added blower to my small evaporator

[markct]

today i took and added a blower, actualy a industrial heat gun with no heat element in it anymore. wow what a difference in boiling rate, but i did notice a heck of alot more smoke when ya add wood to it and alot more ash on the roof of the sugar shack, is this normal or do i need lessons in proper blower usuage and adjustment?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

That's normal, the blower is helping push the ash up the stack and the extra air at firing is causing a little more smoke which is normal.

[Dennis H.]

I use an electric leaf blower with a speed controler and it worked great when I did my test boil.
When I needed to add wood I turned the speed all the way down then turned it back up after the door was shut.
Ash, what ash. I was amzed when I was done that there was no ash to speak of. It was amazing how complete the wood burns up with the blower.
The only down side to the blower that I can see, besides the noise, is you will be chucking in wood alot more often.

[Sugarmaker]

markct,
Yep blower action sounds about right. Try tuning the blower air input with a damper if needed. Our fire is so hot with the blower that we dont get much smoke coming out the front. But like others said it consumes the wood. Lots and all!

Chris

[MapleME]

where/how exactly do you mount the blower? Id love to see a picture.

MapleME

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

MAPLEME
my blower is a furnace squrrel cage mounted at the back of the arch and duct work to where the grates start, then installed 3 1" pipes thru the fire brick at the bottom under the grates and have 1/8 holes drilled and the air blows up into the fire box

RICH

[slammer3364]

MAPLEME
my blower is a furnace squrrel cage mounted at the back of the arch and duct work to where the grates start, then installed 3 1" pipes thru the fire brick at the bottom under the grates and have 1/8 holes drilled and the air blows up into the fire box

RICH

I would like to see some pictures of it also

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

i could take the picture but dont have a clue after that

RICH