Need some evaporator advise..

[The Butcher]

This will be my second year at this new addiction. I used a turkey fryer last year and spent just enough to get the sugar into my veins.

This year I would like to make some kind of arch. I don't want to spend a lot because I want to put the money I can afford into more buckets and taps.

After reading post after post I thought I had my mind made up on using an old oil tank or 55 gallon drum. But now I am thinking that cinder blocks may be the way to go!?!?!?!?

Any advise would be appreciated. Pictures are also a huge help!!!

Thanks guys.

[brookledge]

If you are looking at low budget then I think you should start off by finding the pans first. And then look for an arch second. If you get a matched set great, but more than likely low budget your not likely.
So after you have your pan, (pans) then look for the arch or you can make it out of cement blocks. Thay way your arch will be made to fit you pan.
Keith

[The Butcher]

Is Bascoms the best place to look for an inexpensive pan? There seems to be a lot of talk about that place.

Can the pan hang over the arch or is that bad? Do they need to line up?

[RileySugarbush]

A good second step is a block arch and steam table pans. Very easy to set up and you can get everything you need at the home depot except the pans, but you can probably get those on ebay. I dropped the pans in so that they hung from the lips. That makes the sides hot and you get some burning but the syrup comes out great after filtering. I made syrup this way for many years. Have a look at some of these photos made near the end of that run, when I took that technology as far as I could before moving inside with a 2x6.

http://web.mac.com/jabushey/iWeb/Riley%20Retreat/Maple%20Sugaring.html

click on the more on 2006 link for additional photos

[Bucket Head]

I guess Bascoms would'nt be a bad place to start. Watch your local classified adds. This is the time when people start to list their sugaring stuff. I always see various sizes of flat pans for sale around here in the spring.

Do you have access to any stainless sheet metal? Know anybody who can weld? What do you do for a living? The barter system is a beautiful thing. I use it all the time. Maybe you could have someone make up a pan, or pans.

As for the pans "hanging over", yes, thats bad. Heating surface area is the name of the game here. You want as much of the bottom of the pan to be in contact with the fire.

A barrel or oil tank type rig would be better at containing the fire/heat and directing to the pan. However, my father and I had three flat pans and cement block arch's in the back yard for years. They make syrup too, their just not as "heat efficient" as the other style.

Steve

[The Butcher]

Now when you say "flat pan" that refers to only one large section?

What is the difference between that and the pans that look as if they have different compartments?

I have read a lot about the block arches. Some say 2 blocks and some say 3. Do you line the ground with bricks? When people say grate, is that for the fire or the pan?

[Bucket Head]

"Flat Pan" generally means any pan that does not have flues in it. The flat pans that we used did not have any divisions/compartments. The "syrup" pan on an evaporator is a flat bottomed pan, but it has the dividers for the syrup to move through.

Our block arch's were two blocks high. Three would work too. The fire was on the ground.

Grates are what the wood rests on in an evaporator. Just like a woodstove. Although the grates in an evaporator are usually thicker, longer, and stronger. The fire in an evaporator is a lot hotter than the fire in a woodstove.

Steve

[Specklefield Farm]

Hey Butcher,

Just sent you a message from a want advertiser out our way in western NH, let me know if it helps!

[Dennis H.]

Hey Butcher I got your message, I didn't have time to send any pics your way yet I will try later today I guess.

Not much time right now I am at work, really busy!!!

[Dennis H.]

I have to agree that a block arch would be the cheapest way to go, I never have one of those I can't give any advise as to how to build.

I started off by making my 1st evap from a 55gal drum.
If I had to do it over again I would have made my evap from scratch and not use any drum. It was fun building the evap but working with the roundness of the drum made the job harder than it had to be, but thats what I did.

I use one big flat pan on my evap, when I got the pan made I had plans of later adding 2 dividers in the pan so that I could draw off syrup as I went instead of one big batch.

I remember a few here on the trader that use food steam pans. They use several pans and add sap to the back pan and as the front pan gets lower that just laddle liquid from the one behind it, and they do the same for that pan. They say it works quite well. Steam pans are cheap and they have other uses once you do get a real pan.

[firetech]

Butcher go to Johnm photo pages he has a nice flat pan set up there as I'm sure many others do also (in the members list) I started on a flat pan and concrete blocks dry stacked made some very good syrup. A couple of miner issues were 1) getting enough air flow a fan in the ash draw solved that problem then 2) handleing the pan by myself (29x82) but with some thought you can get a good set up for little money

[The Butcher]

Okay there has been a new twist to the mix!!!

I have a friend that can get me 5 restaurant steam pans. They are 12x18 and six inches deep. These will be free so the price is perfect.

Is that too many pans to line up in a block arch? Is it worth the extra work?

Do people with block arches leave the front open? Then put stove pipe out the back?
If the front is open, wouldn't that give enough draft?

Do I make a fire box in the front? If so how do I make the heat go along the bottom of the pans?

Thanks everyone.

[RileySugarbush]

Perfect! I used four, but five would be great. Or use the four. My arch was 3 and a half blocks high. Four would have been a little better.

Inside the firebox was loose lined with firebrick splits ( half thickness) to keep the blocks from falling apart in a year. Make an grate out of angle steel and set them up off the floor or slap or ground to let air in. It can just sit on some bricks. Behind the grate, fill up the inside of the arch to fore the flow up close to the bottom of the pans, say within 8 inches of the top of the blocks after a layer of firebrick seals them up.

The biggest trick is the stack. Originally, I used galvanized sheet that is available at home Depot or Lowes to make rectangular heating ducts. They come in two L shaped pieces with a short and long leg. As a matter of fact, I eventually hung them on the inside of the arch walls to kind of seal up the cracks. For the stack, you can cut a round hole and cut tabs in the stack tube or get a flange for a wood stove. Just look around the stuff at the Depot and something will come to you. Use blocks to hold the sheet metal down and more sheets to close off the arch front. One hanging down and one you can close off with bottom with to regulate air flow into the area under the grate.

Have fun! This will work great!

[dano2840]

i did my first rig on an outside brick BBQ i had a 24"x32" pan made, the chimney was too short so i put a square grain silo door on top to keep the heat in, then for a door i i used some sort of tank thing it was 4ft long and 2ft high but it was made out of 1/2" cast iron thats what i used for a door. i just put on welding gloves and flopped it down loaded it w/ wood and flopped it backk up, with dry wood and cinder blocks you can boil just as hard as a regular evap. i did, i had sap jumping 6" high, ( the fire box was loaded up to the pan, and i had dry wood) the 1/2" cast "door" i told you about was glowing cherry red and when i got enough sap on a good day i had a little 2x2 flat pan (no dividers) that i would put on top of the chimney and take the silo bottom of, i was able to bring the sap in that to a boil, i transfered sap from pan to pan using a water pitcher, i could do about 8 gal/hr with a hot fire, the only problem was IT WAS OUTSIDE AND EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS so if it was raining you got wet if it was snowing you got snowey, if it was windy the stema would get above the lip of the pan and blow right back into the pan and it was ineficiant and very hard to bring to a boil, ( last year i had a 18"x6' evap and i had a pretty primitave tent i used to cover it ( YOU NEED TO COVER IT< IT MAKES LIFE SO MUCH EASIER) i used some split rail fence rails we had from our fence and maid an A frame then put green house plastic over it, cost maybe 10$ for plastic. WORTH EVERY PENNY,
you could even tie a rope between 2 trees and drape a tarp over it and secure the corners to the ground
good luck

[The Butcher]

what do I use to fill the arch? Cinderblocks or sand?

does the entire insdie need to have fire brick?

sealing the pans. From what I have read the best solution seems to get woodstove gasket and put in around the top. then rest the pan on top of that.

does this sound right?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just plain old 8" cinderblock work fine and you don't need to line them with anything. Lining them will make it more efficient and JohnM(username) may have a web link on how he designed and lined his and he did a really nice job. Main thing depends on how much on want to spend. It is cheap to build just a cinderblock arch and the blocks will last for several years. Some may break the first year or two and some may last for many years and if one breaks, just replace it after season is over. I never had any to break more than a fine crack during the season as I used them for years. They make 2 different kind of 8" stanard blocks, lightweight and stanard. I think the lightweight are 28 lbs and stanard are 42 lbs if I am correct and I guess that differs per manufacture. Either way, stanard/heavier ones are cheaper and will probably last better. Yes, you lose a little heat out the blocks, but they do really good and are more efficient than you would think.

You do need to fill the arch with something just behind the firebox or build up a cinderblock wall to within a couple of inches of the pan(s) to force the heat up into the pans as much as possible. If you have good draft, the stack will pull the heat up and over the wall without any problems.

[jason grossman]

If you want to insulate your block you can fill the cavities with purlite or vermiculite. that is what we filled our arch with then put a layer of sand on top to stop it from blowing away. you can get it from any grower supply place. sometimes even home depot or lowes. good insulator and light weight. If you want to put something in contact with the fire use brick.

[RileySugarbush]

There is no need to fill the blocks. The air space does a good job of insulating. Also, I never put any gasket under the pan lips. One thing that happens is that the pans will move as things heat up and you will get little gaps between the steam table pans. We used to tap them back together with the sauce pan we used to bail between pans. I bent up some little space fillers out of sheet metal and placed them in between. Not necessary, but they helped a little.

I agree with Brandon that the blocks will easily last a while. After a year, they are weak and have some cracks in them but unless you disturb them they will last a while. Cheap setup either way.

[The Butcher]

Could I use this as my flu pipe?

[RileySugarbush]

ducting like that will work fine. It just will not last for more than a year or two. I used it during my early years.

[TapME]

Great to see that you posted Butcher. Lots of great ideas have been suggested so far.
We keep looking at all sources for the pans that we have now, they were a great buy on eBay. I have 2 flue pans and a syrup pan in mine. We only used one flue pan last year but this year we will use 2.
Block arches work good but if you have any old bricks (solid no holes in them) you can line the arch with then and fill the back of the arch with sand to force the flames to go up and under the pans if you wish. You are on the right track, just remember that it is fun.