Sugarhouse Lighting

[danno]

Was not sure where to put this. Anyway, what do you guys use for lighting the inside of your sugarhouse. I like bright light in the sugarhouse. I've got 4 4' double flouresents but I'm not crazy about them. They are not very bright, take a while to warm up and have a slight flicker. I know for more $ you can buy cold weather shop flouresents that are'nt supposed to flicker, but I'm not crazy about the light.

What do you use/like?

[peacemaker]

because all my buildings have beeen temp. ones i have always used clip on lights i put small spots in two shining into the pans and two up on the tin

[tuckermtn]

we use just a string of lights that were temporary lights when we built our house...yellow extension cord with maybe 10 sockets on the string....we use CFL's in each socket...slow to warm up, but no flicker...

[hard maple]

I've had good luck with my kerosene lanterns.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Over the years the lighting in our sugar house has gone through a series of changes. We used kerosene lanterns for years. My Grandfather had worked for the NY Central RR for years so we had 2 lanterns from a caboose. They were a mantle style and equipped with reflectors. We had one mounted on each side of the evaporator so we could see the draw off well. An additional RR hand held lantern hung in the wood shed. When we aquired a propane fired finishing pan in about 1960, we added propane lights. One directly over the finishing pan and one at the canner. Still used the kerosene lights too. At the time of the ice storm of "98" we aquired a portable generator so we began to utilize it during sugaring at the sugar house. We used an assortment of 100 watt bulbs and trouble lights with a myriad of cords hanging around.
This year, I built new and have direct access to the power grid so I have electric lights. I have installed 8 flood lights throughout the sugar house to light the various areas with a concentration on the front pan and the area where I will filter and can syrup. My unknown is how these will hold up under moist conditions.
Doug

[maplwrks]

I like my 250w quartz halogen spotlights in my sugarhouse. They are bright enough to cut the steam and provide a bright light. I've boiled in a few dungeons and when I built my new sugarhouse, I made sure I had plenty of light. I do have a flourescent light mounted on the wall with a shelf in front of it for grading syrup.

[brookledge]

I have some floresent ones that are cold starting and they are pretty good and some of the other 4 foot ones that will flicker alittle when cold.
If you don't like floresent then your other options are quartz-Halogen, incadesant, sodium vapor or mercury vapor. All are going to cost more to operate then flouresent. What do you have for wattage in your 4 footers now? You may have energy eff. like 34watts instead of 40 watts. The 40 w will give you more light. I'd say if you are not happy with your flouresent then you go with quartz fixtures. The thing to remember is that most are either 250 or 500 watts so if you had an 80w flouresent and you replace it with 500 w then its going to be noticeable on your bill.
Keith

[Clan Delaney]

As the new shack goes up, my plan is to let as much natural light in a possible. Gots lotsa windows! Most of the boiling will be done during daylight hours anyway. As far as after hours illumination goes, hadn't given serious thought to it just yet. And if I haven't given any serious thought to it by Feb., I'll probably just go with my fluorescent shop light.

[Sugarmaker]

We have 3, 8 foot cold start fluorescent fixtures in the evaporator room and two in the back kitchen/ utility area. These provide a lot of light but they real screw up the radio signals. I have several other areas that have motion lights too. Like outside the entry doors and in the loft area on the stairs. These work well to light the way when your hands may full. or in areas that you go in and out a lot.
Chris

[Maple Restoration]

We currently use 2 300 watt double mantel propane lights works great since most of our boiling is done after work; we normally get 2 seasons from one 20lbs tank fairly cheap since we have no hydro to the shack. Our one room shack is only 12’ by 18’ so it works quite well.

[Russell Lampron]

I have 2 incandescent waterproof fixtures with 100 watt bulbs and a clip on light directed at my front pan with a 100 watt bulb. It works pretty good in a 12x12 room.