cupola size

[maplekid]

well we are putting up a new sugarhouse this week and i need some help.
my pan is a 4x5 syrup pan and i need to now what the length and width of the cupola should be to let all the steam out

thanks in advance

[peacemaker]

same sq ft of the pan or if u hope to grow same size as u hope to grow to

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would always plan on expansion. I have the worlds largest coupla and now I have a steam hood and dont need it. I was thinking of renting it out as a deer stand. Wasnt aroud when it was built. I used to have a loverd 3 high 4long and 3 wide. I had a problem with the wind so they made this one with doors that hinged down. It has 4X8 sides and you could regulate the pull of the wind. I thing bigger is better BUT sometimes on windy days your in the eye of the storm if you cant open and shut the draft doors with ease and I mean with EASE!!!! your going to raise hell with your evaporators performance
Plan on wind rain and snow becouse you will cook in all weather conditions.

[Nemo5]

I have a .pdf called sugarhouse design that may be of interest to you or someone. I received it from someone here, it is 4.1 megs so I don't know if the site will let me attach it. If not I could email it to you. Well, apparently it is to big.

[MapleChaser]

I was wondewring do you still need a cupola if you run hoods over your pans?

[Haynes Forest Products]

No You Do Not

[MapleChaser]

Thank you for your answer. Another dumb question. I have a 20 by 40 race car shop that we no longer use that is all insulated that was the question for the cupola with hoods will it be a bad enviroment for the building with it all insulated and finished and heated in there? Has antbody use a building like this?

[Haynes Forest Products]

Yes I used the very same type of building it was called MY HOUSE and My wife made me go out side. But on to the question No its not a problem just make sure you have good air flow. When things get to rocking and rolling you will have the windows open and doors proped open. When you get your Evaporator fired and the steam starts rolling your Sugar Shack will become a living breathing cosmic place and you better be ready. And I will tell ya it will never act the same day to day hr to hr rain or shine. Did you ever see the movie Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen well in it he is trying to teach someone how to run the steam engine. When your balls to the wall and the sap is coming and the wife is helping and the steam is overtaking the room and its raining inside and you kick over the syrup bucket becouse your glasses are fogged and you cant find your beer.........Man it doesnt get any better than that.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just put a big exhaust fan on the roof or on one end eve at the highest point and it will help a ton to keep the temperature comfortable.

[peacemaker]

but man it must really mold over the summer ...is that building rocked

[Haynes Forest Products]

My cook house is painted OSB and I dont get mold or swelling. My kitchen is painted drywall and I dont have problems with water damage and I have the finishing pan in there and I use more water cleaning equipment than a brewery. With a steam hood you dont have the condensation and rainfall like a open evaporator. Plus when you shut down the heat from the arch will dry things out.

[MapleME]

Not to highjack this thread, but I have a shed I would like to convert to my shugarhouse and it got me thinking about cupolas and venting etc... Im in a good spot because 1) it doesnt get any use, and 2) my wife said I could have it :)...BUT it does need a new roof, which is currently a flat roof (slight angle).

If I want to just replace the roof as is with new roofing materials, what are my options for roof vents without building a cupola? I hope to have a 2x4 evap this year.

I know I need 1 hole for the evap stack, but what about vent alternatives?

MapleME

[Haynes Forest Products]

With a 2x4 evap. you could build a steam hood cheap. A simple steam hood is easy to build and for that size your looking at 10" vent pipe so that a trip to Home depot. Make a simple hood out of cardboard and bring it along with a bottle of syrup to a small mom and pop heating contractor. Ask if they bend sheet metal. Keep it simple steam hoods do not need to be 24" high and have 8 doors on them. You could get every thing out of 1 sheet of 4X8 aluminum. If it hung from the rafters you dont need to put alot of channel around the lip of the evaporator. If it was a little wider than the evap and hung about 1/2 off the lip you would get a good draw from the heat 2 small doors on each side and your all set.Throw the pan in the truck and go for a ride show them what you need. Its easy all you need is to get the ball rolling. dont go to the big heating contractors. Billy Bobs home heating and computer repair/ goat farmer is the guy you want. Leave the roof alone!!!

[SeanD]

Now you've got me thinking. I'm in the same boat as MapleME where my shed is going to become a sugar shack for 6 weeks/year. I was planning on a cupola, because it's something I can do without a learning curve. Wood I'm fine with, but metal I know zip. But I'll start doing my homework if I know that in five years I'll be wishing I'd done things differently.

Are folks out there with cupolas now wishing they had a hood and stack? I'd like to hear a cupolas vs. stacks debate if there is one.

Sean

[peacemaker]

you can run a hood stack up thru the cupola

[RileySugarbush]

I have both. A flue pan hood with preheater contains most of the vapor, pre heats the sap very well and provides a nice source of hot water. The steam stack runs up into the cupola and that works well. The 6" steam stack is more than enough for this 2x3 hood. Any bigger and I would need a damper to keep the sap hot. There is a slip joint in it ( 7" over 6") so I can raise the hood with rope and pulleys.

The open syrup pan is a joy to watch for me and visitors and I wouldn't change it, even if it steams up my flow meter.

[Haynes Forest Products]

My steam hood only covers the flue pan and has covers to look in. My syrup pan has a hood/cover that is about 10" off the finnish pans for viewing. I can sit and stare at the boiling syrup for hrs hell we do that all the time as it is. I do have simple fold down sides when the wind starts to blow. I run my steam hood pipe into the cupla BUT you must put a floor in the cupla to keep the steam from coming back into the cook shack. I think a nice loverd cupla looks great but if you dont seal it off with doors in the off season you have a great big bee hive the rest of the year. Now for the good part of a nice big cupla with steam coming out of it from a steam pipe. I put spot lights up in the cupla so friends would know that I was cooking at night. The view from a 1/4 to 1/2 mile away looks like the building is on fire. You guest it Had the fire marshal stop in once and the cops another. For the cost of the cupla and a steam hood you could go with stainless on the hood and bag the cupla and its less work.