converting to oil

[Bruce Stuart]

IM WONDERING whether I should convert to oil with the price of it lately? Can Anyone out there give me some advice?

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We did 34 years ago -- no regrets.

Basically, it's a time versus money trade-off for most folks. Oil allows me to fit sugaring in with outside work.

It's also nice to be able to flip a switch in the event of an emergency.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We're a smaller setup with a 2x6 and same as Brian- no regrets. This is our 4th season with this evaporator.
He is also correct- it's time & convenience for $$$. If you have access to free wood on your property, have plenty of time to process it, etc. then wood may be best for you. I never minded doing fire wood but the convenience of oil during the season is great.
We can run the rig full blast until the last few gallons of sap are left, shut it off, spend 20 minutes cleaning the tank, valves, float, drawoff, pull the syrup pan and let it soak if we want- then go home and go to bed. That's 20-30 minutes to shut down and clean vs. 2+ hours when we did wood. Won't ever go back.

[DocsMapleSyrup]

I switched my 2x8 front loading wood arch to oil this spring. I used a Carlin 301 and made the arch reverse fired so the gun is on the back wall. I scorched a pan last week which was my fault and not the arch's. I was able to avoid a huge problem because I hit the switch and shut off the boil nearly immediately which is not possible with wood. I was also worried about the cost of oil but I calculated cost per gallon of syrup based on the brix of the syrup. I use an RO and will run that to get my brix to 13-18%. At that sugar level, the cost of oil per gallon of syrup made is less than $2/gal. I have a more even boil in my syrup pan. I don't lose the boil like I did when using wood. I don't have to spend my time cutting wood any longer. It saved me a catastrophic pan burn. I wish I would have moved to oil long ago. I love it.