Am I the first?

[powerdub]

Or am I the first to admit it. I burned up the front pan last night. First time in twenty some years of doing this so I guess I can count my blessings. The other good thing is I chose to do it before 5 p.m. so Bascom's was still open. One call, credit card number and a quick trip and we were back in business. Even brought us up a grade. Could have been worse. I think I will start a wall of shame and hang it up.

[mapleman9000]

Is it not salvageable/cleanable? Are the pans too warped to bother with or is it just not worth the money to attempt cleaning it? Just curious because I do not understand going out and buying a pan just because it is a little black.

Gerry

[powerdub]

Well Gerry, let me tell ya'. It is a four section pan. The two center sections were warped bad. The two outside sections were warped a little. The syrup, if you could call it that was popping off the bottom and sounded like I was making pop corn. Not to mention when we flooded it to keep it from catching on fire, they will do that, sap was pouring out the seams into the fire box. It was quite a sight, I wish I had it on video, you all would have gotten a good laugh. Cleanable, maybe. Salvageable, I think not.

[mapleman3]

Scott, can you help us that havn't had it "get away TOO bad" learn how it happened? I know I get real nervous if it gets to 8-10 deg above(once) I do have a small area that you can tell has some syrup still on it...

[themapleking]

Hay I burned mine on the first boil of the season... oops... ****... Jim The first sign on thick heavy white smoke and your burning. It happens in a second. It mostly happens when level gets too low 1/4 " and less. If you keep it at 3/4" to 1 " your ok.

[mapleman3]

Joe you faired out ok though... over 100 gals now huh?

I'll keep an eye on the levels and temps for sure!!!! 8O

[powerdub]

This was a case of not paying attention at its best. My father in law, who is my main help, was tending the fire and pouring off. I was preparing the RO for a rinse cycle. The RO is a room of its own. I turned around to see him (father-in-law) standing there wondering which hose went where. After about, what seemed like two minutes, he wandered back in the sugar house. I was close on his heels only to hear a couple of words from him (father-in-law) I have never heard him say before. Thats when I saw it. The tell tale white smoke just like mapleking said. You know its not steam too, you can tell. That's when we flooded the pans and you can read the rest in my previous post. So that's it, in-attention at its best. All we can do now is look back, laugh and pay the credit card bill when it comes. :wink:

[Ed K]

I scorched my pan on the second boil, wasn't watching the back pan to close and the preheater got a steam lock. The level went down enough to stop flow to front pan ( raised flue ). At the time I was drawing off and couldn't see why the gauge wasn't going down. Quick look and went for the sap. When it all cooled down, drawed off, to find a couple of quarter sized brown marks. WHEEEEW :oops: . Washed up and back in business.

[mapleman9000]

Jim,

One thing that I have noticed when I burned my pan in the past is a very strong smell. You can really tell that it is the sugar that is burning. If you do not recognize the smell, throw a little syrup on the side of your arch. I have stopped a bad scorch just because I smelled it coming. Unfortunitly my dad can not smell, so he does not have that advantage.

Gerry

[brookledge]

not that it is fail safe but my auto draw off with low level alarm has saved me before. you set it at the level you wish and if it goes below that an audible alarm goes off it can also activate other features such as automatic oil burner shut down or seleniod valves to flood pan you may be able to purchase just low level alarm i'm not sure but any way it is cheaper than buying a new pan

[powerdub]

That was on my list of wants for next year but that money just went up in smoke.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Great advice from everyone. The first telltale sign is the smell. If you have never smelt it, you need to smell it as Gerry stated so you will know. I burned about a 2" spot on my syrup last Sat when the level got down to about 5 or 10 gallon in the feed tank. I have burnt spots over the years, so no big deal. What happens is when the level gets down in the feeding tank, it doesn't have as much head pressure and the level starts dropping everywhere and get the lowest at the worst point--drawoff.

I started smelling something and grabbed a 5 gallon bucket of sap that I always keep within 3 or 4 feet of the syrup pan and sloshed about a half gallon somewhere in the syrup pan and that took care of it.

I was in the process of canning and my dad was tending the evaporator and fire and wasn't paying good attention and he was not expecting it to do it. The level got down to less than 1/8" inch, or I would have been fine.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

The reason Scott had to throw away his pan is because it was soldered and not welded. When the soldered pans get hot, the solder just melts. Had it been welded, at least it would not have leaked and maybe not warped as bad, hard to tell. At least it would have been salvagable enough to sell to a back yarder or trade it in at Bascom's for a little credit.