Continuous Flow Pan

[DavyJones]

Hi, all.... I am thinking of turning my 2'x3' flat pan into a continuous flow pan. I was going to take it to my favorite local fabricator and have them weld in some stainless channels but I've not seen any pictures I can clearly make out showing what get's cut/drilled into the dividers to allow for the continuous flow from one side to the other. I've seen a couple pictures and can kind of make out it looks like the dividers go from one side to the other and near the bottom of the divider it looks like there could be one of more holes drilled through about 1" in diameter but I can't really be certain. In one picture it sort of looks like there are 2 - 1" holes drilled through the divider close to the bottom then in another the hole looks more in the middle. I'm hoping someone can help me sort this out so I can get some dividers made and installed. I'm thinking of also making an auto draw off this year but those questions will come later.
thanks
David

[johnpma]

This may help

[DavyJones]

This may help

Looks good I can see that. Looks like that is just a triangle what 2" x 2" to whatever that hypoteneuse comes out to be

[maple flats]

Yes, That's correct. I like 3 partitions best. You will need 2 draw off boxes and the cut outs in the partitions alternate from one end to the other. Then you will add sap at one draw off box and on a 2x3 pan, sap travels a 12' path (3' x 4 channels) to draw off, getting thicker as it moves along. # partitions is what the older Half Pint pans had, newer ones have gone to 2 partitions so now sap only has a 9' long travel path.
It is good to reverse direction as soon as the channel bottom nearest the draw off gets niter built up so that a plastic spatula has a drag resistance. Then Slowly draw off about 1/4 of the volume in the pan and slowly add it near the new draw off side. Then resume boiling and add new sap at the old draw off side, which is now your in feed side. Moving the portion that was almost syrup helps establish the new gradient faster and helps make lighter syrup. When drawing off syrup, do it very slowly and keep adding new sap slowly to reduce surges.

[johnpma]

It is good to reverse direction as soon as the channel bottom nearest the draw off gets niter built up so that a plastic spatula has a drag resistance

Flats, you lost me with the "spatula" part??? I'm a newbie trying to learn :)

[psparr]

If you scrape the bottom of the pan in the syrup channel, it will feel "gritty". That's niter building up on the bottom of the pan. If it gets real bad, you can scorch your syrup and ruin the pan where the niter is built up. Reversing the flow helps prevent the niter from building up. Not really sure you'd be running enough sap through your pan to really worry about it though.