Roaring evaporator ?

[smokeyamber]

My evaporator was roaring last night, sparks out the stack, maxxing out the temp on the stack and making me pretty nervous...

Ok, so I have a 2x5 rig with a slightly convoluted stack setup, stack comes out back and makes a right angle , then out the side of the shack and then another right angle up into the 12 ft stack. It is a 8" pipe. On occasion when I am firing the rig hard I have gotten what seemed to be creosote lighting off with the result of sparks and my temp spiking on the pipe to over 800 degrees. Last night this was happening almost every time I opened the arch door. Is this a case of too small a stack or too many bends ? The arch is natural draft this year, but I have used a blower in the past. This year I don't seem to need it with a new arch front that has a tighter door and a draft door below that is open all the time to give draft from below. I have never had crazy boils on this rig, but then I run it pretty deep at 1 1/2 "' inches.

I am debating investing in 10" stack for next season , maybe with a straight up design ( if I can clear the big pine tree nearby :o )

Any input is appreciated.

[Russell Lampron]

My evaporator does that sometimes when I'm firing with dry pine. The time that I heard it I thought something was going wrong with my vacuum pump or RO machine. The next time that it does it try closing your draft door part way to see if that helps. Going to a 10" pipe will help your evaporator draft better. The 8" stack will be fine too but you should do what it takes to go straight up with it. Turn that pesky pine into firewood.

[smokeyamber]

Thanks Russell, I was firing with dry pine... so your observation is spot on. I will aim for straight up on the stack if possible. And yeah, the sound is distinctive for sure ! I normally would take out the pine, but it is a nice white pine that give me some shelter so I would like to keep it .. I may actually move the shack away from it. :lol:

[steve J]

Is any of your stack getting cherry red? if not your probably ok but I have a cap with a spark arrestor on mine and when I have boiled at night I have seen that glo orange with sparks that it has captured particularly when I have had a lot of soft wood to burn which I did not have this year.

[n8hutch]

You may have a spot in your flue/chimney where fresh air can be introduced to the Flue Gases causing a chimney fire? I used to boil with some friends that used to have that same issue all the time.

[wnybassman]

Pine makes quite the spark show at night. That's why I prefer to boil during the day :D

[johnallin]

I had exactly the same on Monday night. Running low in wood; I was burning some white pine I had laying around...the flue pan was actually shaking and it sounded like a freight train was going by.

[maple flats]

Pine makes quite the spark show at night. That's why I prefer to boil during the day :D
Funny how it only shoots sparks after dark!

[johnallin]

Pine makes quite the spark show at night. That's why I prefer to boil during the day :D

Stealth boiling 101.......

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Pine makes quite the spark show at night. That's why I prefer to boil during the day :D

LOL. If you can't see it, it's not there. I prefer to boil during the day too.

[slammer3364]

I always get sparks at night. I burn maple oak and black cherry. I think it looks pretty neat

[Russell Lampron]

You want to see something neat you should see the 6' flames come out of the stack on my outdoor wood boiler. When I feed it dry pine it will do that while I have the door open to fill it with wood.

[Bruce L]

We rake all the leaves away from the sugarhouse with the Sparks raining down. It gets real bad end of season when I shovel in the chips,do that during a rainstorm as it looks like a volcano spewing lava with all the sparks

[Sinzibuckwud]

We call that turbo mode, she's pulling good draft when there's a torch flame coming out the stovepipe:lol:

[Haynes Forest Products]

Nothing wrong with a good chimney as long as it isn't going to shoot out sparks or flame into your attic and set the place on fire. I think of it a a cheap cleaning.