Sugarhouse Design

[wildoats]

I am in the process of finalizing some design decisions for my sugarhouse and would love some input on the following;

Roof pitch -- I am planning an 8/12 roof pitch -- any considerations here
I have a new 20"x66" evaporator that comes with a 9" diameter stack. -- I am struggling to find an insulated section to accommodate that size for the section that goes through the roof. Any recommendations?
I am planning to have a peak mounted roof jack-- any suggestions on where to affordably purchase one?
Is it best to store sap in a loft inside, or outside the building?
Can the evaporator sit right on the concrete pad, or can the heat damage the pad?
Does anyone put an air control vent on their stack to manage the speed of the fire? The last evaporator I used outside, I could see flames coming out of the top of the stack.

Thanks for your help
Michael

[Sugarmaker]

Michael,

Roof pitch -- I am planning an 8/12 roof pitch -- any considerations here (8/12 is a good looking pitch, a little steep to work on easily but looks great when done.)

I have a new 20"x66" evaporator that comes with a 9" diameter stack. -- I am struggling to find an insulated section to accommodate that size for the section that goes through the roof. Any recommendations?
I am planning to have a peak mounted roof jack-- any suggestions on where to affordably purchase one? ( Sounds like you need to find a custome chimmeny shop to help with your stack and roof jack. 9 inch may not be a std size?)

Is it best to store sap in a loft inside, or outside the building? It has all been tried good reasons for each approach, there is no right or wrong answer here. Make it easy on your self to fill, check and clean the tank. After that, empty it each time it might freeze.)

Can the evaporator sit right on the concrete pad, or can the heat damage the pad? ( your evaporator can set right on the floor. I like to see them raidsed up at least 8 inches for ease of firing.)

Does anyone put an air control vent on their stack to manage the speed of the fire? The last evaporator I used outside, I could see flames coming out of the top of the stack. ( No you want to let it have much draft as possible to boil as hard as possible. Control the burn with your draft on the rig under the grates.)

Regards,
Chris

[maple flats]

On your last question you state that you saw fire coming out the stack. That was not the fire from in the arch getting all the way to the top of the stack, it was wood gases igniting when it got more oxygen. The way to eliminate that is to have air over fire (AOF) in the arch. Read on here, there are several threads regarding. In that a high pressure blower pushes air into the firebox under high pressure from above the fire, pointing down at an angle to create turbulence and that helps burn the gasses for more complete combustion. Without it, the fire uses up the oxygen with some of the gasses not yet burned. Those gases are super heated and they travel across the rest of the flow path and up the stack, where the instantly ignite when oxygen gets mixed in (you have fuel, heat and then oxygen).
That being said, likely not many add AOF in a 20x66 evaporator, but it could. Most who do build an AOF are for 2x6's and upwards, not because it can't be done, but because it is not cheap to do. First you need a high pressure blower (could use the blower from an old oil burner, or a new HP blower of the right size (not a squirrel cage, that is high volume, low pressure, you need low volume high pressure in order to get the turbulence). After that you will need a manifold going all around the firebox (generally inside, behind the bricks, but it can be outside and blow thru the bricks) with a 1/4" nozzle every 6 inches around, and 6" below the pan, pointing 15 degrees down into the fire. This should be on all 4 sides of the firebox, which means one section of nozzles will be at the rear of the firebox.
On mine, I have1 nozzle just inside the fill doors on each side, then I have nozzles every 6" along the sides and every 6" across the back, each pointing down into the fire at 15 degrees.
I used to see a ball of fire at the top of the stack, but no longer do, and my stack temperatures run 400-700 F degrees lower because the AOF is putting the heat into the boil and much less up the stack.

[ennismaple]

A steep roof means you don't have to shovel it off in the winter! We have a shallow section of roof over our tanks and it's a PITA to shovel it off when the snow builds up.

We built our own double wall smoke stack where the stack goes up through the rafters. The outside of the 2nd layer of pipe we insulated with fire blanket.

If your sugar camp is heated I'd recommend you have your sap tank in an unheated portion of the building that does not get full sun all day. This will keep your sap (or concentrate) from spoiling, especially later in the season.

[CTsap]

I used a cathedral ceiling mount to transition from 8 inch pipe to 10 inch insulated pipe. You can order these mounts specific to your stove pipe size.