Small Maple Syrup Arch

[Joef0113]

Hello all,

I am very green to making maple syrup, as we just finished up our second year. We currently have a 3'x2' pan (wishing we would have bought at 4'x2'), but it works and we are going to stick with it for a few years. I am currently looking to build a small arch but don't want to build anything without some opinions first. I drafted up a conceptual plan that is attached as to what I had in mind. I do have a couple questions:

1. Would this design work for its size or am I over engineering it and need to make it simpler?

2. Are the dimensions of the fire box enough? I am concerned that it is not deep back or it is tall inside.

Any critique, comments or suggestions are welcome! Excuse me if I am not correct on all of my terminology as well.

Thank you!

21248

[littleTapper]

Looks pretty good. Firebox height isn't bad. An inch or two more won't hurt though. Depth should be more though - Mine's 2'; once you insulate and brick it you'll lose a lot of space. Also, go another inch wider or so overall; then the pan will sit on the inner parts of the top angle iron, giving more surface area for the heat to hit and then also your side insulation has less impact as well. What you may want to consider is making it fit a 2x4 pan, but make a 1x2 blocking plate insulated with 2" of ceramic blanket so you can run your 2x3, but then are ready for a 2x4 in the future. I made two blocking plates for my 2x4 and with smaller amounts of concentrate or box elder sap, then I can run a 2x2 pan. The flexibility is really nice to have. But, the design overall looks good and will make syrup :)

[Joef0113]

Thank you for your insight! Very helpful.