Valve placement on sap heater pan

[parsissn]

I have a 18"x18"x18" stainless box / pan that I got at an auction. Nice pan with lid but it doesn't have any holes or fittings on it. For the next year or two I want to use it as a sap pre-heater pan on over my flue pan. After that I plan to use it for a bottling station pan. So, I'm trying to decide should I put the fitting in the middle of one side or towards the end of the side. Middle would work better for bottling (and is how most commercial bottlers look to be made) but placing the fitting more to one side would work better for running sap into the flue pan.

Any thoughts or input?

[softmaple]

put it in the middle and pipe it to your flue pan just turn you pan to the side ( either side ) and it will point to your sap in side

[WF MASON]

I'm not sure the size of your flue pan, but if it an't giant ,you may want to have half the pan sticking back towards the stack , you will get a good amount condensate drips from a pan that size over your flue pan.

[ibby458]

When I was boiling on a flat pan 2x4, I used the same arrangement to preheat sap. It helped a lot!

I put some solid aluminum barstock under the preheater pan, then blocked up one side about an inch. That slope let the condensate run to the low side and drip outside the boiling pan. The barstock left a 1/2" gap so it could run out.

I also had stainless milk pails of sap sitting around the oil drum arch, picking up heat until I poured them into the preheater pan. Every little bit helped!

[fred]

I Would Use It Now For A Bottler.and Get A 10 Foot Piece Of Flex Copper And Run It Back And Forth In The Flue Pan, You Wont Have Any Condensate And Alot Of Time In Something Your Not Going To Keep