Getting Away with out a Cupola

[Upland]

An evaporator that wasn't supposed to arrive this year has arrived. So I'm in a bit of a scramble mode to things together for the season. My "shack" is shed about 12 feet by 20 feet. I am only planning on using this for a couple years until I hopefully expand closer to my sugar bush. Anyways I am wondering if instead of building a cupola if I could get away with having sections at either end of the shack being able to open, ie for simplicity sake a shed, head on is a square with a triangle on top. Was thinking of removing sections on either end and attaching swinging brackets to them.

Will this work well enough or is it a pretty bad idea. Will have a 2*4 evap in there.

Thanks

[Urban Sugarmaker]

It will probably work well enough but you won't have very good visibility inside. Even a 2x4 produces a lot of steam and it wants to go up. Can you cut out for a cupola and just use a tarp when you aren't boiling?

[buckeye gold]

I put an RV exhaust vent in the peek of my roof and it has worked fine for 4 years. It clears a 12x16 shack. A little steam hangs in the peak waiting to go out, but it clear from 7' down. Crank open and shut, you can get an electric fan or just a vent. All the fans are 12 volt so you need a converter to run it, I don't know maybe a bathroom vent would work, it would be 115.

Here's a link to an RV vent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0027XAN78?aaxitk=foYwFII9-yr6c5iWrWYvew&pd_rd_i=B0027XAN78&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3365067662&pd_rd_wg=YVGFU&pf_rd_r=337ANTVNQWA80Y2QC3K4&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=AAvKK&pf_rd_i=rv+exhaust+roof+vent&pd_rd_r=5f32b9b5-47c8-4264-9ebb-0b1d8b8e7a7d&hsa_cr_id=8633676800701

[Ed R]

Build a steam hood "box" out of clear 6 mil poly and furing strips. Suspend it above your 2x4 from the rafters in the temporary building. cut in a flex duct from the side or top of your steam hood. suspend the duct from your rafters and run it outside your building as high as you can get. You can buy the duct locally or on-line from a company called aramsco. This has worked well for me in the past. You might need to make gutters on the sides to prevent drip back. Make the steam hood a little larger than your 2x4 foot print and make sure you have good clearance from your stack. Give yourself about 12 inches of room to work above your pans.

[tcross]

i have used a box fan/steam hood combination for the last 4 years and it has worked well. I built a box out of strapping as ED R mentioned, and lined it with plastic. at the top I made an "L" that goes out the top of a door (the door is cut in half and opens on the top). in the top door opening is a box fan set on low. I take it down each time I'm done and bring it inside if it's going to freeze hard. 4 years and my fan is still kicking... and not a drop of steam in the shack, which is 20x26... ish

[wiam]

Our old sugar house had triangle swing out doors at the peak of the gable ends. Worked fine.

[wobbletop]

I put an RV exhaust vent in the peek of my roof and it has worked fine for 4 years. It clears a 12x16 shack. A little steam hangs in the peak waiting to go out, but it clear from 7' down. Crank open and shut, you can get an electric fan or just a vent. All the fans are 12 volt so you need a converter to run it, I don't know maybe a bathroom vent would work, it would be 115.

Here's a link to an RV vent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0027XAN78?aaxitk=foYwFII9-yr6c5iWrWYvew&pd_rd_i=B0027XAN78&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3365067662&pd_rd_wg=YVGFU&pf_rd_r=337ANTVNQWA80Y2QC3K4&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=AAvKK&pf_rd_i=rv+exhaust+roof+vent&pd_rd_r=5f32b9b5-47c8-4264-9ebb-0b1d8b8e7a7d&hsa_cr_id=8633676800701

That's an awesome idea. That looks a lot easier than building a cupola! And if you need more venting, just add another fan I imagine.

[homelite770g]

I ran a 2x4 set up in my 16x24 shack for several years way too much moisture had doors open and fans going but in order to vent it enuff I had to had doors open on both ends which sucked a lot of heat out and cooled the pan down some. And it was still fairly cloudy

[johnallin]

I ran a 2x4 set up in my 16x24 shack for several years way too much moisture had doors open and fans going but in order to vent it enuff I had to had doors open on both ends which sucked a lot of heat out and cooled the pan down some. And it was still fairly cloudy

The reason it was still steamy was due to the fact that the air was cold in the shack. When steam hits cold air it wants to condensate and fall back down. The warmer you can keep the shack, the better the steam will work it's way up and out; one good reason to contain it in a hood.

[mullikinmaple]

I'm in a temporary shed until I can build a sugar house. I added a hinged door in the peak that has worked fairly well. Also a fair amount of steam escapes through the eaves. Prior to putting the door in the peak, I was working in a fog bank.

[Upland]

Thanks for the feed back fella's, got lots of options now, appreciate it!

[Woody77]

Check out the concentric exaust system from smokey lake maple this is the basic idea i use with my 2×6 setup it creates so much draft in my hood there is never steam in the bush . My hood is slightly better than the plastic setup but extends past the back around the chimney stack . This is the futer of steam removal it's that good of a theory. Seriously. the first year i ran my 2×5 barrel evaporator in a40×80 .pole barn and you couldnt 20' . Now in a 10'×32' bush with a smokey lake 2×6 no steam ever.

[Road's End]

When I was a kid my dad made syrup in the garage. His solution was making a hinged section of roof, probably the size of a sheet of plywood. He would prop it open with a board and close it when he was done. He also used the plastic sheeting "hood" that's already been mentioned. Worked just fine!

[Haynes Forest Products]

I got schooled a few years back by a member that it ain't steam if you can see it. I will agree that its the steam that you cant see that will make you hop up and down looking for a snow bank for your hand. I get a good laugh when I see a new visitor decide to put in a few slow drops of defoamer thru the hood door.

I have been in a few shacks that I froze my bones to the core from the cold water vapor settling on my shoulders under full steam ahead. There is a very fine balance to get the right draft inside a sap shack that doesn't have a hood. Even when I start up my 3x10 with a hood and copula it takes a while to get the shack up to temp.

Once the hot water vapor hits the saturation point where its to heavy to raise and only hovers because it cant even sink is the problem.