Anybody have a design for level float?

[Michiganiac]

Has anyone got a nice simple design for maintaining inflow to the preheat tank?

[wmick]

My apologies... I didn't read your message very carefully.... Now I see you are asking about a pre-heat tank and not a floatbox for the pan..... Same could hold true though, I guess... Just install one of these float valves in your tank...
See below....
PS - These valves are common on livestock waterers... Likely find one at a farm supply store.


For a couple years, I've used a brass valve like the R400 in the link below.... with a plastic ball float on it.... Has worked pretty good, but the 1/2" valve restricted flow a little bit too much when my feed tank level got low... (less head pressure) So this year I'm upgrading to the R610 valve...

Basically bring your sap into your float box near the top, through the valve... and couple the float box (at mid way in depth) to the your pan (as low as you can)... Better to go big with your fitting.... then too small... You have very little head pressure in the float box to shove sap into the pan. (Learned from my mistakes)

Also been thinking about the shape of my float.... I see the factory made floats are all flat stainless boxes... I presume this shape makes them more accurate or stable.... I've been thinking about trying a flat Tupperware container as a float.



http://www.cdivalve.com/products/float-valves/any/float-valves/any/any

[wlatrout]

You might also want to put another valved line straight into the warming pan to add extra sap at draw off .

[Michiganiac]

My arch is more or less a typical 275 gallon oil barrel type.

But one large difference - my preheat consists of two "saddlebag" tanks on each side on the firebox end. The idea being to capture the wasted heat going out the sides.
They are coated on the outside (away from arch) with styrene coated styrofoam. My preheat runs above 180f.I

I built them out of my original pan. Initially 6 inch thick - they have been trimmed to 3 inch thick. My sap inflow is in one side tank - then a cross line to the second preheat - then a line to the far end (away from firebox). The drain for the pan is on the bottom of the pan on the firebox end.

Because of the thinness of the tanks- the float must be about 2 inch diameter.

So - I fabricated the float and shutoff - with an adjustable level set.

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