Homemade Filter Press

[Herb Cronizer]

Does anyone have any info on parts needed to make a filter press besides pump, lines, guages I mean the actual filter parts thank you , Herb

[brookledge]

When I built mine the smallest press available was a complete 7" with about 8 sections that was rated for 60 gallons per set of filters.
Nowadays you can buy basicly the same press except it's called a short stack and it has about 3 large sections. Idon't know what that is rated for but there are small ones that have hand pumps also.
Getting back to mine. I got my parts from Grimm before they merged with leader. I got the two rods, both ends of the plate and a few sections. I welded up the frame work and then began mounting everything. I then took a piece of pipe and cut it so that I could tighten up the plates (pipe was about 6" long to take up space on the rods). It would use 4 papers per time and would filter about 10 gal before plugging up. The as I expanded and wanted to filter more I shortened up the pipes over the rods to expand the capacity and now I get about 20 gallons through.
Keith

[dgp219]

I called CDL today asking about buying just plates. The could sell plates mounted on a frame. It would need a pump, motor, guage, and plumbing for $675. I priced a 1/3 hp motor and a 1/2" port brass gear pump from Graingers at about $115 and $220. Maple Guys have a sale on a press (Lapierre?) for $880 with papers and filter aid. I think it might be hard to beat the short bank prices especially with everyone offering what amounts to $100 off for the month of May. But- I'm still going to try. Should try Leader. Does anyone have a contact number or web address for Wes-Fab. I can't seem to find one. Keith, keep us posted on any info. you find, will do the same.

[dgp219]

You to Herb!

[Jim Brown]

dgp219-Wes Fab does not have a direct address or web site You have to work through a dealer. I worked with Bill Mason from Maine and got a great price on a 7"short bank delivered to the house It was a 'GOD SENT' this season with all the sugar sand .He is here on the trader most times W.F. MASON.
hope this helps
Thanks
Jim

[Mike]

Doug, How many plates did CDL say you get for that price?? Ive checked on prices just for plate and for 7" plates is about $115 for one big plate and one waffle plate.........This is with the early bird price...

[brookledge]

When I built mine I made my own frame work to hold the plates,pump and motor. If my memory serves me right at the time a new press complete was about 900-1000 I built mine from parts for about 500. Now they are about 1500. And the smaller capacity ones where not available.
Even if you buy a short stack( which are cheaper) you can still make a spacer out of pipe to allow you to only use one plate and section if you are only filtering small batches.
Keith

[Herb Cronizer]

Is there a web site or phone number to find the plates I have motors and a 3 gpm pump all I need are the filter plates also what is the difference between the d.e. from tsc or agway and real filter aid thank you , Herb

[tyrod2]

When I built mine I made my own frame work to hold the plates,pump and motor. If my memory serves me right at the time a new press complete was about 900-1000 I built mine from parts for about 500. Now they are about 1500. And the smaller capacity ones where not available.
Even if you buy a short stack( which are cheaper) you can still make a spacer out of pipe to allow you to only use one plate and section if you are only filtering small batches.
Keith
Hi Keith I have a 7" filter press and I filter 5gal. at a time. Will 3 plates and 3 filters be enough to filter it. I never thought of using spacers. Thank You

Ronnie

[maple flats]

Herb,
"Real filter aid" is FOOD GRADE, and DE for other uses is NOT FOODS GRADE. Big difference. The next time you come over to my sugarhouse I will show you the press I have which was bought a year ago from THE MAPLE GUYS, who sponser this forum. I will show you all about it. If you want to buy parts and assemble one you can see what they are in detail.
Dave
Dave

[802maple]

Someone out there that has the time to do the research can find the plates before they get to the Maple equipment companies and they get to inflate the price 300 %. These aren't made by any of the equipment compnaies just assembled by them

[royalmaple]

Jerry-


Shushhhhhhh.

[John Burton]

either that or take some plates and frames to a machine shop and see if they could be reproduced

[dgp219]

Mike, when I called CDL I ask for the plates needed for a short bank 7".

Called Leader today and have had no reply.

As I said before a new pump and motor are around $340, add plumbing, pres. gauge, a fullport valve or two, a couple of pulleys, belt, now your probably pushing $375, make a frame, oh yeh and those darn plates. It starts to sound like the savings might not be worth it for most of us.

Good price right now on a shortbank from Maple Guys and some guy named WF Mason????

But lets not give up yet!

[brookledge]

Ronnie
As far as whether you can get 5 gallons through with only using one section and two papers, all I can say is try it. If your sections are not full of crud when you change them then I'd say you could remove some of them and save on papers. I made my spacers out of 3/4" pipe that slides over the threadded rod. You can make different length spacers depending on how much you want to get through.
If you have a regular 7" press that you normally have around 16 papers in it but only need to filter 5 gallons then why waste the extra papers.
I think you could easily get 5 gal through just 1 section at the beginning of the season but not with dark or commercial.
Keith

[Jim Brown]

Doug; The presses you buy from Bill Mason are Wes-Fab units from Wisconson. I bought one last year and it works great. With three(3) plates and spacers we could get 10-15 gallon per set up this year with all the sugar sand. We bottle in glass and have had no problems this year .
my two cents
Jim

[dgp219]

Since I've never used a filter press, I have a question. If you don't finish in the evaporator do you just wait till after you finish a batch to filter press? Do you filter through prefilters, finish, then use the filter press? Or filter twice with press, once before and once after finishing? Or something else?

[John Burton]

we come as close as possible in the evaporator draw and place it in the finnisher. then we adjusut the syrup to correct density there we thenrun it through the filter press into our canner (passing it through acouple prefilters in case we break a paper then we bottle it

[brookledge]

Doug
I have my 7" press set up with spacer so that I only use 2 plates and 3 sections. So it requires 6 papers. With that amount I can get 20 gallons through at a wack. I usually average 4GPH of syrup. I boil it to syrup on the evaporator, so when I get about 20 gal I'll get it hot (16X24 canner)usually around 200 degrees and run it through the press all at once.
That is called batch pressing
Some will do continuous pressing where they set the press up and filter it as it is drawn off. The key to this method is to keep the press hot. Once it cools down you are done. Some also hang heat lamps right over the top to keep it hot.
You do not need to use any pre filter The syrup gets pumped through the papers.
Like John said for safetys sake you could run it through a prefilter after your press in case you blow a paper. The key is to watch your pressure so that it doesn't blow a paper. I don't know if I'm just lucky but I have never blown a paper in about 8 years I've had my press.
Keith

[dgp219]

Thanks for the info John and Keith. I'm a little disappointed with no reply from Leader about if they will sell plates.

[Spike]

Jim how do you like your steamaway? I have a2/6 oil with preheater 700 taps.Looking for ways to tweek it without braking the bank. What is your evaporation rate?

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

Some of the used RO's out there (smaller ones) are as much or less $ than a steam-away for a 2x6, and you'll get MUCH more efficiency out of the RO.

[Jim Brown]

Spike; We are very pleased with it. We can get about 52 GPH if every thing is right but I'd say 48-49 would be more realistic over the long haul. We are looking for a used RO to put in front of it for next year. We will be adding taps again this year but don't know how many for sure at this time.Looks like 100-150 more for next season and we will have all on vac. Need to get rid of the sap!
Thanks

Jim

[Jim Brown]

Spike: The picture in my avatar is of the steamaway
Jim

[Russell Lampron]

Spike,

With that many taps the wiser thing to do would be to add an RO machine. An RO machine will get you 400% or more gain in efficiency while a steamaway will only get you 75%.

Russ

[Jim Brown]

Russ; How many tap are you running with the RO and 2x6?

Jim

[Spike]

Jim I think Russ is right an RO is the way to go. I talked to Maplepancakeman and he has a home system Says its set up for maple production right from the factory. Its called Clean Water Products out of Arizona. Ive been on line to them, the cost is about 3000.andwillproduce 1-2gallons per minute.

[Jim Brown]

Spike; Do you have the web address for trh Clean water products?
Thx
Jim

[Spike]

Jim,the address is www.cleanwaterproducts.com its the unit with the nano filter.

[Spike]

jim click under home products model #cwp5040 RO

[Jim Brown]

Spike I spoke with the "Dr" and he says his equipment will work I don't know if I want to invest $3000 to find out just yet!

[Mike]

Jim, If they can sell a 500/600 gal an HR RO for under $6000 that would be a bargain.......Id add another membrane to mine if the price was right.....You'll love a RO.....The best investment for the money........I can make 14/15 gals an hr on my rig now verses 2/3........A huge savings in fuel also....

[Spike]

Jim, I understand where your coming from.The maplepancakeman has one,talk to him.But nextseason I will have one ,an Ro is an RO. If it only provides 1-2 gal. per min.Start the RO1-2 hours before you boil.

[Mike]

My RO gives 1--4 gals of concentrated sap per min and 400 gals or so of premate...Will these other RO's do the same ???

[Russell Lampron]

Jim,

I have about 500 taps with the RO and 2x6. I could easily handle 1000 if I didn't have a full time job to cut into my sugaring time. I was scared at first because I didn't know any other sugarmakers as small as I am that had one. It didn't take long after I got it to realize that I had made the right choice.

You will like boiling concentrated sap. You draw off more syrup in an hour so it seems like you are getting something done. It used to take me 6 hours to boil in 150 gallons of sap now I can do 600 gallons in the same amount of time. I only used about 2 cords of wood this season to make 83 gallons of syrup and I used 1.5 cords last year to make 80 gallons.

Besides not having to spend as much time in the sugarhouse boiling I don't have to spend as much time cutting, splitting and stacking wood. Don't get me wrong I love to boil sap but when I used to spend 3 or 4 nights a week, some times more, boiling until 1 or 2 am it was hard to get up at 5:30 to go to work the next day. Since I have gotten the RO I am usually out of the sugarhouse by 9:30 sometimes earlier.

Russ

[Jim Brown]

Russ; Thanks for the words of encouragement!. I think the RO is the way to go. We just bought the steamaway last year and we are adding taps this year. So I think we will need one SOON. just don't know weather the pocket book will stand it.I will at some time turn the entire operation over to our son and daughter who are full partners at this time. and let them run it . Right now our son has 2 and 1/2 more years in the Air force to get his 20 and will be moving closer to the trees at that point.He came home last year and spent2 weeks helping boil and collect sap but who knows were he might be next sugar season?. Our daughter lives 6 miles from the house and we have 400 taps on vac on her property. She was over a number of times during season to help but has her hands full at home with a special needs son who is 8 years old. She and our son-in law have 16 hours per day of in house nursing care for our grand son so that only permits a limited time for her to run the evaporator and let us old guys sleep some.
Thanks for you input
Jim

[Russell Lampron]

Jim,

If there is any way that you can come up with the money to get an RO machine do it. It is like adding vacuum to your tubing. Do it as soon as possible, you will be glad that you did. It made sugaring fun again for me. For the same reasons that the big producers use them they make sense for a small producer.

In my situation it was buy a bigger evaporator and rebuild my sugarhouse so it would fit or get an RO machine and build a small insulated and heated room for it. To equal what I am doing with the RO and 2x6 I would have had to get a 3x10 evaporator. That wouldn't fit into a 12x12 sugarhouse so that would have had to be expanded. I could probably found a used one but at the time a 3x10 was going for $10,000 plus without a steamhood. The RO cost me a little over $5,000 and the modifications to the sugarhouse were less expensive.

I knew I was in trouble when I started out. I was planning on about 200 taps and had 300 before I ever had a drop of sap to boil. I have been steadily increasing from there to where I am now. I have the potential to add another 600 taps to my vacuum system which has 200 on it now. If I did that it still wouldn't be as bad as it was when I had 350 taps and no RO.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ, come on. We'll get you up to 1000 at your house soon enough.

how's the hot ****? Don't tell me you aren't into it, I don't believe you.

[Fred Henderson]

Ok all the expert RO guys. How do I size and RO for my operation?

[Russell Lampron]

Fred,

If you plan on running the RO and boiling at the same time you want one that will produce enough concentrate so that you won't out boil it. A 300gph RO will produce about 70 gallons of concentrated sap in an hour so if your evaporator
boils off 70 gallons of sap an hour or less that would work. You can do it with a smaller RO if you concentrate your sap before you start boiling.

Matt,

The Hot **** bottle is getting low and I need to restock the boiling soda drawer as well. Got enough for the weekend though.

Russ

[Fred Henderson]

Russ, Thanks and I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for next year.

[brookledge]

I think that RO's are great but there not for everyone. What I mean by that is you have to look at the big picture and it is different for everyone.
In the case of Russ he was going to have to buy a larger evaporator and build a new sugarhouse so the cost of doing that was more than the RO. A RO makes sense for him
On the other hand if the sugarhouse was large enough to house a larger evaporator a good used evaporator could have been an option. Most small producers don't even consider an RO an option because of the cost. To spend 5,000-6000 and only make 100 gall of syrup is a long payback.
Some have unlimited supplies of wood while others have to pay a lot for fuel or have no room to store wood.
Another factor to look at is what is the condition of your evaporator and if it has lead in it(I know its a sore subject but its never going to go away). If you have lead you may want to buy a new evaporator instead of keeping the evaporator and buying a RO.
Other factors to look at are steam-away vs. larger evaporator vs. RO
Steam-away will give you around 75% increase a RO around 400% and a larger evaporator 100-200%
In my case a few years ago
I had an evaporator that had lead in the pans. I have electricity at the sugarhouse but not enough to run the additional draw for a RO. My electricity comes from my parents house and they don't even have a 100 amp service(its a old house) I would have to build a heated building to house the RO or add on to the existing sugarhouse.
So my decision was to go with a new larger evaporator getting tig welded pans so no more solder or lead.
I ended up increasing my boiling capacity 160% and getting 8 more gallons of syrup per cord of wood.
I would like to increase in size again adding another 400 or so taps which would put me around 1100 and that would mean long boiling times so I will have to revisit the RO options myself in a few years.
I'm done rambling on sorry for being so long winded.
Keith

[Fred Henderson]

Maybe long winded in your mind but on the other hand a lot of good info for me. Thanks.

[Spike]

Mike yes they will.

[Mike]

Spike, If they can do the same thing as a Sugar dealers RO , than thats a hell of a price.....If I can expand mine ill be checking on there membranes .....

[MaplePancakeMan]

Yes, i have one of the Cleanwaterproduct RO's however this year with the lack there of of sap here, i had hardly enough at a time to warrant the use. When i did , i realized the line was cracked in shipping, so i drained it, left it til i could get the part. We got a huge cold snap and my barn which never gets below 45 dropped to 20 and i had another part break. Got the parts and had it fixed, i was already basically done by then, but i had the large sugarmaker who fixed it test it and it works, it did work for me aswell when i did fire it up for the 5 min before the line gave way. I'd say it works well for the price, its slower but worth the money trade off. Another thing i didn't realize is the gpm is rated for 77degrees. Sap is basically half that so cut the gpm in half. It is really easily expanded to up to three membranes and i believe the membranes are 100 and housings are 100 aswell. So for 400 more i can tripple the concentrate to almost 2-3pgm which is more than enough.

[Spike]

Maplepancakeman I spoke to the owner of clearwater yesterday morn .I asked him about the gpm. He has assured me that what ever the temp is I should get 2gpm. Problem fixed? I'm going to wait until 5-24 my B-day to order. Honey guess what I bought for my B-day.

[Jim Brown]

Spike; Do you have to change the membranes to sugar ones or are the ones they make for water OK?
I also spoke with 'The Dr" last week I could not get a straight answer from him about GPM's.The price was right at around $3500 delivered
Thanks
Jim

[Spike]

Jim the filter they recommend for us sugarmakers is called the nano filter.And is included in price The owner said that this is not new to them as they have been selling this RO in canada for sometime.

[Spike]

Jim where in northwest Pa. do you live. Il lived in Pittsburgh for 30 years. But now in VT.

[MaplePancakeMan]

i can't be sure about the GPM beacuse i didn't get to use it all too much this season, but the guy who fixes them, and also builds them worked on them for 15 years and said that he can't see how it would do that much with sap that cold. Maybe it can, but i figure i'll assume it does half that and then hope it does what its supposed to. Then i won't be disapointed

[Russell Lampron]

What is the sugar content of the concentrate at 2gpm? If it is not 8% what will the flow rate be to make it 8%? 8% is the number that gives you the 400% efficiency gain with a maple RO. That is the number where 3/4 of the water will be removed from 2% sap.

Russ

[Jim Brown]

Spike; We live in Franklin about 95 miles north of Pittsburgh one mile off route '8' in a little town of Polk
Jim