Sugarhouse Design & Specs

[OrangeAgain]

Has this UVM Sugarhouse Design (https://www.uvm.edu/~uvmaple/sugarhousedesign.pdf) been updated? This design was originally published in 1948 and looks like it was updated in 1966.

Sources of sugarhouse designs?

I'm planning on building a sugarhouse for the 2023 season.

[TapTapTap]

Good question. I didn't look any further than the internet when I built my sugar house. For me it was just a starting point and I let my imagination go from there.

Perhaps a refreshed design by UVM would require a stamped architect drawing and maybe more liability than it's worth. I would recommend an experienced builder with an understanding of structural building systems whenever constructing anything, especially without an architect or engineer's stamped design.

Ken

[DrTimPerkins]

No, and there are several reasons why which I won't delve deeply into. Some of it has been alluded to, but the other piece is that the scale of sugarhouses these days range from someone with 50 taps to 500,000 taps...and the facility that is needed for each is very different. Then you tack on whether someone is using wood or oil, RO or no-RO, sap coming into the sugar house directly or trucked, and there just ends up being too many different configurations. Things were a lot simpler in 1948 then they are now. There were no ROs, everyone boiled with wood, sap wasn't trucked or pumped in, collection was all by buckets. Those factors limited the size of operations to a fairly narrow range. Few sugarhouses had cement floors or running water (or heated spaces). Different time, different needs and problems, different solutions.

The Canadians tried to do some generic designs about 10-15 yrs ago and I know they had some of the same issues. They ended up splitting it up into 3-different starting configurations, but not sure how much further it got beyond that.

There is a section on facilities in the 2nd edition of the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual (Chapter 12). https://mapleresearch.org/pub/mproducersmanual/ It will be somewhat/slightly updated in the new edition coming out later this summer.

[Maplewalnut]

Best advice I can give is go visit some in your area. Even for a PA guy like me, people were happy to share design and mistakes they made when we were building ours. Ask to take pictures. There are some beauties in northern vermont. Tour big operations and small operations, each has something to offer. One of the best ideas I got from someone is to put a big window between your evaporator room and RO room so you can see whats going on in a glance

[DrTimPerkins]

One of the best ideas I got from someone is to put a big window between your evaporator room and RO room so you can see whats going on in a glance

Glass patio door from one of my old houses is in our RO room for that very reason. :lol:

[Sugarmaker]

I used most of that 50 year old design information to start the design work for our sugarhouse. For 500 to 700 taps its perfect. I also added a lot of the best features from visiting other sugarhouses. We have enjoyed it with friends and family for 20+ years! See if you find some of the same features:
https://i.imgur.com/kdiGBNy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/l57t6o7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SGsKjwp.jpg

3x10 in a 16 x 24 room, wood to the right in lean to, clean up room in back with storage tanks above kitchen:
https://i.imgur.com/VgOw4wf.jpg

cont

[Sugarmaker]

wood shed is 24 x 10, still burning wood and boiling raw sap.
https://i.imgur.com/BwnbHd1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/EfsGhjB.jpg

Steve in the wood shed:
https://i.imgur.com/JJV9hLa.jpg

Yes as mentioned, scale our operation and size to fit!
Regards,
Chris