Why aren't pans insulated?

[dvnwvt]

This has been bugging me and I'm sure there's a perfectly good answer. It seems blatantly obvious that the sides of evaporator pans should be insulated, yet no evaporator I've ever seen is set up this way. Why not???

[Brian]

Why would you? There isn't much heat loss out the side and you would risk insulation in the syrup. Also some people change their front pans out during a boil

[Clinkis]

Also if the sides of the pan get too hot it will scorch the sides of the syrup pan when it boils up. This happens sometimes in my syrup pan on the side next to my flue pan.

[ecolbeck]

Maybe someone who's an engineer can comment on the heat loss factor but I bet it's an issue of expense. Can you imagine the cost of a pan that was built like stainless double walled chimney flue? Two layers of stainless with insulation in between would be crazy expensive and heavy to lift and move.

[Russell Lampron]

The only place that I can see where an insulated pan would be needed would be if you were boiling outdoors. Most sugar makers have a sugar house or some type of shelter around their evaporator. The heat that you do lose helps warm up the sugar house which is very helpful on a cold night.

[johnallin]

Also if the sides of the pan get too hot it will scorch the sides of the syrup pan when it boils up. This happens sometimes in my syrup pan on the side next to my flue pan.

On a typical evaporator arch, providing you have syrup (or liquid) in them; the sides can't be any hotter than the syrup that's in the bottom of the pan.

[Clinkis]

On a typical evaporator arch, providing you have syrup (or liquid) in them; the sides can't be any hotter than the syrup that's in the bottom of the pan.

It can above the liquid. When my syrup pan foams up it would scorch the side next to my sap pan. I had to put a piece of flat steel in between sap and syrup pan to prevent this.