Oil tank evaporator build

[snakes14009]

Well I didn't plan on building a new evaporator this winter but. A neighbor had a free oil tank. And it took less than 24 hours to sell my barrel evaporator. So I had Hill Side Stainless shop form a 20ga. It is 24x52 with 8 inch sides. And yesterday I started working on the tank.

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[snakes14009]

A couple more days gone. And some more work finished on the new evaporator. It's not square in any sense of the word but it will boil well when I get done.


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[For_the_kids]

Looks good, I'll be starting mine later in January. Keep posting pics as you go, I'd love to see your ideas before building mine.

[Mead Maple]

Snakes looks like it is coming along great. I like how you have carved out the bottom and made a nice frame for it. Looks much cleaner. I built one last year so can appreciate the simplicity of them but still a significant amount of work to be done. Keep up the good work!

Also, I cannot help but laugh after watching home alone all season with the kids your name and the part in the movie when they keep saying snakes haha.


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[snakes14009]

More work completed. Door is almost finished but its coming along.204322043320434

[Mead Maple]

Nice progress! I actually used a piece of 1/2” steel for the door because I thought the tank metal would warp so bad and not stay. Did your last rig have this with good results?


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[snakes14009]

This is the evaporator i built last year, and the only warping i had was around the sheetmetal opening. The door frame never moved because of the insulation i had. I have an idea on how to help the opening itself not warp and hold in the insulation, which i will take pictures one i get to that point. Besides with a welder and a sledge hammer i can fix any warping.
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[Mead Maple]

Awesome! Well the great thing is you had built one before so you can fix the things you did not like about the last one with this.

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This was my door design. Not the best design but it was free with the materials I had on hand. No warping with the 1/2 inch thickness but the rest of the arch (2x4) square stock would bow almost an in from cold to hot back to cold. It was amazing


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[snakes14009]

The leveling feet are installed. And I have the inside door frame welded in. It will protect the rock wool and hopefully keep the door opening from warping to bad.20450204492044820447

[snakes14009]

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Well made a bunch more progress. Welded the pan frame to the evaporator, even mocked up my pan for the first time. I enjoy building them but enjoy boiling even more.

[billschi]

Looks very nice snakes. You are going to want a big, adjustable draft door under the wood door. This thing will want lots of air to keep that fire hot.
I double insulated my fire box with rock wool and then fire brick. I welded 16 penny nails so the tank so the rock wool wouldn't get squished. I placed a cut up 55 gallon drum to set on the nails and laid firebrick on top of that.

[snakes14009]

Welded up my stack transition. And insulated the front door.205042050520506

[Sugarmaker]

That fabrication is looking really good! Your doing a great job on the build. Looks like you will ready for the first run!
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[wobbletop]

Very nice build.

At this point there is very little of the oil tank left... why not start from scratch?

[Pdiamond]

Snakes, What are you doing for an ash clean out/ air inlet opening? Are you putting in an auf system?

[snakes14009]

The reason I didn't start from scratch was that the oil tank was free.

There isn't plans for an ash clean out. I can just use the shop vac every couple boils to clear the ash. Last year I cleaned my firebox every 3 boils or so.

I am currently working on the insulation, forced draft, and fire grates. I will take some pictures once they are finished.

[snakes14009]

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Well insulation is mostly done. I dont like bricking but I have them all trimmed and ready to go in. I am making a few bars to hold the brick in place. We finally got winter weather and it looks like it will be around for a couple weeks. Which is good, I have to many things to finish.

[buckeye gold]

Are you going to mortar in the bricks with refractory? I'd not only joint them, but completely coat them and create a somewhat smooth surface. Even though mine is a traditional arch I still completely mortar over the bricks I think it helps hold them solid and protects the arch.

[snakes14009]

Buckeye,
I am not mortaring them this year because i need to move the evaporator around. I hope when I get it in a more permanent place this summer I will be able to mortar the bricks.

Well the arch is 99% done minus the blower and a couple brackets to keep the pan in place.
Now on to the pan...

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[Danielb]

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I have been keeping a watchful eye on your progress, it looks like it should work great. I started my build a couple of days ago, hopefully I will have it done soon enough to get started on pans, and have things finished, or finished enough for when the sap starts to run

[buckeye gold]

I completely understand snakes. I bought my original evaporator used. The guy had built a new shack and put in a bigger evaporator. The one I bought was stuffed away in the old sugar shack. I was rushed to get it home and set up and he said, just set it back up in my old shack and truck your sap here. So I did and I didn't want to mortar those bricks in either. Once I got it home in my shack i did. I paid him back as I had no idea what I was doing and tapped twice the trees I ever should have. So daily I was dumping anywhere from 25-100 gallons of free sap in his tanks. It was really nice of him to let me set up, but he made a lot syrup from my sap. We both won.

[snakes14009]

I accomplished some more on the arch/ pan. The arch is pretty much finished so now i working on the pan. The pan is my least favorite part. darn SS warping. Oh well it should be done in the next week or so.

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[snakes14009]

Well it is finally finished. Now I just need to set it up in the make shift shack. It will be more fun to than the barrel evaporator was.206732067420675

[Pdiamond]

Nicely done Snakes. Good luck boiling this year. Post some pictures for us of that baby rocking and rolling.

[Mead Maple]

Nicely done Snakes. Good luck boiling this year. Post some pictures for us of that baby rocking and rolling.

I second that. I know when I was rolling red got the 2x4 steel framing I used would warm a solid 1.5 inches and then come back again as it cooled. Great job! I like how you removed the lower rear section


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[snakes14009]

Thanks. I will post some boiling pictures. If the weather holds true I will be tapping this weekend.

[snakes14009]

So my wife and i collect about 25 gallons of from our 47 taps, and fired up the evaporator for the first time. i got to learn a lot of things one this machine runs hot/efficient. I didn't run it hard, but i had my stack transition was glowing pretty easily. Thank goodness i had my fan running through a rheostat. My insulation is still not as much as i had hoped but its running well so. But all in all it went well. this coming weekend we should have a 4-5 day run. Thank you all for the great comments2089020891

[snakes14009]

So live and keep on learning. I had a slight air gap in the front of the pan. And I had some mineral wool that turned to glass like substance after the first boil. So I bought some ceramic fiber insulation blanket and roll. So I put some in the door and after 3 boils it still looks great. Well I guess I will have to get away from mineral wool and go to ceramic insulation. But man is it expensive.

[Mead Maple]

Amazon has a roll of 25 feet for $100. That is about the cheapest you can find. I think the mineral wool would be ok as a base layer and then covered by ceramic.


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[Super Sapper]

https://www.mcgillswarehouse.com/fiber-board-paper-blanket