Oil tank build, Am I crazy?

[Big Sappy]

I hope to get feedback from the experienced maple runner, will it work? 7 6x20 pans for continuous flow.
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[red dorakeen]

Well I don't know if you're crazy but I'm interested in knowing how it "pans" out. So to speak.

[Sugarmaker]

Very unique build. should work. Might work best if you brought sap in the front pan and made finished syrup in the back pan.
Get some trees tapped and some wood under those pans!:)
Regards,
Chris

[Haynes Forest Products]

Are you crazy? let me think on this for a few micro seconds.......................YES your CRAZY you may be nuts. Because you decided to to go thru with your idea and spent all this time to make some pancake topping. You know a few friends already told you this Right.

I like it it looks good nice and neat. I see some dark circles on the bottom. I hope those are not tubes for transferring sap from pan to pan. Read up on Siphon tubes for sap transfer.

Nice job and do't let anyone talk you out of what your doing. I really dislike doubters right up ther with people that say that won't work.

[Big Sappy]

Haynes forrest, the dark circles are for transferring pan to pan , is this going to be a problem? They are copper tubes soldered to transfer from alternating ends

[Haynes Forest Products]

Maybe not. I just remember I built a bottler with the draw off tube coming out the bottom and 90 out to the front. Filled it with syrup fired it up and within 1 min I saw puffs of smoke bubbling out of the syrup. I didn't think it thru because there wasn't cooling liquid moving thru the tube it boiled off and burned.

NOW i have no idea if its a problem doing it that way. In reality you should have liquid passing constantly from pan to pan. I know that boiling liquid has different properties than non boiling liquids...................What??? Once again high pressure always moves to low pressure unless there is something to block it. Could the cross over tubes boil at a different rate I would think so. Could it vapor lock between the pans DONT KNOW. Testing with water wont be an accurate test.

Will you have the ability to remove the pans as one unit? If its all welded together solid and there are no removable joints between the pans I would weld strengthening bars across the sides to tie them together so vibration doesn't crack the tubes. Then I would wrap the tubes in fire blanket so they have clear liquid transferring.

Reading many posts on this site I hear many terms and ideas. One of my favorites is GRADIENT.:o Other a terms like The sweet being pulled thru the pans, or Syrup running back up hill Chasing the sweet. I say give it a chance to work or fail.

This I do know its tough to expect a siphon effect to work with the liquid boiling. But what makes liquid to go from pan to pan anyway.

[Cjadamec]

I don't know if you're crazy but feel a lil nuts after following my dream of building an oil tank evap. Sure it works and I can make many gallons of water into steam every hour but people sure do look at me strange.

Siphon tubes work great when they work. When things get hot and the boil really gets going they stop being siphons and just become a place for steam and non condensing gasses to collect. You really should insulate the tubes exposed to fire so you don't melt the solder out of them and end up dumping all your sap into the arch.

Really nice work though. Fill those pans up and light a fire in that box. It's bound to need some adjustments right out of the box. Good luck.

[mol1jb]

I like the idea of connecting all the pans together but having the tubes in the firebox Im not so sure of. Like others said I would definitely protect them with some insulation around the tubes

[Big Sappy]

I very much appreciate everyone's responses, i think you guys are on to somthing with the tubes in the firebox. I will look at doing something to keep some heat off them . Thanks again.

[TSilly]

I very much appreciate everyone's responses, i think you guys are on to somthing with the tubes in the firebox. I will look at doing something to keep some heat off them . Thanks again.

I'd think that you should be OK with the tubes underneath as the tubes themselves should be temperature stabilized by the liquid inside because you likely won't get above 215F even with pretty dense sap and with the heat on those tubes I'd expect that they will be nearly exploding out sap (so splashing might end up being a bit of an issue). You should investigate drop-tube pans on here as well, those threads may shed some additional light on increasing your boil. Considering those pieces, I'd be surprised to see a vapor lock in that length and diameter tube.

My concerns most often are often based on these considerations:
1. Am I going to blow myself up?
2. Am I going to badly burn myself?
3. Sit with a young child to brainstorm of the potential dangers... even the dinosaur attacking can be well worth consider (what if I'm distracted for too long?)

If I make it through that list and feel pretty comfortable, I just need to realize that all great discoveries come out of trying something new and even a failure can have great successes linked to it.

I'm putting finishing touches on a sap preheater that is automated and both feeling the "am I crazy" and the pressure of sap running, good luck on yours!

Cheers - Tom

[Big Sappy]

Very unique build. should work. Might work best if you brought sap in the front pan and made finished syrup in the back pan.
Get some trees tapped and some wood under those pans!:)
Regards,
Chris starting raw sap in the front by fire door theoretically work better because its in the hottest area? Thanks Sugarmaker

[Cjadamec]

As I'm finding out with my steam pan set up your are going to have an issue with burning on any part of the steam pan that doesn't stay covered in sap. Having the raw sap in the front pans where the heat is highest will help prevent some of the burning as the sugar content gets higher towards the rear pans where the heat is less intense. Starting cold sap in the front will also help you control boil over.


Each rig is going to run different, it's going to take you a few boils to figure out what works best on your set up.

[Big Sappy]

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.