Leader half pint supreme pan

[Eliemma]

Wondering if anyone uses the leader half pint supreme pan with raised flues? Is it worth the extra three hundred over the divided flat pan?

[phil-t]

I do not, but I know that if I was going to buy one, it would be supreme pan. Why not - unless the 300$ is just too much.

[Nogden3929]

We used a divided flat plan for 30 years then went to the Supreme last year. It was an improvement, not sure how much though. Added more taps and gravity tubing and was buried in sap all season.

[Eliemma]

Broke down and brought back the flat pan and got the 2by3 supreme pan. Hope it make a diffence.

[maple flats]

I don't know the % difference in boiling rate on the supreme pan, but flues add a lot of surface area and the increased surface area takes far more heat out of the fire. On a typical evaporator that is half flues and half flat, near 75%+ of the evaporation take place in the flue pan. The supreme may not gain that much because there are fewer and I think shorter flues.

[phil-t]

I'll be waiting for a report on evaporation rates. Did you, or do you have the AUF kit as well?

[Nogden3929]

Bought the AUF last year mid season and couldn't solve the ash problem, blowing everywhere. Liked how completely the wood burned, easier to get fire started, and harder boil but need to find a way to fix the door.

[bowhunter]

The problem with blowing ash is because there is too much air flow going in or not enough draft (stack height). On any fired equipment like the evaporator you want the firebox to be operating with a very slight vacuum (negative pressure) because you will always have some leaks. Blowing hot flue gas out will damage the metal structure of the arch eventually. You can do a couple of things to help. It will be an improvement if you can seal the door a little better but that won't be the complete answer. The other options are to add stack to create more draft or slowing down the fan or otherwise reducing the air flow going in. I added AUF to my 1/2 pint last season and also have a rheostat to control the blower speed. I adjust the speed down so that I don't get ash blowing out around the door. You can do the same thing by using a piece of flashing or something similar to partially obstruct the inlet to the blower. With the evaporator running start slowly closing off the air inlet to the blower until you stop seeing the ash blow out. You will still get much better combustion and more complete wood burn plus harder boiling.