My first Arch - Hopefully not to late.

[wmick]

Hi Folks -
Attached a couple pics of my first Arch... After stealing ideas from the internet, I came up with this 2' x 6' unit... 8 gauge mild steel.. Still need to build the pans and brick the arch.. My wife says I go too far with my little projects... She might be right, ... because the weather here suddenly took a sharp turn. Sap is running and I'm not ready.. Weather outlook says its supposed to turn cold for March, so although I missed the early prime stuff, still hoping to get a boil or two through this thing. (This is my oldest boy, fixing up my messy welds :D )
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[gmc8757]

Looks great, plenty of time in march to make syrup. Nice build.


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[red dorakeen]

Great looking arch!

[JeffB]

LMFAO !!! Is there really EVER going to far once you have the Maple Disease !!!! NOPE I DONT THINK SO !!! lol (but my wife like yours may may think different)

The arch looks great I am assuming your design is for a raised flue pan set up ?

[wmick]

LMFAO !!! Is there really EVER going to far once you have the Maple Disease !!!! NOPE I DONT THINK SO !!! lol (but my wife like yours may may think different)

The arch looks great I am assuming your design is for a raised flue pan set up ?

Thanks,
Actually - Planning on 6" drop flues... Hope I'm on the right track..??? I'm curious why you assumed "raised flues". Does something not look right?
sketch attached...

[maple flats]

In the pictures it looks like the back pan will set a little higher than the front pan, is that an illusion? If that is true, it will mean that the syrup pan depth in the pan will be deeper. On a drop flue the level is controlled by one float valve. It looks like the front is maybe 1" lower, you don't want that much extra depth to protect the flues. If you have 1" over the flues, that will give you 2" in the syrup pan. Once you get comfortable running the evaporator you will likely want to go to 1" in the syrup pan, but then the flues pan would be too shallow. If I'm correct, simple fix now, add 1" filler on top of syrup pan area to bring them level with each other. You want the sap level in both pans on a drop flue set up.

[wmick]

Quick question.... What to people use to create a seal between the pans and the Arch... I presume there must be some sort of gasket material, etc.... to prevent smoke from leaking out or air leaking in to the arch...??

[wmick]

In the pictures it looks like the back pan will set a little higher than the front pan, is that an illusion? If that is true, it will mean that the syrup pan depth in the pan will be deeper. On a drop flue the level is controlled by one float valve. It looks like the front is maybe 1" lower, you don't want that much extra depth to protect the flues. If you have 1" over the flues, that will give you 2" in the syrup pan. Once you get comfortable running the evaporator you will likely want to go to 1" in the syrup pan, but then the flues pan would be too shallow. If I'm correct, simple fix now, add 1" filler on top of syrup pan area to bring them level with each other. You want the sap level in both pans on a drop flue set up.

Ahhh - I was figuring on 2 float boxes... One to control the sap pan and then a second one between the 2 pans to control the syrup pan.. So I left the syrup pan a little higher to give some flexibility for my depth in the syrup pan.
Do you think this will work?

[maple flats]

A raised flue has 2 float boxes, one for each pan. While most if not all have the pans setting on the same level on a raised flue, they certainly don't need to be. With raised flue the bottom of the flue pan could be higher than the bottom of the syrup pan. You would then just need to build 2 float boxes, or more. Most set up's are designed to allow for reversing the direction of flow, especially in the syrup pan. My first 3x8 raised flue had 1 float box on the raised flue pan but had a plug to control which side got the incoming sap, then there were 2 connections and float boxes on the syrup pan. When the valve was opened on one side feeding the syrup pan, the opposite float box became the draw off box. When that feed valve was closed and the other one opened, the flow reversed and the box that had been the float box then became the draw box.
On my current set up, also raised flue, the flue pan is not reversible, and I have same side draw, I have a SS pipe from the flue pan that can feed either of 2 float boxes, so when I reverse the flow I close one supply valve, move the float from one box to the other and then open the other supply valve, Then I have a draw off tank that is filled from either draw off, I just need to roll the draw tank a few inches either way, then that tank (about 28 gal) is plumbed to my filter press pump. To transfer syrup I just pump it thru the pump to a bypass valve and to my finisher or I could run it straight to the filter press if it was hot enough. To clean the front pan I also use the draw tank. I drain the contents of the syrup pan into the tank, then clean the pan. When clean I pump it via the bypass back into the syrup pan. Quick and easy.

[maple flats]

Just as I started typing it seems you posted again. You could use 2 float boxes on a drop flue set up and it would work, but it might be a first.

[RollinsOrchards]

Quick question.... What to people use to create a seal between the pans and the Arch... I presume there must be some sort of gasket material, etc.... to prevent smoke from leaking out or air leaking in to the arch...??

Maple dealers sell a "pan gasket" which is a strip of ceramic blanket. If you wanted to buy a lot of it to line your arch you could use a little of the same stuff to lay under the edges of the pans.