Divided Pan Question

[Mboeselager]

As we begin a new boiling year, I had some questions about my new setup from last year.

I mistakenly bought a pan that is 6 inches wider and longer than my smokeylake starcat arch last year. Last year, I was able to make some great syrup and I got a good gradient between the channels, as I kinda left my raw sap channel as part of the overhang (limited direct heat underneath). However I did notice that not all of my channels boiled at the same rate and I struggled to get a good draw off.

1. How important is it that all channels are boiling at the same rate?
2. Is it OK that my new sap channel get's to about 190 degree's? (remember, i have to leave part of this channel off the direct heat since my arch is not big enough
3. Any advise on if sap should enter in the back left, or front right (I always thought the fire was hotter towards the back of the arch) but I see alot of feeder pans are designed to feed from the back left. Wasn't sure if there is a physics thing i'm missing.

I'm toying around with selling my 2x3 pan to get the 18x30 pan that fits the arch perfectly. Thanks for any advice.


25 taps,
2 x 3 divided pan
Smokey Lake starcat arch

[ecolbeck]

1 and 2. I think that given your situation you’ve made the best compromise you can. Although it’s not ideal, I don’t think the channels have to boil equally as long as your draw off channel receives direct heat. Drawing off on small evaporators can be a challenge but nothing you have said so far seems to make it an impossibility. More details may help us diagnose the specifics.
3. I have seen both front and rear draw off designs work fine. Not sure if one is definitively better than the other.

[maple flats]

On the front pan a rear draw off usually works best but until maplers and manufacturers got into reworking evaporator designs maybe 25-30 years ago, most if not all sent the sap from the rear pan to the front pan so it entered at the back of the rear pan. Then it depended on how many channels the front pan had to know where the finished syrup was drawn off. The old evaporators boiled hard either way.
In the future, you might want to rebuild your arch to widen it that extra 6" and buy a new (or used) pan to fit the arch. But for this year you likely have the best you can achieve with what you have.

[Pdiamond]

I believe that I agree with your last statement after this season, sell your current 2 x 3 pan and get the pan that fits the arch. My guess is your performance with the correct size pan would increase over the 2 x 3 pan.

[berkshires]

One suggestion: do whatever you can to insulate the part of the pans that are sticking off the evaporator. Or else set up some kind of reflective heat baffles with tinfoil or something. I had a short amount of time when I was in a similar situation to you, and I found this made a huge difference. It's not just that the part of the pan that overhangs is not getting heat on it, it's also acting as a heat transfer. Water and metal are good heat conductors!
The heat going into your pan and the sap in it is being radiated out from the overlapping part of your pan, so it's actually acting as a heat sink, cooling down the pan overall.

GO

[Mboeselager]

Thank you all for your suggestions. The last post talked about insulating under the pan that’s overhanging. Any suggestions on how to do that?


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[Big_Eddy]

I believe that I agree with your last statement after this season, sell your current 2 x 3 pan and get the pan that fits the arch. My guess is your performance with the correct size pan would increase over the 2 x 3 pan.

I expect the performance with a 2x3 pan and 20" x3' pan on the same arch would be almost identical. The overhang is not adding to the evaporation rate, but it not really detracting from it either.

The heat transfer to the pan is dependent on the flame area. Same arch and it stays the same so the evap rate will too (within reason)

Get a wider or longer arch, and evap rate will increase.


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