Maximum number of taps on a 2x6?

[DaveB]

I'm trying to determine the maximum number of taps that one could handle on a 2x6 evaporator given the best circumstances.

I've been making syrup outside on a flat pan and block arch for a number of years and this year I decided to upgrade my situation with a Leader 2x6 and I plan on building a sugarhouse in September. It seems that with that decision has come some good fortune.

A neighbor 'opened' up his woods to me which would give me an additional 200 taps. I've been tapping about 250 for many years. I'm not worried about being able to boil the sap from those 450 taps, in fact, I've figured that I could handle about 500 taps if I needed (8 hours a day, every day).

I've been looking to slowly expand over the next five to seven years and my original thinking was that I would add an RO and woodsaver blower before I would migrate to a larger 3x10. My thinking was that I could always use the RO with the larger evaporator.

Now, I may be able to expand more quickly than I thought. I don't want to sell the 2x6 after just one season, so I was thinking that if I added an RO next year I would be able to handle about 1500 taps. I base that on an average of 750 gallons of sap per day X .3 (the amount of water left after being removed by the RO) = 225 gallons of sap to be boiled. I realize that some days I will have more sap but some days I will have less. I figure I can boil off about 240 gallons in a day.

Would it be worth it to buy a Steamaway two years from now if I add another 1000 taps (a total of 2500 taps)? A Steamaway would allow me to boild about 500 gallons per day (8 hour day). If 2500 taps gave me 1300 gallons of sap and I remove 70% of the water, I'd have only 390 gallons left to boil, right?

As a side note, if that is true, does that mean that a 2x6 with a woodsaver, RO and a Steamaway could handle 3200 taps? It seems high to me, but if, on average, you get 1600 gallons of sap per day, remove 70% of the water you have 480 gallons to boil and you boil for 8 hours you'd need to be able to boil off 60 gallons per hour which would be within range of a 2x6 and a Steamaway.

Of course, there's no room for error, but what about 2500 taps? Am I better off selling the 2x6 in two seasons or adding the Steamaway? I've never seen a Steamaway on a 2x6 so I have no idea what the resale value would be. Part of me is thinking that I could take the money I would spend on the Steamaway and get the 3x10 and be able to handle way more taps without a Steamaway.

Sorry about the long post, but I'm dreamin' of what I'm going to do in three years!

Dave

[Grade "A"]

It sounds like alot of taps for a 2x6. The info on 2x6's that I have seen say they are good for 150-250 taps without a RO or steamaway. From what I have read most people can boil around 30-40 gallons a hour with a 2x6. It looks like you have been running numbers so maybe it will work, but you wont want to sleep in on a day when you are having a good run!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mike Christian runs as many as 5,000 taps on a 2.5 by 8 oil fired, so yes, you could run that many taps on a 2x6 if you could boil 6 to 8 hours daily. Thing is, most days you wouldn't need to boil that long and a few days, you might have to boil longer but most days you wouldn't need to boil at all.

[MaplePancakeMan]

A good friend of mine taps 2100 with a 2x6 oil fired with RO and Hood. Most of his taps are on Vacuum so he gets more sap than average per day. The thing about an RO is you can get it up to 10% and not have it affect flavor too much so you could made you sap gallons into enough to boil on the 2x6 if you wanted to and spend less hours boiling and less wood and make more syrup.

[halfast tapper]

I wouldn't go over 1500 taps with an ro . Your sap figures seem low to me, 1500 taps and only 750 gal a day? I have a 1000 taps on one orchard and it runs from 800 to 2000 gal a day. A friend of mine has about 450 taps on a 2x6and he boils about 8 to 10 hrs on a good run.

[Jim Brown]

maplePanCake man: We run 1000 on a 2x6 right now and will continue to expalnd to 1200 this spring. We run a steamaway and an RO we can get 50 gallon per hour with the steamaway,and with the RO and we can make 4-5 gallon of syrup per hour(Marcland draw off).We made the decission to make the rig we have work smarter. Bigger is not always better. but at some time we will have to get a bigger rig. Before the RO marathron boils of 60+ hours. now the max we boiled last season was 7 hours! All our taps are on vac.
We intend to continue to increace taps until we can't handle them and then look at getting a bigger rig. We think 2-3000 is not and unreal number
Hope this helps

Jim

[Russell Lampron]

I think that you have the right idea by planning on adding the RO. I would figure on a gallon of sap per tap per day especially if you are using vacuum. My next step would be to add an intensofire arch instead of the Steam Away though. I know of a producer with a 2x6 with intensofire arch that is getting 65 gph without a Steam Away and the arch is less expensive.

I have a 2x6 and 150 gph RO. I have had close to 600 taps with my operation and know that I could easily double that without making any changes. I could double it again with an intensofire arch and another membrane on my RO. I think that 2000 to 2400 taps would be the point where you would want to think about the 3x10. Build your sugar house big enough for it now though.

[brookledge]

Dave
I agree with everyone that you are low on average sap per day. You should plan on a gal per day per tap and more if you have vacuum.
This year I had 1165 taps and on some days I got as much as 2400 gal on vac. and most of the other days were well over a gal per tap.
And ultamately it all comes down to how much time you can devote to boiling. Are you the only one who will be boiling? I'm a one man band wagon and this year there was many days at 16-17 hrs of boiling only to get some sleep and back at it. It leaves no time for getting sick or taking a day off.
Another thing to remember are you set up for handling all the syrup as it comes off. Adding an RO is nice but it also makes the syrup come off fast and you need to be prepared. If you are thinking about going to 1500 taps you will be making over 30 gal of syrup per day. That will grow old if you have been using a cone filter or flat filter.
Keith

[PATheron]

DaveB- I think your definitely thinking right about the ro no matter what. I think maybe you might want to work up to the tap count and get into a groove kind of and see how it goes. Last year I had a little under 1600 and it all ran to the shed. I concentrated my sap to 10%. My dad helped me all season. He would boil and I would filter and barrell it. We were pretty darn busy with all those things going for us. Plus you have messups with the pump. Lines break, etc. We had our hands full. This year Im going to tap more but I want to concentrate higher too. I understand thinking big becouse I always do. Id really think about a press if you want to do a lot of syrup too if you could. I know lots of guys get along without them but any little time savings is nice. Just my thoughts. Theron

[Mike]

I would go with a preheater hood and a RO....