heating mechanical extractor

[miboss]

This will be my second year running. Last year went well overall, but I'd like to try to make things better. Last year I had my extractor (bottom dump) on my collection tank about 1000' away from my sugar house. Electric is too expensive to run to the area of the property where the collection tank and extractor sit. My issue is that the extractor freezes up pretty solid at night. Last year, I started turning my vacuum pump off when temps got to freezing then disconnecting the lines to the extractor and letting them drain to the tank. I don't like taking the line off vacuum, because of back pressure letting sap getting pulled back to the trees.

I was thinking of trying to fashion some sort of insulated box to go around the extractor (except the bottom side) and keep it heated somehow.

I'm guessing I would need a generator that could run 8-10 hours through the night to get through freezing temps, depending on how well I insulate I could possibly keep the extractor warm with a couple light bulbs, or maybe a small propane heater, I do have 2 100 lb tanks I can use.

I'm looking for any idea of how to accomplish this from people that have done this before. Any recommendations, pictures, etc?

Thank you,

Mike

[MN Jake]

I kind of have the same problem. Ours is closer (100 feet or so) and its an electrical extractor. We can heat it but what we do for the incoming lines to releaser is shut them, turn vac off then wait for vac to run out in lines then open them. that would help for sap rushing back to the taps. For heat you could try a good battery and a 12 volt light. If you don't want to heat it you could also do a tee on the lines prior to entering the releaser, point them down, put a valve on it and open them when vac is lost. drain right into the tank without taking anything apart.

[miboss]

I kind of have the same problem. Ours is closer (100 feet or so) and its an electrical extractor. We can heat it but what we do for the incoming lines to releaser is shut them, turn vac off then wait for vac to run out in lines then open them. that would help for sap rushing back to the taps. For heat you could try a good battery and a 12 volt light. If you don't want to heat it you could also do a tee on the lines prior to entering the releaser, point them down, put a valve on it and open them when vac is lost. drain right into the tank without taking anything apart.

For batteries, do people usually have one hooked up, then swap another when needs recharging? I would assume a battery will last thought the night if just powering a light. Do you have any recommendations on batteries? I like the idea of putting Ts in with valves, I'm going to work on doing that, thanks!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Mr Buddy propane heater works good and a 100lb tank would last at season

[MN Jake]

For batteries, do people usually have one hooked up, then swap another when needs recharging? I would assume a battery will last thought the night if just powering a light. Do you have any recommendations on batteries? I like the idea of putting Ts in with valves, I'm going to work on doing that, thanks!

You may not have to heat if you fashion up some line drains. No sense in heating something that will never operate below freezing.

[DrTimPerkins]

Some people fashion an insulated foam box with a candle for nights where it might freeze up.

[PerryFamily]

One of the best things I’ve done is build boxes around releasers to keep from freezing. They will run so much better warm. Plus I don’t need to make another trip to turn off at freeze and on at thaw. I just leave the pump on 24/7. Never miss a drop

[Russell Lampron]

I've got the same problem. My releaser is 1,500 feet away and it would be nice not to have to go down and clean the ice off of the bottom flap in the morning. I built a lean to over the tank and releaser to keep the snow and rain off and that helped a lot. The dump mechanism doesn't freeze up anymore but it would be nice to keep the releaser thawed if practical and possible.

[wiam]

One of the best things I’ve done is build boxes around releasers to keep from freezing. They will run so much better warm. Plus I don’t need to make another trip to turn off at freeze and on at thaw. I just leave the pump on 24/7. Never miss a drop

Do you have pictures? Using any heat?

[Dennis H.]

I have been throwing around the idea of using something around the size of a 60W light in and enclosure to keep the releaser thawed.
I am thinking of using either foil faced foam board of use some 2" thick foam and make a box.

Since I have the vac pump right next to the sap tank I have electric right there.
I was thinking of putting another contactor relay hooked up to The PID controller of the vac pump so that when the vac shuts down cause of low temp that the other contactor will energize and supply power to the 60W light in the releaser enclosure and also a heat tape that is wrapped around the moisture trap to be sure that it stayes thawed and drains once there is no longer vac in the lines.

[PerryFamily]

Do you have pictures? Using any heat?

Unfortunately I don't think I have any pictures. I did it one year with blueboard and a small ceramic heater. It worked pretty well except when it got super cold. I would shut it off then. Now I have one in an insulated 16' container that the heat from the atlas copco pump keeps the entire container warm. The tank is in there too and there is never any ice.

The other I built a plywood box for the releaser and the pump. The heat from the pump keeps the releaser warm. Now the ceramic heater is just a back up. If I can find some pics I will send them to you via facebook

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Heating an outside releaser makes a huge difference. I used 1" foamboard and heat with an electric milkhouse heater. This is 2000 taps that are lower in elevation than the sugarhouse. These tanks are 300' from sugarhouse. Sap gets pumped back. Never have to worry about releaser malfunctions and freezup.

[maplwrks]

The best thing I ever did was put my pumps and releasers into a small building. The pumps warm everything up and the releasers don't ice up. I leave the pumps on 24/7. All of my releaser problems went away when I did this.

[PerryFamily]

The best thing I ever did was put my pumps and releasers into a small building. The pumps warm everything up and the releasers don't ice up. I leave the pumps on 24/7. All of my releaser problems went away when I did this.



Completely agree. I had the same experience

[DrTimPerkins]

Completely agree. I had the same experience

Same here. Pumps and releasers now in a heated space if possible. Makes working on things during bad weather much more pleasant as well. For releasers that aren't in a heated space, we use heat tape on the moisture traps (of course you'd need electricity for that).

[miboss]

Just to give an update, I already had a Mr Heater Big Buddy heater and a 100# tank, so all I had to get was the hose to connect the heater to the tank instead of those little 1# tanks. I'm going to build a box around my extractor using rigid foil lined foam and I think that should be good to keep things running without any freeze ups (fingers crossed)...