placement of drop flue pan?

[ir3333]

I've noticed manufacturers place flue pans at the rear.
Would it increase the rate of evaporation if the flue pan was at the front where the hottest flame is
to expose more pan surface area ...assuming your arch is well designed and has an airtight door?

[maple flats]

My thinking is that it has been tried but since you see no manufacturers doing it, the experiment likely said to have the flue pan in back.
Part of that may be that you need the hotter part under the syrup pan or you may not achieve draw off temperature.

[ennismaple]

I'm certain it's been tried. Since you need to get syrup to a hotter temperature to boil than raw sap, IMO it makes more sense to have the syrup pan at the front where you have the most heat.

[ir3333]

My system is a 48" continuous rear drop flue sap pan with a 1' front finish flat pan.I was wondering
if i use the 48" drop flue pan at the front and draw syrup from it and put the 1' flat pan at the
rear on fire for preheat, would my evaporation rate increase?
...there is one way to find out!

[Pdiamond]

I understand what you are thinking of doing, will this have any affect with your arch and the way your firebox operates? You will need to be extra careful loading wood in the front if you have your drop flues in this area so you do not damage them when loading wood into the arch.

[Brian]

Yes this has been done but the problem lies in getting the syrup off the flat pan. the back is is hotter than the front of the arch. that is why the flue pan is in the back because with lower sugar content less chance of burning.

[Ross]

My understanding is that it's important for the finishing sap to syrup make contact with the flat pan to get good caramelization of the sugar.

[Brian]

That is only with high ro sap. That is why Sugar makers with 30% or higher use small flue pans with large flat pans so the syrup has time to carmelize. Glen Goodrich use to have a 6x16 evaporator with all flue pans on it with a 2x5 finisher (a big flat pan)next to the arch to finish the syrup on.

[Brian]

That was before Glen had an ro, he was making 40 gallons an hour.

[amasonry]

the champion evaporator is flues first 1887 I think