2x4 build

[jroch]

so last year, i started with 28 taps and a very basic cinder block and steam pan setup. this year i wanted to taps a few more trees but my steam pans couldn't handle it, so i decided to go all out and buy a 2x4 continuous flow pan by phaneuf. i build the arch myself. so after more time and more money then i thought i finally got it done and boiled some sap!
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[jroch]

a few more pictures of the evaporator and the new sugar shack too
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[Burnt sap]

Nice, looks a lot like my first set up building too.

[maplestudent]

Nice looking rig.

[jroch]

thanks guys! alot of work but its finally paying off. we've only had a few good days of running sap so far but the weathers looking good for the next 2 weeks. hopefully we get to run a bunch of sap soon.

[CBLA]

Nice set up! What size is your sugar shack?

[jroch]

Way too small!! Its 8x10. It gets crowded in there but its fine for now.
We boiled down about 90 gallons of sap today and with sundays sirop we bottled 5 gallons of it tonight. It sure gets hot in the shack when the stove is glowing red! But we managed to boil about 18gallons an hour like that!! Not bad from a 2x4 homebuilt arch!14050

[CBLA]

18 gallons a hour is great! Its a nice setup!

[gmc8757]

Way too small!! Its 8x10. It gets crowded in there but its fine for now.
We boiled down about 90 gallons of sap today and with sundays sirop we bottled 5 gallons of it tonight. It sure gets hot in the shack when the stove is glowing red! But we managed to boil about 18gallons an hour like that!! Not bad from a 2x4 homebuilt arch!14050

Nice builds, shack and arch both!
Would be nice to use that flat space somehow to preheat the sap going into the pan. I remember the preheater on my Mason just like that pan did nothing to preheat the sap going into the pan.
The glowing red doesn't scare you any?

[jroch]

The reason i put the plate in front of the pan is that i heard that with these small evaporators sometime the front of the pan was hard to get boiling really good. So i figured if i move it 8 inches back it would be boiling hard and it is.

[gmc8757]

Sounds logical and seems to be working well for you, that's great.
Unreal glow, how close is that to a meltdown you think?


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[jroch]

a little too close for confort! The stack is 1/8 in thick.

[workinprogress]

Nice setup!!

How deep is your fire box?

[gmc8757]

a little too close for confort! The stack is 1/8 in thick.

I used double walled galvanized 8" pipe this year. I was cleaning up at the end of the year noticed little dried up melted metal puddles Looked inside the pipe and the first wall was halfway melted

[jroch]

Nice setup!!

How deep is your fire box?
Firebox is just about 24x24. Theres about 4 inches below the grate for ashes/auf blower