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Fred Henderson
03-21-2009, 08:30 PM
There are a few of us in here that have evaporators made by Patrick Phanuef. I have one and also would like to ask this question. Have any of you owners seen any problem with your grates sagging or doing anything but staying flat like when they were new? I am talking wood fired.
3rdgen.maple
03-22-2009, 12:57 AM
There are a few of us in here that have evaporators made by Patrick Phanuef. I have one and also would like to ask this question. Have any of you owners seen any problem with your grates sagging or doing anything but staying flat like when they were new? I am talking wood fired.

Fred I have not had any problems with my grates. Seems Patrick has made alot of changes to his evaporators. After reading some of the old post I can see the changes in mine that were of concern of others in the past. The grates that are in mine are cast. There is a total of four of them and they are very thick and very heavy. I would guess each one is atleast 40 pounds. They are flat on the top with a taper on the bottom that is thick in the middle and then narrows towards the ends. Do you have something different in your evaporator?
Fred Henderson
03-22-2009, 06:17 AM
I had and I say again "had" the same but I had 5. Must be a foundry problem because after 2 1/2 seasons mine sagged so badly that I had to replace them.
PerryW
03-22-2009, 11:31 PM
I think I heard that keeping the ashes shoveled out will help reduce the heat on the grates
3rdgen.maple
03-23-2009, 12:26 AM
I think that if you didn't shovel the ashes out it would restrict airflow to the firebock and reduce the amount of heat, but I'm just guessing. Fred keep your head up. Grates are not cheap and I would hope that you get them replaced or atleast a big discount on new ones.
Fred Henderson
03-23-2009, 06:30 AM
After every two fireings I pull the ashes. Five new GH Grimm grates were just shy of 500 bucks. I like the Grimm grates better, they allow more air and better combustion of the wood, less red coals falling into the ash pit.
cncaboose
03-24-2009, 08:12 AM
My evaporator is the same as Fred's. The grates are starting to warp too, tho less so far since I have fewer taps and haven't boiled as much on it. I try to clean the ashes every fire. I did have to rotate them this season to get some level ones in the middle.