Will this work?

[Lance]

We got a 2 1/2 x 8 Leader Revolution rig this summer without a hood. I got a feeling we're really gonna miss the steady supply of hot water from the preheater we had in our rig last year. A friend has offered to loan us the steam hood off his 2 x 6 for the season. Does anybody see any reason why this won't work to give us some hot water? Obviously, the hood won't fit exactly but it would seem that any steam it captures will provide some hot water. Any advice?

[hard maple]

Sure give it a try. Should do the trick until you can pick up a bigger one.

[WF MASON]

I just saw a hood up in Intervale NH on a 60" flue pan , the guy had it made 30" so it wouldn't cover all the pan. He said he was going to try it on towards the back and towards the front to see if it made any difference in preheating and condensate output. He wanted a hood , but still be able to see into the flue pan. I also know someone else who used a short hood for one season and was so impressed , they bought a full hood. It will work.

[Russell Lampron]

Once you have it suspended over the pan you could use some aluminum flashing around the edges to seal it off to fit the dimensions of the larger pan. It should work good.

Russ

[maple flats]

Russ beat me to it. Suspend the smaller hood as high as needed and able to then fill the gaps with any alum sheets you have. If you use flashing be careful not to bend it too tight a radius or it could break, that was my problem trying to make a last minute hood. When I bought my old 2x6 it came with a hood made out of a tandem dually aluminum fender and then curtains were made from used sheets some newspaper print operations used in the printing process. These were even lighter than flashing butr he said it worked good, I however made one that was complete with preheater and looked more presentable. When you use it likely the hood will make hot water as used on a 2x6 and your flashing inverted funnel will just help keep steam going out instead of filling the sugarhouse. Good luck.
Dave

[brookledge]

Does the hood have a pre-heater in it? With out one you really won't get much hot water
Keith

[Lance]

Thanks for the help, guys. Unfortunately, the guy with the hood his son in law is thinking about hanging a few buckets with the kids so it doesn't look like we're gonna have the use of the hood, after all.

We're just about tapped, sap was running real slow today but it's a start. I think all hell's gonna break loose starting tomorrow (Sun.) or Monday. Highs in the 40s, lows in the 20s, I can deal with that. Best luck to everybody!!