Sugar Shack question - ceiling height

[briduhunt]

I am building a sugar shack this summer and I have framed out the floor and going to pour very soon/ But my questions is how high should I build it? I have plans for a 8' high inside height but am not sure that a 10' high ceiluing would not work better then I can put a tank up higher to drain into my evaporator. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Brian

[Maplewalnut]

If you can plan it now, I would opt for the extra two feet. Not only will you get better gravity out of your feed tank but the extra couple feet may help you 'see' better on the days the steam just doesn't want to go anywhere but down! (assuming you don't have hood)

[Russell Lampron]

Go the extra 2 feet. If you want to add a Steam Away or Piggyback and hood you might need the clearance. A Max flue pan, Steam Away and hood are pretty tall.

[sapman]

I'll second that! When I added a Steamaway, we had to reconstruct some of the trusses, which wasn't as strong, to accomodate it. Even then, I couldn't raise it very much. Since we added a 2nd floor, we now have about 12' clearance over the evaporator, which is very nice.

Tim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Go with the extra 2', you won't be sorry. I have 10' ceiling in mine and I have 8' stud walls and 3 courses of 8" cinderblocks below that. This allows me to wash down without getting water on the stud walls.

[briduhunt]

I guess the correct thing to do is to go the 10' height. I have determined that the bottom 12" of one wall I will have hibnged so that I can power wash out the shack and push the water out of the building.
Thanks for all the input.

Brian

[cncaboose]

I think that the height may depend on the size of your evaporator too. I have a 3x8 drop flue. The 8.5 foot walls I built are just fine and leave me plenty of clearance. I use a 65 gallon feed tank that sits 8 feet up in a corner. Consider floor drains and you may not need to do the hinged wall.

[mapleack]

I'd go for as much height as you can afford. My sugarhouse is about 12' from floor to rafters. My arch sits atop two courses of cement block, that way I don't have to bend over at all to fire, really saves the back. With that height, and needing fall in the feed line from the far end of the building, my feed tank is just under the rafters. You'll never regret having the extra height.

[Sugarmaker]

We also have 10 foot under the rafters in the evaporator room and it works very well. Looked a little high on paper. but also allowed us to add a 10 foot shed roof on the east side and still get 8 foot height in that room too.

We should have room for a enhanced steam system if we would ever get up the ambition to build one.

Chris