Evaporators 101 course

[Brent]

I have used a flat bottom Half Pint for 3 seasons now and we are going to upgrade to a 2 x 6 rig with flue pan and syrup pan, maybe a preheater and hood.

In all the thousands of helpful posts here, ( or maybe elsewhere ) is there a primer on the step by step of running one of these rigs. Initial fill and fire start. When to reverse, how to cool down, what you do with what's left in the pans after cool down.

I have not found one page of instructions on any of the major manufacturer's web sites. I guess I shouldn't bitch at them much. GM and Ford have nothing on their sites about how to drive.

Anyway, can anyone point me in the right direction?

[3% Solution]

Hi Brent,
Well there are two things to remember; don't burn the pan and don't leave the operation unattended!! Nuff said!
We usually boil with about 1 1/4" in the pans (flue and flat). This seems to make syrup fairly quick for us. So set your float to what is comfortable for you, remember that, "FOR YOU". I am assuming you have a continous flow into the flue pan.
Fire start is easy, crank it right up!!!! Your looking for a good hot fire and keep it there!! The quicker the better, your arch is made for boiling sap, not toasting marshmellows. It is designed to be hot, to be hot is effecient!!
When do you reverse is kinda up to how much sand is forming on the bottom, I know guys that do this every couple of hours, then I know some that reverse every time they boil. I can't reverse with our rig, so after about 15 gallons we clean the syrup pan and keep going.
As far as cool down, you need to figure how much sap is left and how much time it takes for the fire to die off. The first couple of times you do this make sure you have some liquid (water or sap) hanging around to dump into the pans, just in case. We have a line on our site tube as to when the "Last Fire" is and sometimes that gets real close. This will also cause a medical term know as "Rectal Pucker", don't laugh it has and will happen to all of us!
After cool down, leave everything inthe pans, it's already sweet and it's just the place to start from the next time.
We have a valve which we shut, this prevents the sap from blending back together. Basically keeps the flue pan and the flat pan isolated. Now when we start up again we just have to keep tweeking the valve open a bit as we go, rolling boil in the flue pan means the valve is open.
When it's going to be cooold for a while we will drain the pans out, again keeping them separate.
Now keep in mind, this is what we do, you have to adjust and make this comfortable for you.
Hope this helps!

Dave

[Brent]

thanks Dave.
This is pretty close to what I have been piecing together.

Not enough sap & black pan .... bin der and dun dat (sigh )

You say you run about 15 gallons and then clean. I am thinking you mean clean the sand off the bottom. How do you do that ? Do you shut down, drain and clean then restart. Maybe scrub it with the fire still going on low and siphon of the sand ????

[3% Solution]

Hi Brent,
We drain the flat pan before we start up, scrap the scaley sand off the bottom, it's like real thin pieces, then we rinse it out good with water.
We didn't remove the scale and other pieces once after we scaped and don't that pop and snap!!!!!

Dave