Can I still RO it?

[maple flats]

Yesterday I only had 275 gal of sap so I decided to boil it rather than get the RO dirty and then need to take time to clean the RO. Well, I finally remembered why I got the RO in the first place, that is very slow going boiling sap, especially when it was only at 1.5%. I boiled it for almost 2 hrs and only got 2 small draws.
Has anyone ever tried draining the flue pan and RO the contents and then finish boiling it. As I gave up, I flooded the flue pan and got it to a boil, so rather than 22 +/- gal in there I have about 60-70 gal. Now I'm considering draining the flue pan and run it thru the RO. It looks like I should have more sap tomorrow. I'm just thinking of removing about 50-60% of the water and then fill the flue pan with it. Then I'd start running the new sap at about 75% removal and likely then run it thru on recirculate to get it to at least 8% more likely 10% concentrate.
Will running from the flue pan cause any issues other than maybe plug a prefilter (I have lots of them)?
I know I should have run it first, but can I go now, or should I just RO the next batch and then feed 10-12% concentrate in after I boil down the extra volume in the flue pan now?
I likely should not have been so lazy, but too late for that now.

[trevorhallam]

Dave, I don't think you should run into a problem doing that. Its like looping your sap back into the tank before you send it to the concrete tank. Could you filter it off into another tank like a 55gal drum before you send it into the RO? Best of luck.

Trevor

[adk1]

Yesterday I only had 275 gal of sap so I decided to boil it rather than get the RO dirty and then need to take time to clean the RO. Well, I finally remembered why I got the RO in the first place, that is very slow going boiling sap, especially when it was only at 1.5%. I boiled it for almost 2 hrs and only got 2 small draws.
Has anyone ever tried draining the flue pan and RO the contents and then finish boiling it. As I gave up, I flooded the flue pan and got it to a boil, so rather than 22 +/- gal in there I have about 60-70 gal. Now I'm considering draining the flue pan and run it thru the RO. It looks like I should have more sap tomorrow. I'm just thinking of removing about 50-60% of the water and then fill the flue pan with it. Then I'd start running the new sap at about 75% removal and likely then run it thru on recirculate to get it to at least 8% more likely 10% concentrate.
Will running from the flue pan cause any issues other than maybe plug a prefilter (I have lots of them)?
I know I should have run it first, but can I go now, or should I just RO the next batch and then feed 10-12% concentrate in after I boil down the extra volume in the flue pan now?
I likely should not have been so lazy, but too late for that now. that is funny right there. Funny meaning "noow I know why I bought an RO"..haha I cant wait to get an RO!

[Russell Lampron]

Dave I don't see why it wouldn't work. Maybe run it through your filter press first to save the pre filters. I only had 140 gallons of sap Sunday and didn't hesitate to run it through the RO. I saved permeate from the boil before to clean the RO with. I HATE boiling raw sap! Besides that's why I bought an RO in the first place....

[maple flats]

I have plenty of permeate to clean it after. I've got over 800 gal in my 1000 gal tank and it's only a 250 RO. I could filter it 1st, I have the ability to move it to my draw tank and from there I can pump it to my mixing tank to blend the FA and then thru the filter press. At that I'd need to put it back into a barrel less the head that I use to drain the flue pan to run the pan washer. It would be a few extra steps, but it may well be a good idea. I'll do that tomorrow, I took the afternoon off. I'll need to collect my new sap, but I'll likely do this first, then go get the new sap and start boiling and RO first the sap in the flue pan after RO-ing it, then I'll concentrate the new and keep boiling.

[mellondome]

Run through the filter press first.