Not impressed

[jetdoc]

Well we purchased a Smoky lake fuel oil evaporator at the end of last season and I have to honest about it, I was not that impressed at all on the boil rate of the evaporator. We have the raised flue pan and SSR front pan. We tried different fuel nozzles and just couldn't get the boil rate up to par. We had three different people over that uses fuel (different evaporator) to try and help out and it just wouldn't do it. We where only get around 48-52 gallons and hour on a 2x8. I like their products and I think the wood evaporator's will do better from them but they need some work on the fuel oil evaporator's.

[nam elpam]

what did they advertise it to do? a standard 2x8 oil depending on pan size syrup and flue running between 3-5gal of oil should be rated to boil between 30-60 gph

[phil-t]

What did Smoky Lake have to say about it?

[Russell Lampron]

A stock 2x8 should get around 40 to 50 gph whether it's wood or oil fired. What were you quoted that it would do? What it's doing looks about like what it should do without modifications to me.

[bowhunter]

I would contact Smoky Lake if it's not performing as expected. If there's an issue they deserve the chance to fix it. If the oil burner is burning clean with no smoke, it should perform pretty much like wood. The surface area of the pans is the limiting factor on evaporation rate. The rates you're getting look pretty good to me. A 2 x 8 flat plan without a blower will typically get about 16 gallons per hour. You're getting a little more than 3 times that rate without a blower.

[fred]

he has been in contact with them. they even sent a new blower out. the arch appears to not be square. fuel filters were changed also

[n8hutch]

I also think 50gph is pretty good. To me the evaporation rate is greatly effected bye flue pan sap depth. If your not afraid to run a half inch or less over the flues they can really RIP through the sap, often when mine is boiling hard I can see a flash of stainless steel every now and then. You really have to watch the foam when you run like that but I can get 85+ gph on my 2.5×8 smokey lake pans. If you run 1" in the back pan it is closer to 65.

[heus]

On my 2x8 SL pans my boiling rate definitely increased going from a brand new Leader oil fired arch (301 Carlin/4 gph nozzle) to a new Silverplate wood fired. Having said that, are you using a Carlin 301? If you are using anything smaller you are not getting everything you can out of the pans. Even Leader themselves told me to go with the 301 on those pans, instead of the 101 which is usually recommended for 2x8's.