Upgrades for 2017!

[maplechaser08]

Hey everyone!

Just picked up my new evaporator for next spring! 2016 Leader 2x6 with the patriot pan system and carlin 102DB burner along with a 2x4 waterloo preheater hood! A brand new two cone filter/bottler, propane burner for it, 200 and 300 gallon stainless tanks came along with the evaporator, as well as 2000GPH transfer pump. The owner was moving south at the end of August and was getting out of it- I am pretty ecstatic about the upgrades from my flat pan system!

Just picked up my two condre Vacuum systems powered by Honda gas motors as well.
beginning to map out my main line path this weekend. If all goes well I will have quite a few taps ready for next spring!

A huge shout out and thanks to everyone that has sent me PM's and offered advice, I am very grateful and do appreciate everyone's input and advice!

[MISugarDaddy]

Congratulations on your aquisition! It is nice that you got it now so you have the rest of the summer and fall to get things in place and ready for next spring. Hope you didn't have any other plans for the rest of the year. Enjoy.
Gary

[SPILEDRIVER]

congrats maplechaser that's one big leap ahead from where you were....I gave away my old homemade boiler and bought a mason 2X4 hobby evap with the blower option,,,,im also building a new shack for it,allready have the ruff cut hemlock bought for it I just have to take the time to build it. ive gotten all the brick and morter bought just waiting to brick it up after the shacks built and its set in place

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Awesome job Henry, we will be getting together soon!

[Drew Pond Maple]

You should be happy with the the oil burner set up. I bought an older leader last summer with a carlin 102 and soldered pans, and it works great.
Full boil in 2-3 minutes and when I'm all out of sap just flip switch off, close the cupola doors and go to bed.
Thank god oil $'s were low last season.
Let us know how it works this coming season

[maplechaser08]

Well... I may have upgraded even more... Built a brand new sugar house 18x16... Ordered a MES dolly 300 three post. Just finished running 3800ft of wire for my wet/dry lines. Now it's time to wire tie away and then add in my laterals and 5/16. If all goes As planned I'll have at least 1000 taps but I am going to put in as many as I can before the season!

[Chickenman]

I upgraded this year to a Masson 2x3 with blower. Just finished installing the blower and am dry fitting the bricks. I have read that others are stacking the brick in the back of the fire box to within a few inches of the bottom of the pan. this will create a wave where the gasses and heat must go up and over then down to exit the stack, am I understanding this correctly? I was planning on starting the wall the width of a brick behind the grate and going the length for the height of the wall. the entire inside is lined with brick to cover the steel sides. Am I missing something here? should I go higher for the step at the back of the firebox? Have 8 feet of stack that I will be using. no shack yet, next years upgrade. did put evap an a cart so it can be wheeled in and out of the barn.

[Super Sapper]

I ordered from Smokey Lake a 2 x 6 dropflue pan set, hoods, stack base, concentric exhaust system and a 6 1/2 gallon electric water jacketed bottler. I was just going to order the pan set but my Christmas sales were going good and I couldn't help myself. Most of it is done and I will pick it up next week.

Merry Christmas Everyone

[whity]

Our upgrades included all new Bill Mason pans for our 2X8 with pipe drop flues. New addition to the sap house for our kitchen area.

[Chickenman]

Well just got got done bricking my 2x3 mason. Dry laid the bricks and did a test fire. Quite happy with results. Had a boil going in 20 minutes. NO INSULATION BEHIND THE SPLITS. little bit of heat given off but boiling outside it feels good. Once we move into our new place and I build a sugar shack, I will insulate and cement the bricks in place. So much better then the 22in x 18in roasting pan on a 55 gallon drum. Its 28 deg F here, windy and snowing like crazy.

[mudr]

Looks like this turned into a site-wide 2017 upgrades post. I will play along. I got a 2x6 from smoky lake back in the summer. His badgerland setup, so 42 inch flue pan, with 7, 7 inch flues (his regular rig is a 48 inch long flue pan with 10 flues). Went smaller and figured I could swap pans later and wont lose much on the first pan for resale.

I also got a 300 gallon milk tank for $300. I figured that was an ok deal. Then, I fell in to a real deal. A 1000 gallon milk tank, double wall, but lids missing, for..... $125 and a gallon of syrup. And it was delivered. :) It also has a heavy 3 inch tube stand welded to it so the drain sits approximately 4 ft above ground, with a slight slant towards the drain. The 300 will now collect sap at the end of my 125 tap gravity setup in the woods that I am just finishing.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[eustis22]

Chickenman:

>I upgraded this year to a Masson 2x3 with blower. Just finished installing the blower and am dry fitting the bricks. I have read that others are stacking the brick in the back of the fire box to within a few inches of the bottom of the pan. this will create a wave where the gasses and heat must go up and over then down to exit the stack, am I understanding this correctly?

I did this with my 2X3 except my stack vent is near the top of my stop so I filled in the area behind the wall up to about 2 inches below the back of my pan. I have a round vent hole that is mostly obstructed by the upper layer (possibly affecting my draft in my 8" X 10 foot stack) but the back of my pan boiled a lot better last year. I also have AUF.

In keeping with the spirit of the thread i added 2 5/16" lines to my trees in back (1-2% grade) and am setting up a pumping system to feed from my collection barrels to my holding tank.

[Wingo87]

For my upgrades this year I'm trying 3/16 tubing. I have a line with 35 sugars and a large elevation drop, I'm excited to see how that goes. From what I read 35ish is about the max for a single line on 3/16's. I also now have a outside feed tank with copper tubing around my stack to help get my sap warmer going into my preheater pan. I will start building my new sugarhouse in the spring/summer. In the meantime I can't wait for this season get started!

[RIVERWINDS]

We have a MES 300 Dolly RO on order. All of us are looking forward to getting some sleep this season!

Happy New Years everyone!

[Dill]

Just finished the woodshed last week now I have to fill the monster, 12W by 32L.
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Also moved a new woods tank out last week we now have multiple days of storage in the woods or plenty of expansion room.

[maple flats]

I just ordered a 16 gal Smoky Lake Water Jacketed bottling unit with the 3000W element. I'll be selling my Leader 16 x 24 propane fired bottler at VVS in the auction. It works fine and is in good condition (it even has a SS lid my tin shop made when I bought the unit), I'm just ready to upgrade.
Jim says the new bottler should be in by the end of the week. Now I'll need to run power for the new unit ans build a counter where the old bottler used to set.

[Ridgeland Farm]

MES makes fantastic equipment! Of course for those of us in NH it is super convenient to be so close. The guys there are super friendly and extremely knowledgeable. If you are in the market for new equipment this year I highly recommend checking them out. Not to much new for me this year. Having my releaser rebuilt this year. It got knocked off its stand last season in a storm. Hope to replace my high pressure pump on my RO. Possibly adding a few hundred taps but we will see if time allows it!