Poor-Man's Feed Pan ideas?

[Andy VT]

My expansion to 30 taps for the 2023 season really pushed the sustainability boundaries for my thrown-together propane setup.
So, for 2024 I will not be adding taps but only doing things to improve process flow and fuel usage. The biggest thing is R.O. clearly. The second biggest is a feed pan.

Trying to figure out how to do that on the cheap.
For new stuff, the cheapest I've found is $200 (without valve and presumably without shipping), which for this micro-operation (making perhaps $700 worth of syrup per season) is a lot of money on top of a new R.O.

Anyone got another idea? Or something lying around you want to sell me that could act as a feed pan?
Anyone ever thought about just drilling a pin-hole in the bottom corner of a thin-gauge hotel pan and letting that drip? That would be about $25.
Or even a pin-hole in an aluminum-foil pan? I wouldn't want to boil in aluminum but the feed pan isn't boiling...
(P.S., I'm feeding a flat pan; not maintaining a gradient)

[DRoseum]

Andy - the hotel pan or stainless stock pot might be a great cheap alternative. You can drill a hole and put a weldless bulkhead fitting and valve on either for a very reasonable price

[mdm1]

That's how I do mine. I just drilled a hole in a pan and installed a petcock valve. I have a micro operation and I can control the feed just fine.

[therealtreehugger]

I have a Tupperware container up higher than the pan (15 gal ish) and tubing though a fitting on the bottom from that to my pan, with a valve to control the rate of flow.

[EriobNY]

I used an elevated 5 gal. bucket with a hole drilled a close to the bottom side as possible, Food grade pipe fitting thorough the hole and attached a PVC shutoff and copper tubing. Adjust the PVC shutoff to the evaporation rate. With minor adjustments as necessary. Worked very well for us. Cost ? ~ $30 -$40.

[littleTapper]

15-gallon barrel on a scissor-shaped tower; valve to control flow through tubing to the pan. Can run a pump from storage to that barrel and occasionally fill it if you'd want to make it easy. Doesn't need to be a big pump, simple RV water pump will be enough.

I went overboard and rigged the pump to mine with smart power strip so I can just hit a button on my phone to pump into it for 2, 5 or 10 minutes (fill). Mine's now hooked to a leader float valve in my divided smoky lake pan, but it worked great without that and just controlling flow with a valve.

Before that, had a hotel pan. Drilled a hole in it for a bulkhead and then rigged up a 3/4" valve. Dump a bucket of sap in the pan as needed. What's nice is that feed pan can double as a small finishing pan when you need it.

[Andy VT]

Here's how I solved it for now! $20
With both holes open it feeds very slightly faster than the evaporation rate.
One hole stopped with toothpick, feeds very slightly slower than the evaporation rate.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KdmxWVpBuU8

I probably should have drilled the holes or hole in a spot that could become a pilot hole for a future valve... but... oh well. For the way I'm using it, this is better, it just means the hotel pan can never be anything else. $20 mistake at worst, best thing since sliced bread at best.

[OhioMaple]

This is what I did on one of my old setups, worked great. You could buy these and adapt them to any SS or Poly container. For some reason my images won't upload, but I copied the order from Amazon.


Kerick Valve PF224-NT Polyethylene Rectangle Float Ball, 2" Width, 2" Height, 4" Length, 1/4" Female Thread
Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc
Return window closed on Jan 14, 2022
$10.48
Condition: New
Buy it again

Kerick Valve PT75SS PVC Float Valve, Tank Mount, 37 gpm at 60 psi, 3/4" NPT Male
Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc
Return window closed on Jan 14, 2022
$22.49
Condition: New
Buy it again

Kerick Valve SR12 Stainless Steel Rod for Float Valve, 1/4" Diameter, 12" Length
Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc
Return window closed on Jan 14, 2022
$3.62
Condition: New
Buy it again

[Hickstick]

I know this is kind of an older thread...but here is my solution (https://photos.app.goo.gl/vFqjcWejybhxBjx99) to this. 2 steam table pans (one for cold sap, siphoned into the warmer pan), the warmer pan has a ball valve that had a male pipe fitting. I just found a copper female fitting that fit it. drilled a hole, teflon taped the male fitting and pushed it through the hole and then wrenched on the copper fitting inside. I think I had to add a couple conduit washers as spacers so I could snug it all up. it never gets hotter than 110*F. but it works. I did the hole thing last year but wanted something more controllable for 2024

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vFqjcWejybhxBjx99