Steam gremlins

[prairietapper]

We have used this rig and hood combo for many years. this year everything with the hood has been a nightmare. in all the years past we would get some condensate in the pipe. but any drips would go right back up the pipe when they let loose. this year it has been raining into the pan. many trials of guttering were not successful. I even had to pitch out near syrup
today. in frustration I chopped into the cupola and put a fan from a grain dryer up there plus ran tube that was 4 inches bigger in diameter. now I can run full throttle on the gas valve and still get rid of the steam.. What I can not do is hear any of the boil! it took about 30 seconds to decide to go to the wood shop and grab hearing protection. SMH LOL the new shack is going to be designed much different! It seems the third time sweetening the pan on the first real run just might be the charm... I hope so! Happy boiling people. I hope I still have some hearing left at the end of this season!

[Sugarmaker]

Thought I heard a grain dryer running?!:)
Regards,
Chris

[Michael Greer]

Yes, I have a little duct fan in the stack over my front pan and I really hate that constant sound. Next year I'm going to replace both steam stacks with 12" pipe and see if it'll work without the fan.

[maple flats]

No fan should be needed. You should however have a large enough somewhat flat funnel suspended under the steam stack, then run the condensate to the hood gutter and out.
My hood came with 2 stacks, each 15" diameter and it also came with 2 such funnels, about 18" diameter and maybe only 4" deep, then a drain spout. It came with 3 SS straps attached to attach it to the steam stack Then as the cooler stack condenses the steam back to liquid it runs down, drips into that funnel, then drains, to the hood gutter via a U channel that hooks to the drain spout and then sets on the hood gutter. It's something you could easily make using aluminum flashing (a ready made funnel for common uses would generally be too deep).

[prairietapper]

Dad set this up in the 90's the steam flue was only 10 inches in diameter so even with a little 2x4 evap it was not enough natural flow. So it did need help from a fan. that did the trick for many years, I putzed with the old fan again. I think it was drag from old worn out bearings and would not spin full speed even with a good lubing. ( the old fan is so old it still has bearings you oil. ) this shack is at dads and he has passed away. I will be building a new shack this summer. it will have plenty of area to the cupola to vent natural. but I will put a fan in the end so I can use it to assist if needed. besides I might do more things in the kitchen end and want to be able to power vent. I roast coffee as a hobby also so I want to be able to suck smoke out too.
I had some 14 inch unused flue ( outside sections of triple wall smoke stack. )
so I put that in instead of the 10 inch