cleaning sand while boiling

[Brent]

I am curious to know if anyone cleans evap pans while boiling. Last year I siphoned off some sap and sand into a bucket while boiling, passing the sap through a filter, then pouring it back into the sap pan. It seemed to get some of the sand but not much. I was thinking of trying it again this year but using some kind of brush to get the sand off the bottom. Hopefully this would reduce the onset of the popping and burping.