Small evaporator cleaning

[backyardboy]

Hi all, just wondering how often other small producers clean their evaporators due to the sugar sand build up? I have a 2x6 Leader WSE drop flue that I've had about 10 years now. It can't be reversed for draw off, so I usually need to drain and clean after every 3-400 gallons of raw sap, no RO running yet. Is that normal?

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[Arctic Fox]

That cleaning interval sounds quite similar to what I use with my 2x6.

[stoweski]

Sounds about right. I also have a WSE 2 x 6. I usually clean after 3-400 gallons.... sooner if the level of bubbles makes its way to the top of the last channel. I’ve had to clean more frequently this season.

I bought a Smoky Lake syrup pan and have a butterfly valve on it between the front & back pans. Makes it easy to drain and swap pans. I usually rinse the pan out with water then throw some vinegar in it, no heat. After a couple of hours I rinse again with water. The bottom of the pan is like new. If you can get the butterfly valve it’s definitely worth it.

[buckeye gold]

I siphon out loose nitre with a piece of 3/16th tubing before I fire about every other day. Get it started with a squeeze bulb. run it into a bucket and let settle for a few minutes and pour clear sweet back and dump nitre. Usually once about mid season I tear down and do a complete clean. I'm running a Smokey Lake hybrid

[mol1jb]

In my 2x6 I also clean every 300-400 gallons. I could wait longer but its so nice when everything just sprays out with minimal scrubbing.

[eustis22]

no one mentions the bottom of the pan. Does anyone clean the soot off during the season? Do you remove the pan to do so? I can usually only get the soot off with a power washer after the season. Is it possible to clean the pan with it still on the stove? With what?

[stoweski]

I use a drop flue brush when I clean the flues. I then move to the syrup pan and do my best to clean it. As long as I go over it a couple of times it comes out clean enough to boil. End of the season I’ll take it outside and use a pressure washer. Sometimes I use fireplace cleaner as well. Spray, let it sit, then either pressure wash it off or use a rag. Bottom comes out nearly spotless.

[VT_K9]

We used to clean our 2x6 (older Grimm or the WSE) at the end of the year when boiling raw sap on 175-200 taps. Then as we grew the number of taps and then added an RO we ended up cleaning every 5-10 gallons.

Our last cleaning process (check my user name history and you can find several discussions, but I'll put it here) was to drain the front pan separately from the rear pan into 5 gallon pails.

Put vinegar in the pans and then fill with permeate (or water if you don't run an RO). If things were dirty we would rinse first then add the vinegar. We saved the vinegar mix to reuse throughout the year. We would use about 1-2 gallons in the front pan and 1 gallon in the back pan. We would add a little vinegar and some water each time. Once the solution was in the pans we would bring it to a boil for about 15 minutes and then use a plastic scrapper, flattened copper pipe or flashing, or in a few rare cases a greenie pad to get the hard deposits.

We let the solution sit overnight (most often the best choice) and then flush it from the pans. Sometimes we would bring the flush up to a warm temp or a boil to help the cleaning. We used a good amount of water to do the rinse/flush. Since we used permeate we sometimes let it sit overnight if we were still waiting on a run of sap.

Then we would put the stored sap back into their respective pans, but we would run them through a paper syrup filter...more of a feel good, but it did collect some stuff.

Mike

[wnybassman]

I drain/soak/clean my syrup pan in my 18x60 after every good 2-3 day run, and every other run for the flue pan.

[maple flats]

You will find the need to clean the front pan will vary each season, and what someone else needs, may not be what you need.
I determine if I need to clean the front pan, when either cold or at least not at a rapid boil, by using a nylon spatula. Facing the blade about 45 degrees away from you , push down lightly and pull the spatula towards you, if it slides without drag, no cleaning, if you feel a drag, clean it. I think I will finally need to clean the pan for the first time this season and I have put about 2500 gal of sap thru it, boiling 4 days. I will not know til I get to the sugarhouse in about an hour. I had a big draw near the end of boiling yesterday (auto draw), which brought a good amount of lower density from the back pan to the front, sometimes just that will loosen the sugarsand on the bottom but a long draw near the end of a boil doesn't happen very often. Some years I need to clean every day. I also have a flue pan washer, I use that about 2-3 times a season.
The cleaning interval often changes thru out the season too, what you need this week can change and often does later in the season.

[backyardboy]

Seems like I'm doing pretty much like the rest of you do. Drain and filter the sweet and clean as needed, with vinegar if necessary. Thanks all for the feedback.

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[Eberzin]

That's is what I do with a hybrid plan. I also move a spatula across the bottom of the syrup pan, trying not to change the gradient. Does it help, I don't know. I am wondering how much cleaning can be avoided if you run a reverse flow pan? Does it buy you an extra day or two, or a week. Is it worth going to reverse flow?