Head storage tank

[anchorhd]

Hi folks,
I am trying to decide where to put a sap tank. What are the benefits, either way, inside the shack or outside. I am looking at a 160 or 230 cdl as a storage / feed tank. What are you support ing it with, 4x4 or 6x6?
Thanks
Reg

[Bucket Head]

Inside it would be covered. Bad part would be warmed sap when the evaporator is being fired. And warm sap quickly turns into bad sap.
Outside you would want a cover or lid of some sort. Also, a tank out in the sun warms up pretty good- and this goes back to the warm sap thing. Placing it on the north side of a building (in the shade) or under a pine tree, or putting a tarp over it so the sun isn't beating on it will help quite a bit. It comes down to which would be easier to install and deal with, basically.
As for supports, I would go with 6x6's. 250 gallons of sap weighs a ton- 2000lbs. 4x4's braced well might do it, but I personally like to go a little more "heavier duty" on anything heavy or critical. Any chance you'd get a bigger tank in the future? For whatever the cost is for the bigger beams, the dividend would be peace of mind for me.

[maple flats]

My tank sets on a platform outside the sugar house and attached to it. I have 4 legs 4x4 pressure treated set below frost level, resting on 12 x 12 x 4" concrete. The platform originally held a 415 gal milk tank. Then I found a 200 gal milk tank. The size of the platform (8x12) was large enough on both to give me a walk way around the tank for cleaning. Then last year I bought a 150 gal SS sap tank and that seems the perfect size, which gives me lots of extra room on the platform and I have an overflow pipe going back to one sap tank just in case I run the RO too long and over fill the head tank. It is tight against the sugar house wall and the outlet then goes thru the wall and I have a valve where it enters the sugar house. Then I have a tee with a small male adapter and a clear vinyl tube from there straight up which allows me to see how high the concentrate in the tank is. From there my supply line runs to my hood, thru a pre-heater, out again and then to the float box. If any issue was to happen to supply, I have a bypass line with a valve to eliminate the pre-heater and then straight to the float box. I have the bottom of my head tank about 2' above the float box and the top of the pre-heater is 13" above the float box inlet. I never had to even bleed the pre-heater even though I have bleeder valves in it.
I have my platform on the north side of the sugar house. I find it easier to keep the contents colder when outside. I also have a hemlock filled woods to the immediate west, which helps keep sun off the tank and I also own a piece of 90% shade cloth just in case but last year I never needed to use it, some years I do.
The main things are to have the tank high enough to get dependable flow and to keep it cold.
All plumbing from mine is SS thru the wall, and the valve, from there I changes to copper. That way if I have a line freeze up it can be thawed using a propane torch. While the sugar house is only heated by the evaporator (except the RO room) I've never had pipes freeze in the sugar house from one boil to the next. I have however had to thaw the short SS pipe outside but that was easy.
When