Best 2x6 for the money

[Hillcrest Maples]

Upgrading from the 18x48 Raised Flu Vision. Thinking Smokey Lake, but it’s like 11k fully optioned. Steam hood is a must. What’s everyone’s preference in terms of value? 8k and 60gph would be ideal. I have Bascoms and the CDL factory store within 2hrs. With the sales coming up I’d like to buy now.

[DanielS.]

60 GPH is pretty ambitious for a 2x6. Doable, but you'd need air and perfect firing to be sure. I'd check out the sales offered by LS Bilodeau. Their prices are always good, and in the summer/fall they usually have excellent sales. I don't have much patience for the bigger names anymore: much higher prices for the same quality. It's not like there's anything revelational one manufacturer is going to offer that another manufacturer won't (not for a 2x6 setup, anyway). In the last 10 years or so, it seems all the secrets to making the most efficient evaporators are pretty much out in the open, so one's just about as good as a other.

[maple flats]

Back when I bought a wood fired evaporator (3x8) was a few yrs back, but at the time I priced a Leader 3x8 and a CDL 3x8. Leader at the time was slightly lower and I posted the price on this forum. I got a P.M. from another producer suggesting I check out Thor, in Quebec. He gave me the number and the name of the person to talk too, because at the time he was the only one who spoke English, rather than French. I called them the next day and Thor gave me a price that was only about 55-60% of what the Leader quote was. So I ordered one, special design. It was a 3x5 raised flue pan with 10" tall flues and 4" taller above the flues than standard, while the syrup pan was 4 channels and again 4" extra height, same side reversable draw off. Neither option was with the Leader quote. Then I asked the price for a full hood, tight on the flue pan and about 16" above the syrup pan, with 2 steam stacks. They said $1950 and I said I'd have to make my own.
They notified me the evaporator without the arch (I was replacing an old pan set) was ready in July or early August, I said I'd come to pick it up on Labor day weekend, that Saturday. First of all, crossing the border on a holiday weekend is a nightmare, once we got to the border above Plattsburg that Friday night, the line was 3-4 hours long. We then drove about halfway towards the factory in Cowansville, Quebec looking for a motel, in about an hour we found none ( the drive was along the northern end of Lake Champlain, had this been in the US we'd have passed at least 10 motels). During our search I'd noticed 3 camp grounds in a row back about 15 minutes. We turned around and stopped at the first one. When we asked we were told they had no trailers for rent, but the next one did, she even called to make sure they had one available, and they did. We drove to that campground and we ended up in a very nice, clean trailer, full power, TV hot water and all, when I asked how much he said, how does $100 sound, we took it. It came with clean bedding and towels.
The next morning we drove to the factory and got our evaporator, and loaded it in my PU truck (full 8' bed). Then they asked if I had made the hood yet, I answered I would make it after I had the exact measurements of the pans. We were then told that they had a new demo unit for that size, that had some minor damage. I asked the price and they said $800, so I bought that too. I couldn't fit everything between the 8' bed and the rear seat (extended cab F250), both were totally full. We got the hood and the takeoffs for 2 steam stcka 15" diameter each. The english speaking guy said he'd bring the rest because he was going to visit his brother in about 2 months. He did bring it in November.
Anyways, returning on Labor day Saturday is even worse than crossing northbound the day before. This time our wait time was almost 5 hrs. When we got to the booth they asked if we had anything to declare (with the truck loaded to capacity spacewise) so I pointed to the evaporator. Then they asked if we had an agent for the crossing we said?. Then the guard didn't know how to proceed and to get an agent we were at least 1/4 mile past where we'd need to go, and traffic was extremely cogested to put it mildly. Just then another guard was walking across towards maybe the break room? Our guard called him over, after a few questions he looked at me and asked, do you want to pay the duty, I said only if I have to, he then said, go ahead and have a great day! I don't know how much the duty would have been but me guess is that the crowd saved me some cash but cost me lots of waiting time.
Anyway, contact Thor, A member named Brian on here gave me the info, He had bought from Thor recently. The pans were absolutely fantastic and while in the factory I could see the minor dent, I had a hard time finding it once set up. It took a few minutes to find that damage that had saved me about $1200.
I bought that evaporator back when I had over 1300 taps, all on high vacuum. I'm now too old to do that many and I'm down to at most 450 to maybe 550 taps, all coming straight to the sugarhouse.

[BigJon]

Best value out there is Smoky Lake by a long shot, I think the next closest I could find to mine when I bought it was CDL, at about $8k more. Also, keep this in mind, Smoky Lake includes the precut bricks and most of the stack you will need to install along with the brick mortar, and will deliver all of this to your house for free. Add in those extra costs when looking at any other evaporator. I remember when I bought my original 2x6 those extra costs were definitely not inconsequential. If you would like to come and see mine (it’s a Silverplate model with the high output raised flue pans and SSR reverser) let me know.

[BAP]

Best price isn’t always the best machine for the job. Start by looking for the best features that you want out of an evaporator, then go on to finding the best price. You get what you pay for just like any other product. Go look at evaporators in person, whether it’s in a showroom or someone’s sugar house. Also, there is a lot of evaporators being listed for sale as the season has ended because people are upgrading. A great way to get a good evaporator for a lot less money.

[tcross]

i bought a 2.5x8 raised flue made by Thor 5 years ago. they make a very good product for cheaper than many of the big names out there. i've since added a hood and preheater and when running it hard i get 85 gph out of it. running it at an easy pace, which i do when i have a lot of company, it was easy to get 70-75 gph out of it. i believe it was around 8k for the evaporator and hood when i bought it. The exchange rate is favorable right now... just not too sure if they've jumped on the terrif band wagon and have increased pricing or not. still with the exchange rate i'm sure they're still at a very good value.

[Super Sapper]

I bought a Smoky Lake Silverplate 2x6 raised flue. I get 75 to 80 gph without a preheater or pushing it too hard. The quality is as good as you will find in the industry.

[Jgranat]

Can anyone point out a short coming of a Smoky Lake 2x6 raised flue pan set with same side reverse on it? I am no expert, but an American made pan set like they build, with all the after sales support/warranty is hard for me to even consider anybody else at this point, no offense to any other country based manufacturer. I can weld everything I need as long as it does need to be water tight or sanitary in stainless. I am looking at a custom DIY arch with their pans on it as a future build, I see no advantage to any other builder.

[BAP]

Check out Creekside Welding and Machine in Girard, PA. They make some great looking products. Smokey Lake is NOT the only United States manufacturer of evaporators, they just have done a great job with marketing on the internet making people think that they are. There is also, Sunrise Evaporators in Indiana, plus several other smaller companies out there.

[Jgranat]

I never claimed they were the only US Manufacturer, I only asked for an example of a short coming to their products. I do not see me dealing with customs If there is a US company like this I can deal with. I sold capital equipment, outside sales in my younger days both in the US and Canada, I can tolerate marketing if I can hear the truth, again I ask is there a short coming? Did I miss something?

[Hillcrest Maples]

Talked to Creekside today, his rig has so many features you don’t see anywhere else. Price was inline with CDl, I’m finding my budget of 8k was way off with the features I want. They are coming in around 15k “fully dressed”. I don’t doubt they’re worth every penny but not sure if I want to drop that much.

[BAP]

I never claimed they were the only US Manufacturer, I only asked for an example of a short coming to their products. I do not see me dealing with customs If there is a US company like this I can deal with. I sold capital equipment, outside sales in my younger days both in the US and Canada, I can tolerate marketing if I can hear the truth, again I ask is there a short coming? Did I miss something?
A few years ago I bought one of their canners with the water pan underneath. The second season I used it, the water pan started to rust even though it was supposedly good stainless steel, but obviously it wasn’t or is the wrong grade stainless. I reached out to them with pictures and they refused to stand behind their product. Claimed that there was nothing wrong it. At the same time period, there was also reports from other people that they were having similar problems and lack of support. So now at the end of each season, I polish the spots with a good stainless steel scrubber and put some vegetable oil on it to keep it from rusting more. Their lack of customer service and support at that time has turned me off to their company.

[BigJon]

Can anyone point out a short coming of a Smoky Lake 2x6 raised flue pan set with same side reverse on it? I am no expert, but an American made pan set like they build, with all the after sales support/warranty is hard for me to even consider anybody else at this point, no offense to any other country based manufacturer. I can weld everything I need as long as it does need to be water tight or sanitary in stainless. I am looking at a custom DIY arch with their pans on it as a future build, I see no advantage to any other builder.
The only shortcomings I saw on the SL evaporators with high output raised flue pans is the lack of a drain valve for the flue pan and not having a set of locking bolts to lock the pans to the arch more tightly on the front of the arch. I’m going to add these this off-season, but otherwise I think the build quality and performance of the evaporator are excellent, especially for the price. That and every time I have a question on something, someone from SL will always get back to me with an answer in a reasonable time frame. The only other major maple equipment manufacturer I have seen that matches their level of customer service is CDL. There are also smaller shops out there like WF Mason in Maine that make excellent equipment out there as well.

[Maples Maple]

If you are looking to sell your 18x48 Raised Vision, let me know. That might ease the pain of new larger one.

[Jgranat]

A few years ago I bought one of their canners with the water pan underneath. The second season I used it, the water pan started to rust even though it was supposedly good stainless steel, but obviously it wasn’t or is the wrong grade stainless. I reached out to them with pictures and they refused to stand behind their product. Claimed that there was nothing wrong it. At the same time period, there was also reports from other people that they were having similar problems and lack of support. So now at the end of each season, I polish the spots with a good stainless steel scrubber and put some vegetable oil on it to keep it from rusting more. Their lack of customer service and support at that time has turned me off to their company.

I can respect your position on that, it would likely do the same to my opinion in such a case. I have googled "unhappy with..." and "problems with..." And have found no info on unhappy Smoky Lake customers, aside from one fellow on here who was dialing in his oil fired arch from them. I have also seen very few of their evaporators for sale used. Either they have sold very few or no one wants rid of theirs.

[Pdiamond]

It may be bigger than you need, but on the mapletrader facebook page there is a 2 x 8 drop flue pan set that is oil fired for sale, and they are asking $8500.00 for it. Smoky Lake also has one that is a 2 x 6 raised flue wood fired brand new advertised for $8677.00, on the same site.

[maple flats]

Your question is slightly vague, do you want the top of the line at a good price or would you be happy with a good quality soldered (lead free) at a far lower price. While when I bought a new 2x6 about 11 months ago, I didn't price the ultra fancy ones, I went in the other direction, I got a 2x6 wood fired (being converted to oil fired) with a full hood, raised flue, both float boxes, reversable draw off with all valves, a 17' stack including the base stack (In sections), a 20 gal draw off tank, a 100 gal head tank, all of the firebrick and ceramic blanket insulation all for under $4100 total. Yes, it's soldered, not welded, but I've had 4 evaporators and 3 were soldered, my only welded pan set was the Thor, I have never had any issue with soldered pans. I even asked the manufacturer (A&A Metal Shop, Monterey, Va.) about 2 months after I hauled it home, what it would cost to change the valves from Bronze to SS, he charged me $50+ actual shipping, I shipped the original valves back.
On the flip side you can buy an ultra fancy mirror polish SS welded evaporator for $11,000 +/-. I've found the syrup looks and tastes the same from either, your choice, go whichever way makes you happier.

[Jgranat]

I can see where a bad experience with a product like that would cause me to have that opinion as well. My question has been and remains are there mechanical or other issues with a Smoky Lake evaporator that no one is talking about. I can Google "problems with Smoky Lake evaporator" and find nothing. I don't even see many used Sl evaporators for sale which leads me to believe people are satisfied with them.

[Pdiamond]

I have had mine for nine years. I finally replaced the stiffened gasket between the pans last year, and I think I replaced the flat gasket the pans sit on two years ago. Oh, I also replaced the front door blanket insulation and bolts last year. When I did that, I went to . my local hardware store and bought actual stainless-steel washers. The regular washers eventually melt off from the heat. That is the only items I have ever done anything to. I will tell you one year I got sick, and the pans sat dirty for 18 months I figured they were toast. Soaked with water and vinegar and then power washed. It took a little bit of elbow grease, but they came back clean as new. I am a firm believer in their products. No, I have nothing to do with their company.

[Hillcrest Maples]

If you are looking to sell your 18x48 Raised Vision, let me know. That might ease the pain of new larger one.

Yes! It’s mint, added a blower too. I ended up going with another Vision from Bascom. 2x6. They are a really really good value. Luckily I own a sheet metal shop and can build my own steam hoods. Email me and I can send you some pics. Justin@sousasigns.com