Is a 4x12 evap. too big for 700 taps?

[Bradenfish]

I'm looking for a used evaporator and wondered if you guys think a 4x12 is too big for 700 taps? My taps are on a mixture of buckets and gravity flow tubing. I found a 4x12 with a preheater and hoods but not sure if i want one that big. Thanks in advance for your input!

[sapman]

My gut feeling is it's a little big, but on good runs you may be glad you have that much speed. Plus, if you're like the rest of us, expansion is usually the rule. Of course, in the long run, you might be happier with a smaller rig and an RO.

Tim

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

A 4X12 is definitely bigger than you need but it may work ok for you. After the ice storm about 10 years ago we cut back to 400 taps. We boiled on our 4X12 then. Do you have any potential for expansion? If the evaporator is in good shape and a good deal, maybe you could broker a 3 way deal with someone on here who is looking to up size a bit???

[mapleman3]

you may have to save sap for a few days to get a decent boil... problem is with something that size as soon as it gets up to temp and cranking, your out of sap already ! boy if I could have that problem ;)

[brookledge]

You probably will get about 180GPH give or take with it and if you get a gallon of sap per tap per day that would be under 4hrs of boiling. So if you are in the posistion where you can't boil every day it might not be bad.
Another thing as far as eficiency goes 2, 4 hour days will use alot more fuel than 1, 8 hr day.
Keith

[mapleman3]

Good point Keith !!

[Bradenfish]

''2, 4 hour days will use alot more fuel than 1, 8 hr day''. How do you figure that? Not being cocky, just trying to learn:)

[Amber Gold]

Bradenfish, with an evaporator that size it's going to take a while to heat the arch and pans up. You're going to use a lot of wood just getting everything too temperature. In the case with (2) 4 hour days your doing it twice, with (1) 8 hour day it's once.

[Bradenfish]

Oh yeah! that makes sense! Thanks

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brian(username) on here has a 4x12 with about the same amount of taps if my memory serves me correctly. I would love to have a 4x12 with 700 taps. Not too much evaporator in my opinion and you would likely have a lot more taps than that soon.

[danno]

It comes down to whether you are ok with storing sap or prefer to boil every day. If you boil every drop, every day, 4x12 is too big in my opinion. Just not worth cranking up that rig for under 400 gallons of sap. If you are willing to sit on sap for a day or two, 4x12 would be fine, again in my opinion. In addition, are you growing or retracting? If growing, certainly yes to the 4x12.

With work and family, I don't boil every day - and there were several boils last year where I wish I had a 4x12 for my 400 taps.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It would take between 2 and 3 hours to boil 400 gallon of sap with a 4x12, I think it would be worth starting up. Not much difference than having 200 gallon with a 2x6 and running it down to 70 gallon of concentrate and boiling that off which quite a few on here do. In my opinion, you are in a better boat with 700 taps and a 4x12 than most of us. I would run my 500 taps with a 4x12 if I had it. I would rather boil sap 3 times faster than I do now even if I could only boil it for a couple of hours. Less need to syrup pan due to less scale buildup and less wood usage.

I say go for it, more than likely before you know it you would be adding taps and if you didn't, you would be fine.

[markcasper]

A 4x12 for 700 taps is perfect. If you have vacuum you will be glad you didn't opt for a smaller one. Back when I had 800 taps on a 3x10---that was sure torture. When everything started running, it was way too much. When you get the 3-4 day in a row run with 1-11/2 gallon per tap per day, you will be glad you have a 4x12.

I am upgrading to a 600 gal RO with my 4x12 and only have 1200-1300 tapped the last few years. So its definately NOT too big.

[jrthe3]

when my dad was big in to sugaring befor we lost the big bush he ran 1200 taps on a 3x8 with flat pans on a brick arch needless to say once the season started it almost never shut down he would run it all night and when i would get home from school i would run it till midnight or so then he would take over

[Brian]

I tried A 30x 8 on 700 taps and had sap coming out my ears, Then went to a 4x12. The 4x12 works great!! I can spend the day in the woods and still boil that night and not over do it. My evp does about 150 gph and I go through about 550 gallons of sap in about 4hrs and 700 gallons of sap in about 5 hrs. The first hr is about a loss bringing every thing to speed. If I dont have atleast 400 gallons of sap, it isn't worth starting the evaporator. But if I was to do it over again, I would have kept the 30x8 and bought an RO machine.