i need some input please

[CityMaple]

well i did it, i jumped from an 18"x30" pan to a rather large (to me any way) 3'x12' small bros raised flue. i figgure if im gonna do somthin i might as well get in really deep.

here is what i am contemplating; the arch. the arch front is in good shape, but that is about all. it needs to be re tinned, more like rebuilt. seems to be thaat the only thing worth saving is the front and the other cast parts. it is a wood arch but i will be using oil and/or natural gas (nat gas now is running the equivilent of $1.50 oil or less) funny the folks in town dont seem to like all that fly ash and smoke for some reason. so i have read many posts about converting to oil so i have a general ideia where i am going but would like some input.... so here is the thing, should i rebuild that arch or lay up a block arch? either way somthing that big even with the tin arch wont be moving after it is loaded with brick and all so mobility dosnt concern me too much.

next question is for you guys with oil burners, i have seen pictures of many arches with the burner mounted on the front in place of the wood loading doors BUT are there any out there that have the burner mounted on the back, similar to where they stick the blowers for the wood units?? this was a thought to save some space, was wondering if any one has an arch like this or if there is some reason that they do not mount the burner in this position?

[Haynes Forest Products]

The combustion chamber for oil is critical! you cant just build the arch out of cinder blocks and shoot heat into it. Nice move up in the evaporator size but things change. Now I sat here thinking about the question about shooting it in from the back. What your asking is can turn the arch around in the room and put the gun up against the wall and have the stack in the center of the room and then put the pans on backwards. I saw a guy put a VW body on the frame backwards and he said it ran great.............scared the hell out of a bunch of people but I like your way of thinking.

[Grade "A"]

I think he is talking about putting the burner under the arch were the arch ramps up to the flue pan. I am not sure how that would work.

[maplwrks]

You better lok at some of your catalogs boys, Lapierre make an evaporator with the guns in the back.

[Father & Son]

Grimm also made an arch with a gun at each end.

Jim

[CityMaple]

i know that a block arch must be lined just as the tin arch, just did not mention it. I have experiance with oil burners and combustion chambers and know the need for refractory material and sutch.

Matt is right i would like to put the burner where the arch ramp would be. i know that oil is radiational heating the syrup pan but also some "fire box boilers" have similar construction where the hot gasses have to change direction to go up through the boiler tubes. so any and all input would be great, thanks joe

[DS Maple]

I once saw a wood-fired evaporator converted to oil with two burners on it. One was located on the front, right below the firebox doors which had been fastened shut, and the other was located in the middle. Both burners faced the back of the evaporator though. Also, there was modification to the arch to accomodate the middle burner. The whole center of it had to be extended down, if you know what I mean.

[Sugarmaker]

The old Warren my dad had had two small burners in the front an burner stuck in the side at a 45 degree angle. Not saying this was the right thing to do but he boiled with it for a year that way. Till he got a bigger burner for the front.
About anything is possible to get the sap to boil. Some ideas may be better (tried and true) over others, and may have better efficiencies.

Regards,
Chris

[mapleman3]

Man with the price of natural gas that would be the way to go... if I only had it on my street!!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Or better yet had a well on your property and got royalties(free gas) from it.

[CityMaple]

access to the free gas would be great, in the same note i am glad that i have access to gas and dont have to haul wood around.

i am sure that some of you have oil fired arches that are laid up out of block or brick. would be helpful if there were any pictures floting around that you might want to share. very interested in the fire chamber design, thanks joe

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would find out what the burner that you are going to use calls for. The more people I talk too stress a fire chamber that is designed for oil rather than converted wood arch

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mapleman3 had a 2x6 Algiere which had a small wood arch and he converted it to oil and only added 1 layer of ceramic over the fire brick which made the chamber even smaller and he was getting 40 to 42 gph with hood and preheater. I doubt an oil fired arch would do any better than that unless it was some high dollar high efficiency oil arch. The key is getting the burner set up just right. Jim(mapleman3) has a oil burner kit and knows what he is doing when it comes to burners, so he tweaked it just right and I think he was running 3.5 gph which is about normal on a 2x6.