio brick paver blocks as fire block?

3. How far above the flame do you want the bottom of the pan to set?
4. Does anybody have plans for a home made arch or do you have to custom make them? How thick of sheet metal do you want to use as a minimum?

This is our first year at this so pretty green.

Thanks for all the help.

[Woody77]

Hey woodey nice handle. I have an oil drum burner. Where are you at in Mi.and you can call or text with questions 517-719-6two35. 12552

[woodey24]

I am in southern MI, not too far from the speedway. We are gonna make a barrel cooker this year. Yours looks like quite a creation. Just hoping to get the operation up and running in time. Someone took Woody77 already....lol

[woodey24]

12670

This is The set up so far. My Friend and Neighbor is quite talented.

[GRI]

128021280312804

Here's mine. I'm redoing my pre warmer as the first version sucks. Lol

I also coiled copper tubing around my stove pipe 12805


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[woodey24]

How are you insulating the inside? We have bricked the fire box and have some blanket under the warming pan but not all the way to the stack. Don't have it coiled either. Was the warming pan for you the one beside the stack? I would think just through the copper would get it pretty hot. That's quite a large pan too.

[loghead]

Hey Woody's, keep the picks and your progress coming, I am also in the same process of making the same size arch. I'm not as far as you are yet, just started cutting the barrel up last night. I have lots of ideas but just need the time to get at it. I'm also in Michigan near Millington in the thumb. "
Nice pan GRI, did you make that? That is something I am concerned with, either make or buy it.

[one more]

I found we had to weld the flat steel where the pan sits the whole length, it looked like you just spot welded it in your pic. I added ceramic fire blanket last year and it held so much heat that it warped the metal and cracked the welds. We also put cross members so our pan wouldn't sag as much while boiling.

[Woody77]

13370Loghead if you can afford it buy a 2×4 or5 hobby hybrid pan from smokey lake maple its the best thing going for our crazy oil barrel cookers. Ps I have moved inside I have built an actual sugar bush .took the rig off its little power scooter built a crazy hood its quite the redneck outfit but its all from scrap and leftovers from work I spent time not $

[WoznicaSyrup]

Woodey24 - once I get home today from work let me send you a few photos. We have a home made evaporator that boils 22gph, although we have a flue pan and then a preheat pan that sits on top of it. I wouldn't suggest patio brick. Fire brick is fairly cheap and does a great job. What we did for our design was cut the top off of the tank and saved the metal for things like a front door and an ash drawer. While boiling we load the firebox right up so the flames are always touching the bottom of the pans.


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[moultron216]

Here's the oil drum evaporator I made last year. The flue pan is 2.5' x 3' and the finish pan is 2.5' x 2'. I made the flues 8.5" deep and there are 6 of them which makes almost 36 sq ft of surface area. it holds about 45 gallons at the level I have it set for which is about 3" in the finish pan. I am able to get a real hard boil going using pine for wood. I bought a 4' metal break to make all the bends and I have a tig welder to weld it all up. I didn't end up getting enough sap to really test it out last year but I hope to boil today and should be able to get some good numbers on boiling rate. last year I didn't have any fire brick so I use old patio bricks which work ok, this year I bought fire brick at tractor supply for less than $2 per brick and I also bought some rigid boards from Bascom.

[woodey24]

Sorry, I have been absent. Forgot my username. We bought the pan and warming pan off of the classifieds on here. Ended up using the ceramic blanket and firebrick with ceramic rail gasket. Boiled this weekend and worked like a charm. Boil rate tough to measure, quite a bit of sap was frozen. I will add pics asap.. don't give up on the rookies.

[woodey24]

The way you built your cooker is pretty much identical to ours. Our pan is a flat continuous flow pan with a stock pot like pan for a warmer. We have it under a carport that has the back and half the sides enclosed. Drips a bit but keeps the temp up.

[woodey24]

Angle Iron was welded around the whole top with a cross piece that separate the evap and the warmer pan. On the side where you see the slots a bit is the ramp weld.

[cjhbeeman]

Boy, that's quite a beauty!

[michael marrs]

I just got ahold of a tank, and am following this thread closely. I mentioned to one of the guys at my club that I know nothing about welding. He chuckled, and then told me he is a retired welder

[woodey24]

Let me know as you go. I will send any help I can. I can't think of anything with ours I would change. Our stack temp gets to 600. Have you ever visited the sugar bush store in mason? I recommend getting a shopping list and going there.

[Ian MacMillan]

Here is my rig. I built it over the fall. New pans next year for it. Boils like all he'll and gets through the sap quickly.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.co/20160323/3086b9d26110c1a92730181c45d8a707.jpg