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 draw3 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, 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 ad a cnew 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, 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 boother an 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 truc loaded to capacity spacewise) so I pointed to the evaporator. Then they asked if we had an agent for the crossing we said?. Then yhe 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 pasn 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.