Delaval 180 gallon insulated milk cooler-any good?

[claystroup]

I looked at a 180 gallon Delaval insulated milk cooler today for sale. It is stainless on the inside with a steel shell on the outside with a stainless lid. The lid and curved bottom inside look like they would be great for storing sap but the thing weighs a ton. I could not budge it. The guy only wants $50 for it and has a tractor with a front end loader to load it. I am a year or 2 away from building a dedicated sugar house where I could move it to on the outside against the back wall. I would have to get a tractor at that time to move it again or if I cut the outer steel shell and remove the internal refrigeration lines and make a platform for it to sit in and it would be manageable for me to move around. Would this be better than buying a comparable size plastic tank for bulk storage. I can't see expanding to over 75 taps in the future. Thanks, Clay

[adk1]

where are you located

[Atgreene]

Well worth it. We did something similar with the small tank on top of the shed just to the left of the sugarhouse in the pic (im looking for a better pic) Use it for concentrate, ro is in the building under it.

[claystroup]

I am located in SE Michigan in Almont. I have done some research and it sounds like I could cut off the outer steel shell and remove all the old refrigeration coils and lighten it up substantially and make a simple 2 x 6 frame for it to sit in and then gravity feed into my future sugar house. I don't have a tractor with a loader at my disposal so I would need to make the weight manageable. Thanks for the replies, Clay

[regor0]

Buy it! Well worth 50 bucks.

[maple flats]

Buy it, then when you build a sugarhouse, make a sturdy platform and hire an excavator to set it in place. Over the years I've had 4 different tanks on an elevated platform as a feed tank. 2 of them I could not lift or budge by myself, but the biggest was a 415 gal Sunset brand insulated tank, SS in and outer shell. Me and 3 helpers, using sturdy poles and 2" strap slung it and lifted it, to set it on a flatbed trailer, then when I needed to lift it onto a 5 1/2' high platform, my brother lifted it with his 80 HP tractor loader bucket. A few years later, I decided to redesign the platform in PT lumber and turn it 90 degrees to put a smaller 200 gal tank on it, with the valve against aa hole I cut in the sugarhouse wall. I then had an 8000# class excavator, I just used heavy strap slings to hook it to the excavator bucket. I lifted the 415 off with ease and set it on the ground to use as a sap tank to feed my RO. Then I built the new platform and lifted the 200 gal tank (It felt as heavy as the 415) onto the platform. Then this Jan, I decided I wanted a better head tank and with the RO I really didn't want it to be 200 gal, so I again lifted the old heavy tank off to use as another sap tank on the ground, lined up with my original 545, the 415 and now the 200 and I sat a new 150 gal single wall SS head tank, by hand with 1 helper onto the platform. The platform looks huge with the new tank, but it works very well.
I would not remove the outer shell, there is a possibility the cooling coils might still be good (only a trained service tech can determine that). If it is still good, you may someday decide to have that tank set up to keep sap or better yet concentrate cold.
Back in 2011 I had to sell 1150 gal of sap on a Sunday and Monday, (total) when I was drowning in sap and he concentrated it to 8%, pumped it to a working tank, cooled it to 30 degrees and the following weekend he made real nice Medium Amber with it.

[Daveg]

Hey claystroup! That's a great deal and it will be big enough for your future expansion. Buy it. Stainless is THE way to go. For comparison, I know of people who pay $30 for used stainless 10 gallon soda syrup containers.

[Russell Lampron]

For $50 I would have handed the guy the money before he could change his mind. Around here it is worth $2 per gallon or more. If the refrigeration unit works I would do everything that I could to keep it working. It would be nice to have refrigerated storage for when it gets hot outside.

[Daveg]

A quick look at the classified ads on this site will show you that $50 isn't on the same planet as the price one would expect to pay for a 180 gallon stainless tank. More like hundreds of $$.

[Atgreene]

Here's a better pic of how I set mine up. Ro in the shed below, hooked to a milk tank that pumps up to another milk tank, gravity to evaporator.1400914010140111401214013

[claystroup]

Going to pick it up tomorrow night (if it ever quits raining here in SE Michigan). This unit has sat outside here in Michigan for about 20 years since being pulled out of a milk house. The outer steel shell has some bad rust in certain areas and the refrigeration lines were cut off with a torch. I am going to cut off the outer steel shell when I get it home and just keep the Stainless inner tank and lid and will build a stand to mount it on(this should lighten it up considerably). I will be boiling outside again next year and plan on leaving it close to my evaporator low to the ground and will pile snow all around it with my snowblower to keep the sap cold and just use a transfer pump to fill my 35 gallon head tank (also on a homemade stand) out of the bigger 180 gallon SS tank. The guy also mentioned he had a bunch of old galvanized sap buckets and lids somewhere in his barn and is suppose to dig them out for me also.
My wife is starting to get a funny look in her eye larely. I made a little over 16 pints this year which was my first year and a month later I am bringing a 180 gallon tank home and have ordered a new 2 x 5 arch/pan combo (haven't told her about that yet as I financed that purchase with the sale of a bunch of old car and snowmobile parts I had). Prior to this year I had raced Vintage Snowmobiles the past 13 years which took a lot of time, money and energy. She had wanted me to quit racing for quite a while due to the inherent danger (I had 2 friends hurt pretty bad over the past 5 years). I retired this year from racing, sold my big race trailer and started making syrup as a new hobby. Now I am hooked on this and can see it becoming an obsession like the racing was. Didn't make any money racing and don't expect to make a bunch making syrup but it has been a lot of fun so far. Clay

[Bucket Head]

The Mrs. should be happy to hear about the transition to syrup, and the creative financing for the equipment. If she balks about the safety part of it, tell her you kept your helmet and will wear it while making syrup! A heated visor might help with the steam? Lol.
The maple can get to a point where it pays for itself. You might not get "rich" on it but it will be financially better than the racing.
Good luck with the "new" venture!