a ton of 3in tubing just got scrapped at work...so its new evaporator time!

[sbedilion]

i have a 2x3ft flat pan and a 3x4ft flat pan. I wasnt quite sure what i wanted to do. i ended up making the 2x3ft pan my main pan...with the thought to making it a divided pan next yr. the 3x4ft pan i raised up to make it a pre-heater pan. so i have a huge 3ft x 7ft evaporator in the works. thoughts?

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[maple flats]

yes, make the bigger pan the main pan and the smaller one the preheater, or better, use both as boil pans and get done sooner.

[n8hutch]

i have a 2x3ft flat pan and a 3x4ft flat pan. I wasnt quite sure what i wanted to do. i ended up making the 2x3ft pan my main pan...with the thought to making it a divided pan next yr. the 3x4ft pan i raised up to make it a pre-heater pan. so i have a huge 3ft x 7ft evaporator in the works. thoughts?

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If you have no intention of putting a commercial made pan set on this Arch I would build it like you are. With the back pan higher you potentially could run your back pan shallower which would be good. We had a rig that was like that once, we just had valves between the pans, you could run a half or 3/4 of an inch in the back pan/sap pan , and run the syrup pan at like 1.5" that way you have a little room for error.

[TimJ]

In my experience with a homemade evaporator set up as a cascade - you want to have the bigger pan the one in the back. The syrup pan should be the smaller one.
Don't think in terms of "preheater" and main pan - think in terms of flue pan and syrup pan.

For our first year, we had an oil tank evaporator we bought second hand. The larger pan was the syrup/front pan. And there was a pan above and in back of it - when we had to draw off it was a pain in the neck - the smaller rear pan would get flooded with cold sap and kill all the boil and flow we had going.

When we switched to a real setup it was so obvious, but we did not know better

I would also suggest considering making a normal width 2x arch and getting a 2x3 pan made for the back pan. Maybe with drop tubes or something.

but the way you describe it sounds good.

[sbedilion]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions/comments.

[TapTapTap]

Wow! 3" tubing is expensive stuff. Good find.

[sbedilion]

Spent a few days in the shop but got it finished.

it ended up bigger than I was planning....but it was all free :) 2x3 front pan....3x4 back pan. Next year I might add a blower.

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[n8hutch]

That looks good.