W.F. Mason Welding -- 2x4 Hobby Evaporator

[MJPJ Sugars]

http://www.wfmasonwelding.com/evaporators.html

Hello! Considering the 2x4 Hobby evaporator. Probably with the optional blower.

I found some older comments about Mason Welding and Bill, the proprietor. All glowing, excellent comments and reviews. Anyone with more recent experience?

I'd like to comfortably boil 8-10 gallons an hour -- good choice?

Feedback is appreciated!

JQ

[phil-t]

Get the blower, for sure.

[eustis22]

I purchased his Hobby 2X3 XL before this season and herewith include my raves. Get the blower.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Agree on the blower. Necessary for hotter fire and you can get away with less than ideal splits of wood with a blower. I had the 2x4XL for 3 seasons. It's designed and built very well, simple, easy to use, and makes great syrup. Works great with an auto-draw off too. The new design has an actual pre-heater so you should get at least 12 GPH. I was getting anywhere from 10-12 without pre-heat.

[Russell Lampron]

I had Bill build an air tight AUF/AOF arch for my 2x6 pans. I'm really impressed with the quality and performance of my new arch.

Like the others have said, "get the blower".

[maple flats]

Bill does excellent work and sells at a fair price. Well designed for sure.

[tombaisley]

I purchased his Hobby 2X3 XL before this season and herewith include my raves. Get the blower.


I ordered a 2x3 XL at the end of Marchn '18, upgrading from a turkey fryer and 5 gallon pot. How many gallons of syrup did you make?

[ACfarmerNH]

I picked up a 2x3 from Bill Mason this year.. huge upgrade from the barrel stove. Well built with a fair price. Also well worth the trip to pick it up from him as he takes the time to walk through the entire operation of the unit with you.

[sbingham]

I had Bill build me a 2x6 Hobby unit with a continuous flow pan and a blower.
Great unit - easy to run, it averaged about 15-16 gallons per hour.
I definitely recommend adding the blower, helps give the fire a little more boost when you need it.
Bill was a pleasure to do business with, he builds a quality unit.

[steve J]

I have the 2x4 with blower. I average 12 per hour but at times when I had plenty of soft wood to mix with hard I hit 14 per hour. I just up graded my pan to Leader supreme and I am getting 16 but I think if I tweet it some I an get 18!

[claystroup]

I have owned a 2 x 5 flat pan setup from Bill for the past 2 years. It has a 2 x 3 rear pan and a 2 x 2 front pan (both flat with no channels). I average around 15 to 16 gph on it but have hit 18 gph if I have great wood and really stay on top of it. I can be lazy and hit 15 gph with little effort. I do have the blower which does make a huge difference. I am 100% satisfied with my unit and recommend Bill highly. I have since bought a 12" x 12" x 10" finishing pan with a steam tray under it for bottling from Bill and it works great also. You will not be disappointed.
Clay
Stroup's Sugar Bush

[djblech]

I have a Mason 2x4 XL that was new this year. I have the blower but have not used it yet mainly because I don't have power at my sugar shack. I have about 16 ft of 8" chimney and seem to be getting 10 to 12 gph. I have boiled 3 times(about 20 hours) ending up with 6.75 gal of syrup. Last year on a 2x2 barrel evap it took me 60 hrs to get 6 gal. Hoping to get 1 more boil this year if it ever quits freezing. This is a great evaporator and Bills workmanship is excellent. You will not be disappointed with any of his evaporators.

[McKenney Maples]

I had a mason 2x3 unit for years, it worked great and handled my 40-50 taps. I sold the unit to my great uncle when I purchased a 2x4 raised flue made by Bill. I have one of his 18 gallon finishers and an 18 gallon water jacketed canner. He's currently building me another 18 gallon finisher and draw off container on casters for next season. It seems like I buy something from him almost every other year. Great craftsmanship and a great guy to work with. As djblech said you won't be disappointed.

[MJPJ Sugars]

eustis22 -- can you estimate how many gallons per hour you are processing with your unit? (you have the blower?).

Thanks!!

JQ

[MJPJ Sugars]

This forum is truly awesome... thanks all!!!

[eustis22]

between 10-12 gallons per hour, maybe a little more at its crankiest. I have an 8' X 8" stack.

[highlandcattle]

Over the years we had a box stove,woodstove heater,Leader half pint,2x4Grimm Lightening,2x8 cdl and ended with a Mason 2x4 xl. Bill is the nicest guy. Did a day trip to pick it up. Beautiful Fall day. Watched for moose. No luck. It was all packed and ready for loading. Got a tour of his shop. Ron really enjoyed that evaporator. Our final year we had about 500 taps. When we got a sap surplus we had the guys that helped out when he was sick come by and pump it out for their operation. We had the fan. The pipe would burn cherry red! Great workmanship and a fair price. You can't go wrong.

[bigschuss]

I've got a Mason 2x4 without the blower and easily get 10 gph. I always use super dry pine and spruce and have an 8" stack about 20' tall. Thinking about adding a blower next year. But for my 90 taps, it's perfect.

[Jonnie Maple]

First year with 2x4 XL and couldn't be happier. I have a blower 14' of 6" stack. Never had enough sap to boil more than 8 hours which is fine by me. Figure I got between 10-14 GPH.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Thanks again All! This community is awesome! :)

[Chittamo Mike]

I am going into my second season with a WF Mason 2x4 XL. Going from a 16x30 flat pan to the evaporator last year was a quantum leap for me but Bill was most helpful and always promptly replied to my newbie questions. That support combined with quality, well designed equipment resulted in a successful transition to an evaporator. Definitely get the blower as I found that I had to run at temps that were quite high to consistently draw off finished syrup. I really didn't track my GPH last year. This year so far I have boiled off ~80 gallons of sap in two 4-5 hour days so 8-10 GPH seems to be this year's average. I will admit to one mistake made during the off season. I replaced the single-wall vent pipe beyond the preheater from my original install with double-wall pipe but reduced my stack height from 6' to 4'. Thinking I need to add another 2' or 4' section of pipe to my stack. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Mike

[eustis22]

I would go to a minimum of 10'. Theres a formula running around but I am not sure if it calculates stack height or diameter.

[Russell Lampron]

Your stack should be two times the length of your evaporator or taller. In your case it should be at least 8' tall. A taller stack will help with the natural draft even with a blower.

[Chittamo Mike]

I would go to a minimum of 10'. Theres a formula running around but I am not sure if it calculates stack height or diameter.

Thanks for the advice!

[Chittamo Mike]

Your stack should be two times the length of your evaporator or taller. In your case it should be at least 8' tall. A taller stack will help with the natural draft even with a blower.

Appreciate the advice!

[mspina14]

I bought a new 2X4 Mason with a raised flue pan and a blower about 2 years ago.

18583

Picked it up at Bill's shop in Maine and he spent about an hour showing me how to operate. Very nice guy.

Has worked great. I have about 12' of 8" stack and get about 15 GPH with good wood.

Only issue I had was with the float valves. The flaps were not fully holding back sap from the head tank to the flue pan.

I emailed Bill and he provided me with a thicker, rubber-type gasket for the float value flap. Works great now.

18584

Mark

[UB29]

Picked up my new 2x4 XL from Bill yesterday. Bill is a great guy; walked both my wife and I through the 2x4 operation as well as his shop. Mentioned to Bill that I am still boiling outside (shack on the list), on somewhat uneven ground; and in two seconds the arch was upside down and Bill was welding 1/2" leveling nuts and bolts onto each leg. In this day and age, great customer service like this is scarce; and much appreciated when you see it.
Oh yeah, Bill had a shiny new 11gal. finisher just sitting there; calling out my wife's name. Couldn't resist, and it ended up on the pickup truck.
Bill gets a 10+ recommendation; wish there were more like him out there. Time to brick up that new 2x4.

[Sugarmaker]

Picked up my new 2x4 XL from Bill yesterday. Bill is a great guy; walked both my wife and I through the 2x4 operation as well as his shop. Mentioned to Bill that I am still boiling outside (shack on the list), on somewhat uneven ground; and in two seconds the arch was upside down and Bill was welding 1/2" leveling nuts and bolts onto each leg. In this day and age, great customer service like this is scarce; and much appreciated when you see it.
Oh yeah, Bill had a shiny new 11gal. finisher just sitting there; calling out my wife's name. Couldn't resist, and it ended up on the pickup truck.
Bill gets a 10+ recommendation; wish there were more like him out there. Time to brick up that new 2x4.

Congratulations on your new rig! It sounds great! Have fun and post some pictures too.
Regards,
Chris