Steam Hood Question

[theschist]

Did my first test boil last night with my homemade hood. However, it seems as though the hood can't keep up with the steam, and my smallish room quickly filled up with steam. My dad said the room needs to get warm first to establish a good draw. The hood is 2x4 with 8" pipe. The pipe is 6' with about 3' of it above the roof. Any suggestions? I was thinking about rigging up a pulley system to lower the hood closer and raise it when needed. Or putting a 10" piece of pipe around the 8" inside the room to provide a double wall for insulation to help establish draft. I can't seem to find a belt drive fan for 8" pipe for a forced draft. Any help is appreciated. Sorry about the play button on the pic, I didn't know how to get a pic from the video.
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[Sugarmaker]

Good looking hood. And first your hood is plenty big enough to keep up with the stems! Unfortunately the raised hoods just don't get warm due the massive amounts of cold room air they are pulling in. So yes lowering the hood will work. But looks like it might cover your boiling area from your view.
You might have to warm the room to 200 degrees to get it to draw. (just a guess) But that would be a little uncomfortable to boil in there!:)
You might try lowering the hood. Or add some fold down hinged flaps to cover most of the pan but gain access quickly too.
your 8 inch dia is plenty to remove all the steam. Try rigging the pulley system. My guess is when you have this hood about 2 inch over the pan you will have no steam in the room. Several folks boil with hoods down. They may have windows and or doors on the hoods.
Regards,
Chris

[tcross]

I'd imagine putting you hood closer to the arch would work better! if you can rig a pully system up so you can lower you hood and rest it on the pans, I think your problem will go away, for the most part.

[bstewar]

My previous 2x6 setup had a hood suspended about 14" above the back pan with a little overlap on the syrup pan. The steam stack was 12" with an inline fan. I did not use the fan much except on low pressure days to start the draw. 99% of the time i would open the man door or the side window and it would create a air movement to get the steam up the stack.

[theschist]

Thanks for the input. I modified my hood with a drip channel made of 3/4" SCDL 40 PVC that I cut about 1/4 away. I have a drain on the one side so I can collect the condensation. I am currently rigging up the pulley system so I can lift it off of the pan for visibility and maintenance. Oh, I fabricated up a sliding door in the side too. I had to pull the 8" stainless pipe out of the roof and place a 9" galvanized so the steam pipe can slide up and down. I am going to boil again tonight to see how it all works out.
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