What's with the sand in syrup pan!

[blissville maples]

I cleaned pan this morning as usually do, and about an inch of sand in bottom of pan. Could hear it night before popping as it was cooling down .... The time of year? Or late Arctic freezes we've had?? Some is normal but it's like someone dumped a bunch of filter aid in the syrup pan!!

[Galena]

This seems to be a really bad year for nitre, maybe due to all the inconsistent weather. Maybe Dr Tim will chime in on this.

[DrTimPerkins]

The amount and composition of scale/sugar sand/niter varies from year-to-year, place-to-place, and within a season. Impossible to predict. You just have to deal with the hand you've been dealt.

Up to this point we've had exceptionally little niter. I suspect that'll change as the season progresses.

[Atgreene]

We've had less sand this year than any we can recall in many years.

[maple flats]

Our sugar sand has been extremely variable. Twice in the season I had to reverse the flow every 2 hrs. and had lots of hard niter scale to clean off in the morning. The rest of the time the sugar sand was very loose and silty. I came out with the draws and I didn't have to clean the pans for a few days. It has been a season of extremes for sugar sand to say the least.

[blissville maples]

Thats interesting, Good ole mother nature again...Guess one can only speculate is no rhyme or reason to it

[abbott]

Our sugar sand has been extremely variable. Twice in the season I had to reverse the flow every 2 hrs. and had lots of hard niter scale to clean off in the morning. The rest of the time the sugar sand was very loose and silty. I came out with the draws and I didn't have to clean the pans for a few days. It has been a season of extremes for sugar sand to say the least.

I'll second that experience. Had a stretch early on that the niter scale was building up fast, but for quite a while now it's been very little and much easier to clean after each boil.

[Atgreene]

And I spoke too soon.... niter has arrived and how.

[lyford]

Those of you who are cleaning the scale build up after each boil, are you using an acid or just scrapping it off?

[Atgreene]

I usually let permeate water sit in the pan for a bit, then scrub with a 3m green scrubby.

[abbott]

Those of you who are cleaning the scale build up after each boil, are you using an acid or just scrapping it off?

Acid only if necessary, but if the scale is that bad, then it must come off!

I used to use a wooden lath (just a thin strip of firewood) but recently (thanks to another thread on Trader) have discovered copper. I use copper wool, and if needed a copper scraper made from copper pipe. I typically leave a couple gallons of sap in the pan overnight and the scale has softened enough by morning to scrub it off. The copper is soft enough to not scratch the pan.

[lyford]

Abbott, do you use the copper on mirror finished stainless w/o scratching the finish?

[abbott]

Abbott, do you use the copper on mirror finished stainless w/o scratching the finish?

Well I'm pretty sure mine isn't mirror finish, but theoretically it would work. Here is the thread where it was discussed: http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?30319-Scraping-syrup-pans

You could test a spot with a piece of copper pipe, somewhere it wouldn't be noticeable.

[blissville maples]

Scraping with a 3 inch putty knife works well, just have to angle it right to get under the niter