Feed Tank/Line

[Amber Gold]

Setting up feed tank and feed line in the next week or two. Current evaporator is a drop flue, but intend to replace the rear tin pan with a raised flue with hood/preheater in the next year or two. To avoid doing things twice, how high above the arch rails will the feed line enter the evaporator with a raised flue pan with hood/preheater setup?

Thanks

[Haynes Forest Products]

My feed tank is mounted as high as i could put it so the heat didnt get to it and cause it to rain all the time. I also wanted room for the steam hood and preheater. If you put it up high you can plumb the fill pipe with PVC pipe and keep a closed system so bugs and crap wont get in. When it comes to cleaning it i pump the cleaner thru the system and out the evaporator feed hose onto the floor brush it around and hose it out. PRESTO YOUR DONE.

[Russell Lampron]

Josh,

I just went down and measured mine. It is 32" from the arch rail to the inlet to the preheater. I have my feed tank on a platform outside so that the sap stays cooler and pipe it in through the wall. With the concentrated sap anything to slow down the bacteria growth helps.

[brookledge]

I'd have to measure mine but I will say this, keep it high so you have a good pressure so when the float is calling for sap it is quick to react.
At the same time you need to know how good your float is and is it capable of holding back the pressure. The higher you go the more pressure and you don't want to end up with blow by causing your pans to flood.
Keith

[Amber Gold]

Thanks Russ. Do you think I'd need to be any higher with a 2.5'x8' evaporator?

I was intending to build my feed tank outside and high. My main concern was making sure the wall penetration was going to be high enough because I didn't want to have to drill another hole when I put new pans on it. I was intending on putting a ball valve to shut the feed tank off at night. I thought I read somewhere recently that you can flood your tanks at night if you don't shut off your feed tank.

Thanks for the info.

[Uncle Tucker]

you might want to put heat tape on the outside part of the feed line just incase.

[tuckermtn]

I would second Uncle tucker's post- we had our tank outside for about three boils- had to fight the freeze up all the time.

switched to a 115 gal round bottom inside and couldn't be happier. since we do 50 gph, the sap is not in the tank long enough to get warmed up...or at least thats my humble opinion...

-eric

[brookledge]

Josh
You are better off boiling until your feed tank is empty. Especially if it is out side. You will be for ever thawing out the valve and possibly splitting it unless you use heat tape. But that uses electricity. I would recommend that you have storage tanks on the ground and only pump up what you plan on boiling in a given day.
As for your pans flooding it goes back to how good your float is. If there is too much pressure the float can't hold it back and the pans can flood over night.
I would still recommend that you have a valve on the feed tank in case you have a problem on thre feed line.
Keith

[Russell Lampron]

Josh,

My preheater is in the very top of my hood. I forgot to measure the height from the floor to the top of the rail and from the floor to the preheater inlet. I put the final coat of paint on the arch rails and put it back together yesterday. I'll get those measurements for you. I empty my feed tank every time that I boil. I save just enough to flood the pans to a depth that they won't boil dry while the evaporator cools down. I also drain my preheater so that nothing is frozen when I start up.

[Amber Gold]

I'm going to take some measurements this week, but was thinking of putting the bottom of the feed tank 3.5-4' above the arch rails. Not sure if I have the height to do it but will find out. Would 3.0-3.5' (the float sits about 6"-8" above the arch rails so minus that distance) be too high for the float to function properly? Thank tank is about 2-2.5' high so the maximum head would be 5-6' above the float.

Where the feed line enters the building I'll put the valve inside...maybe it'll help it keep from freezing.

[brookledge]

josh
I think if you are 3.5-4 feet off the rails that should be fine and with a full tank the head would be 5-6 feet so your float should handle that ok.
Also even putting the valve inside where it might be warmer ,it can still freeze in the pipe between the valve and the tank if left overnight. That is why many producers will boil until the feed tank is empty. It is very frustrating to want to begin boiling the next day only to find your feed line is frozen.
Keith

[Amber Gold]

Keith, point taken...either boil all you've got in the feed tank or only fill it as much as you want to boil...makes sense because I'd agree and would be pretty upset if I got things fired up first thing and found things froze up. Thanks for the help.

[Russell Lampron]

Another thing with emptying the feed tank every time that you boil is that you can clean it before you use it again.