phanuefs pricing

[maplekid]

i was looking on ebay and seen he had a 2x6 for sale but the price to me is outrageously high. $6,000. http://cgi.ebay.com/Maple-syrup-2-x-6-evaporator-complete_W0QQitemZ230270049473QQihZ013QQcategoryZ2 0474QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

That is a very competative price for a evaporator of that quality, the waterloo-small 2x6 is 6090.00 with stainless arch, stack. that does not include stack cover, and or fire brick, add another 500 for them.. They also don't include a lifetime warranty on the craftsmanship..

[Fred Henderson]

i was looking on ebay and seen he had a 2x6 for sale but the price to me is outrageously high. $6,000. http://cgi.ebay.com/Maple-syrup-2-x-6-evaporator-complete_W0QQitemZ230270049473QQihZ013QQcategoryZ2 0474QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

His evap are not what they are cracked up to be. PM me and I will tell you more.

[Sweber]

I completely agree with Fred. I have had nothing but problems with mine since I bought it. Patrick keeps telling me "I'll fix it, I'll fix it" Well, I have been waiting since sugaring season BEGAN to see him. I could never recommend one of his evaporators after my experience.
Fred is being nice about it and PMing his thoughts. I am very dissapointed with Patrick. He does not follow through nor does he honor his "24 hour support during the sugaring season" guarantee.If you want, I can tell you specifics.

[peacemaker]

please do for i was thinking of getting pans made from him

[Grade "A"]

I think it is like a "Ford/Chevy" thing, some have nothing but good things to say about a evaporator and others hate them. Something else to think about is that something that I couldn't live with may not be a problem with someone else. Over the years of talking to people I have had people say great and awful things about every evaporator out there. I guess it is a roll of the dice!!!

[Big maple]

What kind of problems are you guys having with the actual equipment? I've ben to his site and his evaporators look to be super tuned high speed low drag precision pieces of high tech aeronamics and, they look real nice too. As for Patrick himself (whom I do not know) and I'm just guessing, I think that maybe the buisiness just took off too fast and he is probably just about killing himself trying to keep up. He hasn't been around for a hundred years like the other guys and I have alot of respect for a man who can come onto a field where there's only a couple of giants who corner the market and either crush or buy out the competition. What I mean to say is whenever a new product enters the market you will have a few glitches, be patient and calm and it will be taken care of. As for his prices I don't think they are too far out of line,if it seems too expensive get a couple of quotes on evaporators ready to go just add wood and sap, the ask them to deliver it to your shack and help you set it up. that is pretty impressive to me.

[maplekid]

yes he is running a good bissness especially the delivery.hell travel anywhere. ive heard about problems with doors binding but thats about it.

[fred]

its no different than the problems i had from leader. i spent over 30000 and when i had a problem gary gaudette blew me off and gave me excuses and theyve been around forever. i dont support either one but "in season" everyone is going to be swamped

[forester1]

The prices are high because the price of stainless has gone through the roof. Also the value of the dollar has fallen in relation to the Canadian dollar and other currency.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I got my evaporator from Roth Sugar Bush in Wisc. and it came from Maple pro and I never had them cut me short on a phone call or not call me back. I get the same service after the sale as I did when i sent in my deposit on the waterloo small i got.

[thenewguy]

at the end of last sugar season I ordered a 5 gallon stainless bottler from patrick. he told me that he would be going through my area in 3 weeks and he would meet up and drop me off my bottler. that lead me to belive I was going to get it at the end of april. middle of may I sent him an email asking where abouts my bottler was. he said when he went through my area the truck was full and didn't have room...but it was made. He never sent me a email saying that he couldn't make it. I can't belive he didn't have room to squeeze it in. He said he won't be going back through my area again til' the end of september, october. And we could meet up and do our deal then. He said in his email that he could ship it, I replyed with an email with my address to get a shipping quote and I have never heard back from him. that was end of may. I have 80 bottles of syrup to do for a wedding in october, needless to say I want my **** bottler...

[Sweber]

When I met him he was a very nice guy. And yes they do look like "super tuned high speed low drag precision pieces of high tech aeronamics" when new. He delivered my 2x6 about three months later than he promised. It looked great after we set it up and seemed like a good deal. I had to ask him weekly to send the gasket for the sap intake. I understand that things have "glitches" sometimes, but I fully expect someone to make things right and follow up on their promises. He failed to do either... I'm still waiting and yes a little bit mad about this whole thing. This is the third evaporator I have worked with over the years and by far the most problems. I guess if I was as handy (read this as good at cobbing things together) as a real sugar maker, I might be able to make it work. But you know what, I want it to work well out of the box. That's what I paid for.
Chris the Maple Guy was able to help me out with the "sinking float", (thanks Chris) but I still have problems with the sap intake. It keeps flooding my pans.
I keep hoping he will make things right.

[Mike]

Hey Newguy! Buy a turkey frier with a spout..I bought a SS with burner, stand and draw off valve for under $100 ..Cheaper and works as well as a bottler........They also cook great turkeys.....

[Grade "A"]

Cabela's has one with a drain for $80. Put in this # in there "find" box, IJ-518340

[Maplepro]

Just thought I would add my two cents to the comments. I bought a 16X24 canner from him last year his delivery date was off a bit he promised me to have it done by October then it kept moving a month finally in December I asked if he could just ship it to me I would pick up the fright cost as I needed the canner I was almost to the point of canceling the order and buying one from Leader anyways long story short he delivered my canner in Feb. I was not impressed and let him know that. His craftsmanship looks wonderful until you start using the products I don't know if he doesn’t own a level or just doesn’t use one but the pan isn't quite square the drains are tilted up instead of down the table that the bottles sit on is held on by wing nuts which is perfectly fine except the fact that the plate that the bolts go through are not even and when you line them up some are .5" off not good but some are bang on so I am not sure what’s up with that but I guess it all goes back to you get what you pay for I bought from Patrick because he was 350.00 cheaper then leader or waterloo so I guess that is the price I paid to save some money.

[Fred Henderson]

Maplepro I agree with you 100%. When I got my evap all that bright and shiney SS took my eyes away from the real workmanship.

[Parker]

Tell you what,,,I bought my Leader flue pan 5? years ago now,,,it is by far the HEAVIEST built pan with the nicest craftmanship I have seen,,,,yes,,at the time it was expensive,,but they built it in 4 days during sugaring season,,it was ready befor they said it would be,,and I have had no troubles with it,,,I have moved -scrapped a lot of pans,,,seen plenty of "stainless" pans with holes right thru them???? This summer I bought a 6X16 waterloo-stainless,,2 of us loaded the flue pan in my truck,,,,when we unloaded my Leader flue pan it took 6 of us to pick it up,,,big diffrance,,personally I have never seen anything Leader made that did not hold up,,might cost a lot,,,but it seems to hold up well,,,,IMHO

[Fred Henderson]

Patrick is going to put himself right out of business.

[maplekid]

has anybody ever called him to inform him of the problems you guys are facing. nevr know he might not be aware of them. does he make syrup or just make the equipment?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have to agree with Parker on the quality of what Leader stuff I have seen which is a few evaporators besides the one I have and a few other misc things I have purchased from them or seen. I have a 2x5 flue pan and it is a bear for 2 people to lift the thing off the arch at best. The quality and workmanship is phenominal to say the least and it is extremely pleasing to the eye. They seem to add some more bends on the side walls of their pans and dividers compared to some of the other manufactures I have seen. I know one commented earlier that he was upset with Leader's customer service, but I have always found it as good or better than any company I have ever dealt with including companies that have nothing to do with the maple industry and they speak English when you call.

[gmcooper]

We are on our 2nd new leader evaporator. We went bigger. Leader has been super for us to deal with. I never had an issue with quality of workmanship what so ever. Customer service was always great any time I called, and the call usually ended up covering a lot more info and chat than the call was initally for. I have looked at new equipment from the other big manufactures and see things like dividers not sealed the entire lenght, flues not evenly spaced or tilted when looking from the end. I have also seen some excellent work by all the companies as well. I do like the english speaking folks at Leader as I cannot speak a word of french and a very thick french accent is not any better for me to understand. Just my 2 cents.

[Grade "A"]

Parker, I was wondering why you bought a waterloo instead of Leader?

[sapman]

I have to agree with you guys about Leader equipment, service, and support! It's nice to be able to call them, almost anytime, and get competent, honest advice about stuff.

In '02 I burned my evap. up mid-season. Fortunately, they were caught up with orders, and had my pans done in less than a week. Brad went over all the measurements he needed, since I was moving up to the American pans from Kings, and everything fit like it should when it got here. He even delivered it over half way here, since he was going to help a friend boil for the weekend down this direction. My only issue with my welded pans is that the cutouts in the front pan are not clean to the bottom, so the syrup won't drain quite completely.

Tim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Tim,

I think they do that for added strength. I don't like it as well either, but the cuts are nice and smooth and I think it would add strength to the floor of the pan and the dividers also along with the ends.

[Parker]

Grade A
I boil on grim-leader pans,,,,,I bought the 6X16 to salvage what I could and scrap the rest....When there are big holes in the stainless (A lot of them) they are done...............

[brookledge]

One would think that as far as never being able to deliver on the date promised, he has made enough to know his capabilities and how fast he can make things. Most would except being late by a day or so but when a day turns into months that is not the way to treat customers. I have never dealt with him and have nothing against him but I can tell you based on what I've heard I will never will.
Bad publicity like this is not good for business.
Maybe he has so much work he doesn't care if he will ever get any repeat customers but that will catch up to him sooner or later.
Keith

[MaplePancakeMan]

He was 5 months late with my evaporator, the thing is i never realized any of the problems until this year. I always assumed it was my poor operating skills because its the first time i actually used an evaporator. Now speaking with some other fellow owners i realized it was the craftmanship. I am currently in negotiations/ debate with patrick to fix things

[Grade "A"]

I was lucky because he brought mine only 2 weeks later than he said. But there are things like the dividers not being sealed the way I would like them. He could spend a little less time with the buffer and more time with the welder. Fred Henderson is right they are so shinny it is hard to see anything else. As of right now I still feel I can get my problem fixed and still be ahead of the game with the lower price but ask me next year and I could have a different answer.

[Fred Henderson]

He was 5 months late with my evaporator, the thing is i never realized any of the problems until this year. I always assumed it was my poor operating skills because its the first time i actually used an evaporator. Now speaking with some other fellow owners i realized it was the craftmanship. I am currently in negotiations/ debate with patrick to fix things

The only negotiations I would do with him is not have anything more to do with him. He might know how to weld and polish SS but design is something else.

[white mt]

For myself I would love to let patrick go his way and me mine,but im still trying to get him to fix my leaking steamhood i got new from last year.It leaks water down the front of the hood by the syrup pan and into the firebox . He needs to stand by his word to come fix any thing thats wrong, but I cant seem to get him hear.As I said before on one thread nice guy but he needs to rethink things or go out of buisness. I wish him well and hope he gets it together.Dan

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have been in the customer service industry for 14 years and when an individual or company is like this, they usually never change. These things are happening because that is his personality and how he does business intentionally even though he may not think he is being dishonest or a dis-service. It's a personality/selfwill issue and companies/individuals like this don't usually change unless new management takes over.

[Fred Henderson]

There has been enought said here that is surely not going to help his business. A lot of people read this site even if they are not members.

[maplekid]

this thread has over 1,000 views. im sure if he was a member he woulnt be to happy with me...

[Grade "A"]

maplekid, You did nothing wrong. You only asked a question. That price realy is not that high, He does inclued everything and brings it to your door and help set it up for you. With the price of gas that is a big saving. I have had good luck with him, he has always answered my emails. He made changes on my pans that I asked for, there were some thing I did not think to ask him to do but I'm sure he would if asked. Bottom line I would order from him again if needed.

[Big maple]

I'm going to order a steam hood for my flue pan just to see and maybe some other things too. Ya know you should believe none of what you read and only half of what you see. In the word of mouth business someone with something bad to say will tell ten people but someone who had a good thing to say won't say anything to anyone. So I will open this thread up when my stuff shows up.

[Fred Henderson]

As far as Patrick being a very likeable guy he is. However his business pratices leave a lot to be desired. I might add that he is the salesman. PR man and the builder. Sometimes this is not a good thing.

[Maplepro]

Big maple- Good luck but I bet you 100.00 that you won't get your stuff when he says! I am sorry but I have been in this business long enough to see people like him come and go and if he provides service like he did to me he won't be around long and I am not the only person that thinks that. I have bought a 16x16 canner from him off eBay took 6mons to deliver then I was stupid enough to order a 16x24 bottling unit again another 6mons but what made me mad was he promised me to have it done in a month that’s not good business! Just remember not everyone is as vocal as some! I wish you luck with your purchase from him I will admit he has good prices but you get what you pay for!

[Fred Henderson]

All you get is empty promises from him. He promise me and my friend a steam pan to go with our canner. Kind of like a bonus because we had waited so long for our evaportors. Ha, ha guess what, we are still waiting for them and that promise was made 2-3 years ago.

[TapME]

I wish you would compare apples to apples and not apples to watermelons. This is why the small guys don't make it and the big guys just add to there prices. I'm a little guy and I know that the big guys don't play fair. Most Mainers that I know would make positive suggestions and save the wine for the store. My 2 cents.

[MaplePancakeMan]

TapMe, While they don't play fair i will give you that. However, i'm sure you being a little guy are much more receptive to people who contact you about things yes? He on the general consensus is not. that is why the wine is here, the wine has been too him first and to no avail.

That being said, hes been nice to me in my deliberations thus far. I just don't understand how he knowingly is making floatboxes that don't maintain a level in the pan.

I'll be the first to say he was one of the nicest guys i met even at almost 2am in the morning when he got here. He just needs to hire some other people to help him. His demand has got out of hand. I'll be honest, i think thats why hes raising his prices to try and curb the demand for awhile.

[Maplepro]

I wish you would compare apples to apples and not apples to watermelons. This is why the small guys don't make it and the big guys just add to there prices. I'm a little guy and I know that the big guys don't play fair. Most Mainers that I know would make positive suggestions and save the wine for the store. My 2 cents.


The problem is when you play with big guys you should at least try to act like them! Maybe you don't have to give the same quality but I would find it pointless to be in business if you’re not going to deliver quality. i will say Patrick is one of the nicest guys i have met but for some reason he can't deliver on time. I am not whining I am just trying to give people a heads up I would rather speak my mind and let others know then sit quietly and let them find out what I did!

[royalmaple]

I talked to Patrick on the phone this evening about some pans. Mentioned some of the hoopla going on and his response was almost what I would have imagined. And I don't mean that in a negative way. He told me when it all comes down to it he's never had a customer that has missed a season due to him delivering late. To me that would be more important than if I got my new evaporator in July vs January. Might be late but I haven't boiled much in September yet, but might next year.

I've had to wait over a year to get some replacement spiles from CDL, and that's only cause I called to remind them after a year. Things happen to all companies, it's just the way it is. I doubt leader would do very well if they had only one guy running the show for a season.

[Uncle Tucker]

I had to wait for 3 months extra for a roof jack that Mape Pro lost the order for. I ordered it through Bascome and when David asked if they could rush it they said, NO. but they were sory for loosing the order.

I think we should open a thread on Maple Pro. Althow there float boxes work.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Lets open a Thread for Maple Pro and one for Chevy, Dodge, Ford and hell I want to complain about my wife too

[Fred Henderson]

Lets open a Thread for Maple Pro and one for Chevy, Dodge, Ford and hell I want to complain about my wife too


If you are one that likes being taken of your hard earned dollars then do all the business with him you want to, or does your wife earn the income and just give you an allowance.

[MaplePancakeMan]

lets not get vindictive and off topic.

[Jim Brown]

Thank goodness that's over!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im going with Jim Brown I see he has a Waterloo Small and I have a 3x10 Waterloo and I dont think I have any complaints about it or maple pro so No i didnt throw my allowance away

[WMF]

Could someone with a camera post some pictures of the problems they see with their evaporators. I don't quite understand how a float box doesn't work as it uses such simple principles as gravity and levers and was perfected in the maple industry about 100 years ago.

[MaplePancakeMan]

See, patrick asked me for photos of the floatbox problems but i'm not really sure how to show that without fully setting up my evaporator, filling it with water and taking a video to show the floatbox just doesn't get a regulated level.


i'm gonna work on trying this later

[MaplePancakeMan]

its something with the lever and pad thats on it thats suppose to seal the opening. it doesn't sit right and doesn't close it off completely so it runs down the side wall

[Fred Henderson]

Ha ha, I shut down one night only to come back in the morning with all the sap from the holding tank in the evaporator. Like about 10 inches of it. The way it sprays I can only guess that it put enough in thru the vent tube to make the float heavy. That will be another redesign that I will have to do.
In your case you need to remove the float from the box and make sure it is properly aligned.

[royalmaple]

You need to put a ball valve inline before the float from the headtank.

Those floats aren't valves, and you will get sap leaking by them no matter who makes them.

I'd never leave sap in the head tank #1, and #2 I'd never trust the float to hold back the sap in the head tank without a ball valve.

It's too bad to learn the hard way.

[Brian Ryther]

I agree with Matt. I have a root valve at my evap feed tank. If there is sap left in it when I shut down I close the valve and drain the line to the evap. If the temps are freezing It prevents the feed line from freezing solid. If it were to freeze it would take it days to thaw. My float valves never shut off completly even with new gaskets and new floats. But when I am cooking they regulate the level just fine. I have a raised flue, so i also close the valves between the flue pan and the syrup pan. If I did not the slow leak in the float valve would have the syrup pan 10" deep by morning.
PS I didn't want to post in this negative thread but hopefully it has moved beyond that and on to more productive discussions.

[Fred Henderson]

Thanks for the tip on the valve. I do have a valve but was not using it because on the evap & float that I build myself I never had a problem. Now I use it all the time and I drain everything during freezing weather. The time that it flodded was in mild weather and nothing would freeze overnight. That is the only time that I left the valve on.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

My float arm seals pretty good, but I agree that float arms are NOT designed to hold sap in a head tank with lots of head pressure overnight and I doubt mine would, at least it would let some in. I would caution you leaving sap in the head tank overnight. It is up in the air where the cold air can circulate underneath it and it is a freezing ice cube waiting to happen. Could also crack the ball valve and any fittings. I try to never leave sap in mine as I have a 320 Lappierre round bottom SS tank and beside it I have a 625 gallon milk tank on the floor that I try to leave everything in.

If I have to leave anything in the head tank which is maybe once a year, I have 20' of heat tape that is taped onto the bottom of the head tank and valve that I plug in to prevent freezing if it is supposed to freeze.

[MaplePancakeMan]

See when i first saw it was leaking i was like "no problem i'll put an inline ball valve on it" so i did and even with it just barely cracked it leaks around. And when i mean just barely cracked i mean that literally. I've taken it apart and reassembled but to no avail. what i think it really needs is a 1 1/4"pipe (1/4" long) welded to the inside of the float box and a rubber tube(1/4" long) just a bit bigger with mounted on the lever with the existing bad inside that tube. This would create a more flush seal.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I shut down the cooker with about 15 gallons of sap in the tank and leave the ball valve open that way as the evaporator cools it draws the last of the sap in and all is good in the morning. Leaving a small amount in the tank to sit all night and get warm and cloud up is a no no. I know guys that have to heat thair sugar shacks so things dont freeze up and bend up and break. Im lucky that if i shut down around 10 PM my shack is above freezing in the AM

[Brian Ryther]

@ 400 gph it can be difficult to judge when to shut my 6x16 down as to leave no sap left in the feed tank. Even with no fire under it my evap will et off steam for a couple of hrs. I have left two inches in the flue pan at night to return to the top of the flues exposed in the morning. I like the idea of the heat tape on the tank valve. and drilling the down stream side of the ball valve to drain it. When the tank freezes at night it only freezes on top. then I have a nice ice block to help keep the sap fresh.

[PATheron]

Ive only left sap in my head tank once becouse I was tired and went to bed. I normally flood my pans with whats left in the head tank when I quit at night. I have a tube in the shed thats run up the wall to monitor the level in the tank and when it gets to a mark I flood the pans and empty the tank. That way theres no sap in the tank or the lines to freeze. I do have to rely on the float between the flue and syrup pan to keep the sap from going into the syrup pans. It has leaked bad a couple times and raised the level in the syrup pans but normally doesnt. I kind of hate to block the syrup pans off becouse I like it to feed sap as its cooling down. I normally have no problem. I think flooding the pans with all the remaining sap is a good policy. Once you figure about what you need just make a mark on your level tube. Ive noticed most guys do install one of these tubes in their shed anyway. I have to get rid of my head sap becouse its normally 10% concentrate and I dont want that sitting around. I am apt to block off the syrup pan from the flue pan the next morning once things are done cooking just as a safety. I think I probly do have a slow leak that would let the sap level out If I left it a long time. Theron

[sapman]

Finishing boiling time is another feature I like about having a Steamaway. Once I hear the air blowing right out the tubes, I know it's pretty much empty and time, or almost, to shut the burner down. Of course, if I still burned wood, I'd want a lot more of the sap for flooding the pans, and would have to keep a closer eye on it.

Tim

[Sweber]

Maplepancakeman, I know exactly what you are talking about! My valve is the same way. I cannot trust the float or the valve to stop the sap. I had no problem with this on my old Maple Pro because it's more of a mechanical valve as opposed to a float and gasket combo. I didn't even have to think about the old one. Now the pans flood regularly. I too installed an inline ball valve to control sap intake. After I got the float box hole taken care of, I narrowed it down to the valve being the problem.
But here is the "good" news: Patrick came by last week (with family in tow)and picked up my pan. He thinks that there may be a problem with his cut of the intake pipe not being flush. Told me he would have the pan back to me in September or Oct.... whenever he delivers to the Maple guys......
He originally asked me for photos of the problem during the sugaring season but they did not seem to help at all. So I took more pictures but they didn't help either.... Can't figure this one out....

[MaplePancakeMan]

Sent patrick pictures of a couple things, the draw off which was bent when i got it and i told him about and the leaky float.


He gave me trouble shooting for the float... didn't work, and for the draw off the simply said i never delivered a pan like that. (he told me to take a screw driver and bend it back but to be careful it could break the weld seal. I told him its not possible to bend it back as its welded on crooked.


"what do you want me to do? i never delivered a pan like that. There is no warranty on that. Send me the float box and i will see if i can fix it"

I'm kinda pissed at the way he handled the situation he says life time guarantee on all products but he doesn't really mean that. Now if i want it fixed i have to pay for it to be shipped to him and insure it so it will be probably 35 bucks. I might as well just take it to a weld shop and get it fixed.

[Fred Henderson]

Yep, because you might not get it back for 2 years.

[WMF]

You guys with his evaporators should post pics of the parts you say are defective. As they say " a picture is worth a thousand words " . What could be more persuasive than a picture for all to see of his work?

[MaplePancakeMan]

Thats the picture of the crooked draw off. I could put pictures of the float on but you would think its normal looking. I just can't figure out why it won't work.
http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TheShovler3/131.jpg?r=1218075483

[WF MASON]

Looking at the picture , it is bent , I'd stick a wood dowel or a piece of pipe in there and bend it back, its welded , it can certinly move without breaking.

[Grade "A"]

I't does look bent from that picture or the whole front of the box is way out of square (can't tell for 100%).

[Fred Henderson]

I would need to see a different angel shot of it to say if it is bent. Try to get the top and the face/side in the same photo. If the face or side of the SS is bent in at all then it is bent.

[Mark-NH]

Sounds to me like some of you guys are being pretty tough on Patrick. You didn't mind paying less for his equipment when you bought it but now you want the service and replacement parts that cost a company a lot of money to support.

Why not try to bend the fitting back to where it should be? If it breaks, pay the $35 and send it back to Patrick or take it to your local welder. You saved a lot more than that when you bought it.

Try looking at it from his perspective. He sounds like a very reasonable guy.

[Haynes Forest Products]

It does look bent and from the pics it looks like the face is warped . Can happen when sheet metal expands during welding and then reheating during boiling. I would put the valve on it for leverage and pull out as you bend it back. You want the left side to stay the way it is and pull the right side out.

[MaplePancakeMan]

First of all yeah i don't mind paying less because generally the quality of the product is fine. Its the 100% guarantee that gets you mad. When you bring the areas of concern up to him he seems nice about it when his quick trouble shooting doesn't work he just says what do you want me to do? eventually he says i'll try to fix it. Its not like i paid a ridiculous amount less for the evaporator it was about 500-600 less than leader. Again its not so much that i'm pissed about the product, but rather the way he handles it. In a business when you offer a 100% warranty on all parts you have to calculate in time/cost of some people taking advantage of it. It's false advertising to do otherwise.

Second i'll work on taking more pictures of that piece a little later. Don't think that i wouldn't want to fix it myself. I'm not a spiteful or vindictive person. I don't get pleasure out of taking a busy man off of what hes doing to fix my problems. If i thought i could do it myself i would have just fixed it and not said anything. I have tried with the float, it just wont work for me. I don't know how to weld so i'm not gonna try to learn now. The thing is, if i break the weld bending it that voids all of the warranty. So if i break it i screw myself.

Anyway, perhaps when i get the pictures up you guys can give me an idea of what to do. Should i take both sides and bottom views of the fitting?

[Maplewalnut]

Hang in there pancake man. Your proceeding cautiously and thats alright. You've put out a big investment and nobody can fault you for expecting it to be right. I hear you about not fixing it yourself. I can build you a garage and pour you a sidewalk (although that is not what I do for a living) but I'll be ****ed if I know anything about welding, vacuum cfm or two stroke motors (although I am learninig by default on motors)! Thats why this forum is so great. Somebody out there has done it before!

Mike

[Fred Henderson]

Sounds to me like some of you guys are being pretty tough on Patrick. You didn't mind paying less for his equipment when you bought it but now you want the service and replacement parts that cost a company a lot of money to support.

Why not try to bend the fitting back to where it should be? If it breaks, pay the $35 and send it back to Patrick or take it to your local welder. You saved a lot more than that when you bought it.

Try looking at it from his perspective. He sounds like a very reasonable guy.

When a child does something wrong they get reprimaned for it. This sisutation is no different. Backup what you offer. The Attonery General of NY would take a dim of this false advertiseing if he knew about it.

[Fred Henderson]

P C M,
Have you tryed measureing from the back of the flange to the face of the SS metal on each side? Measure from as close to the pipe as you can. If the distance is the same then it is bent.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Bad side vs good side in order
http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TheShovler3/133.jpg?r=1218128630
http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/TheShovler3/132.jpg?r=1218128391


Any other pictures you need to see whats going on ? i can't really get that great of pictures with the stainless reflection. I'll take my brothers camera out later and post better ones. Plus if i had someone to hold the tape measure while i took pictures that would be easier. While i was up there i notices the gap under the lip of the flue ban isn't even either. But it appears that the top of the pan is level.

[Fred Henderson]

You almost need to measure at 3 oclock and 9 oclock positions. There does appear to be a 1/16" difference.

[MaplePancakeMan]

i think its slightly more than 1/16th again i'll take another set of photos tonight ... with help. the lip on the flue pan is almost .5" difference the left and right sides.

[Fred Henderson]

Does the fact that the flange is cocked have any effect on how the unit works.

[MaplePancakeMan]

I'm going to go with not entirely, its really the float that that messes everything up. But the syrup swirls a bit before it get out of the drawoff. And it never comes out smoothly rather it seems to spray but that might not be because of that. I don't really have a basis to judge. I did see my friends when it was drawing off and it looked like a nice smooth line of syrup coming out, Mine doesn't look like that. I Really brought this up because i figured, since he was going to come fix the float might as well get him to do that aswell. You know kill two birds with one stone.

[Fred Henderson]

Is there a post in here some place that tells about the trouble with the float. I guess that I have not read about it.

[MaplePancakeMan]

yeah Sweber and i have the same problem. Being new to the whole evaporator thing... as i just bought one without really knowing what to do i never used the float for the first two years.

That being said ... i never knew i had a problem. I went to hardware store elevated my tank for gravity feed hooked the hose up to the float and started boiling. I let the pan fill up while i started the fire... by the time i looked up the pans were 6" deep. Thus the float was not regulating. it wasn't that the float had a hole in it or anything the lever was up to the top where it should have stopped all sap flow. However something with the gasket wasn't working. Since i had no ballvalve i couldn't shut it off so i let it take its course fortunately it was only about 100 gallons. I installed the ball valve and got the leak to where it was leaking in at about the rate i was boiling off at... but it still was leaking. I tinkered all last season, took it apart etc. tried to figure out why it wasn't working. Unfortunately no quick fix, it looks like it should work but when the lever moves up to close the intake off it leaks outward and runs down the sides of the float box walls.

Its really hard to explain, i hope you get the jist of it. My solution is to weld a 1/4" long pipe to the intake where the lever comes up. Then weld a larger diameter pipe on the lever and put the gasket inside of that and line the sides with rubber gasket. I think this would shut it off, my only worry then would be it releasing when it was low. Then again, patrick has made these that work this way... i just don't know why and my pictures seem not to help him at all.

[Grade "A"]

I had a problem with a float once that would not stop leaking. I found it to be that the disk with the rubber seal was stuck, that disk had some free-play in it so the rubber had to seal all the way around the pipe. I did not check to see how Patrick made his but if the rubber seal can't move a little the seal could be only thouching at one point of the pipe coming in and thats why it is not sealing. Just a thought!

[Fred Henderson]

PCM, I wuld suggest that you post some pic's in here for us to take a look at. What you have suggested to do for a fix is how the really older float were made but they were turned over just 180 or upside down to what you have now. Have you check to be sure the is no liquid has gotten into your float thru the vent tube? That would make the float slightly heavyer. If you pull up on the float arm by hand will it stop flow?

[MaplePancakeMan]

Alright guys i'll post the pictures i took the other day a little later. Got some things to do this morning. I took pictures of the float arm, float and intake pieces.

http://s539.photobucket.com/albums/ff358/maplepancakeman/

Ok so here are all the pictures of the float... fix me please!

I want to note that the picture of the gasket, i have tried it flat, tightened up like it is and inbetween haha. just won't seem to work.


Fred how can i tell if i got stuff into it, i would assume its evaporated now if i did i'll set the pans up tonight and see.

[Fred Henderson]

All you have to do is take the float out of the box and hold the hinge rod from moving and shake it to see if you can hear liquid sloshing in it.

Is the surface where the gasket makes contact nice and flat? If it is at crooked this might cause a problem.

[white mt]

could be the box level.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I find the photos of the float system interesting, it don't look like it is very good workmanship.

[Fred Henderson]

PCM,
I am beginning to think that the metal the holds the gasket many not be aligned properly. I will go look at mine and see how it is made. The three little strips, then the single piece of metal and then the gasket don't look right.

[MaplePancakeMan]

sounds good if you could take pictures for comparison that would be great.

[royalmaple]

How high up is your head tank? How big is the head tank?

Step outside the box(float or soap) and see if you have too much head pressure for the float.

May have nothing to do with the evaporator.

[Fred Henderson]

Assure that the rubber seal is flat aganist the opening and not coocked one way or the other.

[MaplePancakeMan]

My head tank is only about 2-3ft above my evaporator. So i doubt there is too much flow, also i installed the ball valve and even when its just barely cracked it leaks.

I'm going to run a few more tests tomorrow to see if i can't rig something up to make it work right. It would be that much easier if i didn't have to worry about something else while making maple syrup.

[thenewguy]

just to drop a quick note, Patrick emailed me last week and told me he was going through my area and we could meet up and he would deliver my canner i ordred (in april-may). Needless to say I met up with him and his family in a parking lot. they are very very nice people, i was very impressed with his workman ship on my canner and the quality of it. there was a couple small small scratches on the lid, nothing a good buff won't take care of it. The quality for the price, i dont think you could beat it! I would buy another product again (in the off season)