Really old Leader Evaporator - worth it?

[dkaram]

I've been boiling on steam table pans for four seasons. I'm up to three pans for my 50 taps and I've been on the lookout for a used hobby evaporator. I came across a Leader 2x6 drop flue with tin pans at an estate sale. I got a little too excited and bought it without thinking through all the consequences. I can probably expand a little, but since this is just for fun, I'm not able to get much bigger.

I've got two questions:

1. Is this thing dangerous? The pans are in decent condition for their age but haven't been used in awhile. I've read about the lead solder, and I will get a test kit, but it needs cleaned up and I don't know where to start. Probably going to just give everything a good wash with the pressure washer and avoid the soldered joints. It also has no firebrick and what appears to be galvanized sides. Doesn't even have a bottom on the firebox. I thought heating galvanized was not acceptable? Any rehab recommendations?

2. Will I have enough sap to run this thing? 50 taps seems to be at the low end.

The old-timer who sold it to me said that it would work and I'd have plenty of room to expand, but he was trying to sell it. He choked up a little when he was watching me load it up and I felt pretty bad pulling away.

Thanks

[mol1jb]

How often do you boil? If its only the weekends or every couple days that size should work great. Not sure if you could boil every day though.

[dkaram]

Every two or three days when things are going well, but I was only getting a couple gallons an hour on my steam table pans.

[wiam]

If the pans are tin then the solder is lead. There is also lead in the tin coating on the pans.

[dkaram]

I'm not questioning the lead content in the solder. I'm looking for ways to safely clean the pans. As I've found on other discussions threads, there are many people still using English tin and the lead levels are reasonably low. Has thinking on this topic changed since those threads were written?

[Bucket Head]

Yes, it would work for that many taps. Do you have a way to store the sap for a couple of days and keep it as cool as you can? That's crucial to holding sap.

As for "dangerous", that's like asking if airplanes are safe, lol. There are a lot of tin pans/ mild steel pans/soldered pans still in use out there, along with tens of thousands of soldered galvanized pails. I wouldn't use it if your going to sell your syrup- I guess eventually they will be testing for lead content(?). But for personal use it would be fine.

Do not pressure wash it and do not scrub vigorously with a harsh scrub pad, brush, Scotchbrite, etc. The years of use have probably coated, to a degree, the pan and the soldered joints which helps to "seal" the soldered joints. We never scrubbed the tin or steel flat pans we started out with for that reason.

Steve

[Bruce L]

Here's my two cents worth-- several years ago when we had lead soldered pans,our syrup was tested for lead content. Our syrup came back fine,well below acceptable levels,and the inspector explained to me that the whole key to lead contamination is contact time.If you were boiling every day you would be fine,if you plan to only boil on weekends it would be best to drain the sap from your pans,store it somewhere cool,then put it back into the pans when you are ready to boil

[dkaram]

Thank you all for your valuable input.