Whats your limit?

[mapleman3]

Just wondering, Whats your Limit for time in the sugarhouse? Are you like me and during boiling season I don't mind the long hours in the sugarhouse? What creature comforts do you have to keep you going?

I am right next to the house so I installed, Cable TV and a VCR. a coffee maker and because I have wireless, I would bring my laptop and get on the trader every now and then.
Although that was with oil when I had a lot of time to "sit around"
I'm sure it will change and my long boiling hours will get harder to do standing up more and loading wood.

5-11 or 12 at night didn't bother me... 2am sometimes was tough to do. but always try to boil till it's gone

[Dave Y]

I don't know if I have found it yet. My sugar house is attached to the house. I fire with wood, I have lights and a radio. I have boiled for 28 hours sraight. Last year I boiled till 5am. and decided it was time to shut down and go to bed after 3 different people thought I was on fire. Incuding the state police and the fire company. I dont put in much more than a sixteen hour day when I am boiling most times though.

[Riverdale]

No limits....keep firing til the sap is gone! I'm fortunate enough that my grandfather will have things started by the time I get home from work, so my boil times don't generally stretch too far into the wee hours. It helps of course that I'm trying to stay at a manageable number of taps=manageable amount of sap for the most part.
I've got lights and the radio to keep me awake, but that's it.
I think I left sap in the storage tank once last year, on a friday night then started up saturday morning. We'll see how it goes this year, first sap season living with the girlfriend...she understands that she won't see me much, but I told her it will be worse than hay season! I think I'll tell her she can make me dinner and bring it out and visit...

[Haynes Forest Products]

We boil it all the same day so its 1 AM at times with friends that come 180 miles to help we go all out all the time. I do like to keep a small amount to fire the next day it warms up the shack and keeps you in the mood. I only have radio Im already distracted enough so TV would cause trouble. I like to leave the world behind for a few weeks every year TV would bring the kids in and there best out side. Now I do Have a fridg. for the cold beer. Cheese and crackers.

[Jeff E]

I am like most of us I think, go to work come home and start the process. Work harder on weekends to catch up, maybe take a vacation day during the week to catch up.

This year is going to be very different for me, as my expansion has brought in the ability to process 600 gallons an hour, so having a big day of 3000 gallons of sap is still manageable. All on tubes and pumped to the sugar house. I am hoping the many many hours of work already done will pay off with reasonable days and lots of syrup.

I suspect the first week will be absolutely nuts though, as all the bugs will need to get worked out!

[maplwrks]

I boil for about 4 hours and I've had it---typically by 10:00pm. I like to let the RO do my work for me. I have fridge in the sugarhouse, but, I don't use it. I live next to a store that delivers all of my beer and goodies that I need!! I just call them on the cordless phone and the girls deliver whatever I want through the window!!!

[Jeff E]

The girls deliver....your killing me over here!!!

I must say my girls (wife, 2 daughters) have been known to come out with sandwiches, cookies, water or coffee. Up until about 9 pm. Then maybe my teenage boy comes out and hangs out in the steam, then it is pretty lonely after that!

[dano2840]

i NEED soda, NEEDS TO BE CAFINATED, i go through cases and cases of soda while sugaring and then wont touch the stuff until mid - late summer, need meat and salt foods, iv got stereo/ radio, this year i will have a couch and the tv for the xbox, i wont be playing it, its to keep the friends happy so they will stay longer and i will have some one to talk to, need to have BB gun to plink away at a piece of card board when i get really bored, i will go until my eyes just cant stay open, usually around 2am could probably go till 3 am but never have tried, during the week i shut down no later than 10pm because i still have to shower and eat dinner and need to be some what awake for school, its improtant, and its free right now so i mine as well take in all that i can, but on the weekends or if i know theres a garenteed snow day or delay i will go till the saps gone. my sugar house is 60 ft from my house so i still have alot of comforts right near by
i know not to push my self to hard, because that will cost you more money than you make, so guys if your gettting realll tired, CALL 'ER A NIGHT CALL IT GOOD TILL TOMARROW

[Maplewalnut]

Usually come home and put in a 5 hour shift every other night. Weekends its balls to the wall and we never quit until there is no sap. Its not to bad, I usually boil and my wife and father go pick up the roadsides.
TV and phone in the shack. Late in the season we pull an allnighter. Kids sleep in the loft and I boil. Great show last year, boiled all night and when I stepped outside to use the mens room (tree) I was treated to a hell of a meteor shower. Must of seen 20-30 in a 5 minute span...Times like that at 3 or 4 in the morning that you remember a lifetime

[tapper]

I boil every day that there is sap and try to stay caught up with it as much as possible. I work mostly alone. 2 years ago 200 taps on the new 2 1/2x 8 it was very easy to stay caught up last year 300 taps was easy to handle but spent way too much time gathering. This year I have expanded to 320 taps on tubing and going to hang 200 to 300 buckets also.
The sugar house was new 2 yrs ago along with the evaporator and is still a work in progress. It has running water and electric but the evaporator room is too small and I need to get to a point with the construction to be able to heat the entire shop. It has radiant heat in the floors just have to be able to hold the heat in.

[brookledge]

Last year was crazy for me. most days I got 1.5 gal per tap and a few days at 2 gal per tap. So many days where 16-18 hrs.
No cable tv yet
Keith

[Dave Y]

TV doesn't belong in the sugar house! It is for entertainment. It is too distracting. You know what happens when you are distracted when you are boiling. If you need entertained when you are boiling you shouldn't be making syrup!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I agree with Davey, No TV in the sugar house. Had a neighbor who thought March Madness meant something about Basketball, not maple. Lost syrup, pans and almost his sugar house!

Whats my limit? Don't know yet. I have started the evaporator at 10 AM and finished for the day at 3 AM.. Got up to milk at 5 and finished that days boil at 1AM. I was taught to boil it in, not let it accumulate. Only time we left any sap was to attend a funeral and I am sure the old gent would have rather we stayed in the sugar house!
Doug

[WF MASON]

One of the coolest setups I've ever seen is in Warren NH, a 2'x6' oil fired with a piggyback, a big ro and vacum , a tv montor mounted on the wall , a wireless camera on the releaser dome showing the sap comming in, a wireless camera on the face of the ro showing that, and a camera showing the front parking lot. The montor keep flashing from one camera to the next every ten or fifteen seconds.
I think he has 1200 taps running in , when he's cooking its something to see, syrup is comming off as fast as any sugarhouse I've ever been at.
He does have a raised platform about 6" high, with a swivel Lazy-Boy on it to keep a eye on things.

[ontario guy]

I do my syrup in batches so i am more flexible that most of you guys.

I boil till i have 20 gallons left in my feed tank then go to bed and let it feed into my pan overnight. I have a copper pipe around the stack and a flat pan.

I boil everyday not to get behind. till 8 or 9pm i spend time with my family setting a timer every 10 or 15 minutes to go out to the shack to make fires and check on things, it is close to the house. After that i stay in the shack till i am done boiling. I keep it simple in the shack only a radio sometimes.

[dano2840]

Last year was crazy for me. most days I got 1.5 gal per tap and a few days at 2 gal per tap. So many days where 16-18 hrs.
No cable tv yet
Keith

are you running vac?

[mfchef54]

usally 5 hours if I have to work that day, 10-12 if I'm off. I am doubling my taps this year and with a new evaporator hope to keep the same schedule. Radio is hard because the blower interfers. Wife and sons check on me to make sure I haven't fallen in. Coffee and hot chocolate, beverage of choice. i think I'm going to try some Sap tea this year.

[maple flats]

On good days during the week I usually start the evaporator at 9:30 and wife takes over while I collect and pump into the tanks. My return to work about 1:30pm and wife leaves for work about 2:00, after fueling the last time , raising sap level in both pans 1" and slowing air intake. After work i collect again if warrented and then go restart boil til about 10:00pm. I repeat the again the next day. If i have sap carryover i repump it thru the UV and into the next tank. I never had sap more than 2 days old, and usually less than 24 hrs. That was with 500 taps. May not hit my 800 goal this year because of snow depth but I should have at least 6-700 I will see how i need to adjust. I may hire a guy to haul sap while I boil if needed.

[Sugarmaker]

Most week days I take a half day vacation start gathering by 1:30 and start the fire as soon as we are done gathering. We try to boil it all that day. Sometimes finishing at 12:30 in the morning. or later. But most of the time we are done by 11:00. We have benches and chairs for the guests. The wood fire and pacing around the evaporator keeps me busy. The last boil of the season gets crazy as we may have held sap and may boil as long as we can stand it.
We just a have a radio cranking, no TV. Lots of diet Pepsi too.

Chris

[brookledge]

Dano
Yes I do have vacuum
Keith

[Russ]

Our longest day in the "modern" era (having an evaporator versus flat pans) was last year when we had a 17.5 hour day. Add on to that the two hours driving to and 2 hours driving back from the sugar shack, and that was one busy day. Thank you Rockstar, for somehow enabling me to get home. We had a glut of sap and needed the tanks empty. In Theronese, it was a BIG SAP EMERGENCY. "Sitting" is usually a luxury only done when monitoring and drawing off from the finishing pan. Our only entertainment is a radio, which is often drowned out by the fan noise.

[tessiersfarm]

I can only boil on weekends so a couple of times last year it was 5:00 friday afternoon until 4:00 sunday afternoon. A few cat naps in my lawn chair, with my dog and radio for campany.

[3% Solution]

Usually as long as it takes to get rid of the sap.
Hate to leave it for tomorrow, that starts adding up for tomorrow, today!!
Usually, 7 hours is a long boil and doesn't happen very often now!
We have a radio, CD, and cassett player that I found at the dumpster (dumpster diving), hey it works great!!!!!
We have electric, had a TV, but that was too distracting!!!!!!
House is only 25" away so that's great.

Dave

[michiganfarmer]

a 16 hour day is about all I can take...but I work 7 days a week pretty much year round

[HHM-07]

In the pass it has been about6=8 hrs that will change this year i have expanded from 170 taps to 250+ on a 2x4 leader wood fired, did i mention iam retired that helps

Dick

[stevepipkin]

We have lots of volunteers. There is always some sucker who is willing to get up early or stay up late to run the evaporator. The longest we ran last year was 16 hours. We try to get all the sap evaporated within 24 hours. As long as the boss feeds us and gives us beer, we're happy. By the way, we just made the first 15 gallons of the season. It is beautiful light amber. It looks like lager beer. Wooo.

[Russell Lampron]

I bought my RO to cut down on the boiling times. Don't get me wrong I love to boil sap but the full time job requires that I fit some sleep in there somewhere. I can usually boil the days run in 3 or 4 hours now. I keep a six pack of Boiling Sodas in the snow outside the sugarhouse door and I have a radio. Most of the time the sweet sounds of the RO, vacuum pump and evaporator boiling are all that I need though.