What size....

[Tapmealot]

I'm just starting and wondering what size would be best for me for an evaporator. il be running about 400-700 taps

[Haynes Forest Products]

The key word is just starting out. What is your long term goal? When I first started out I had a stove and a big pot. That pot was the gateway drug that got me trying to squeez out every BTU and drop of syrup I can out of my 3x10 I would think real hard about what you want to do. Starting out with 400-700 taps to start with is alot more than most people start out with. I made my big leap into a 2x8 and with 100 taps i was cooking all day and night so to answer your question using my logic I would start with a 3x10 because before long you will be taping 1500

[danno]

How long do you want to boil? Do you have a full time job? On a good 24 hour run, 700 taps will give 1000-1400 gallons of sap. Generally speaking, a 3x8 will do 60 gph and a 3x10 will boil 90 gph.

I've did 400 taps on vacuum on a 3x10 this year and I would not want something smaller and there were nights where I would have preferred a 4x12.

[PerryW]

I do 750 taps with my 3x10, but the trees are smaller hillside trees and no vacuum system. I usually get 400 gallons of sap on an average run and can go down to the sugarhouse boil it all up; clean up and be done in 5 hours.

If I had better trees or vacuum; I would want a 4 x 12

[Russell Lampron]

Go with a 3x10 and add an RO machine when you out grow that.

[KenWP]

I use a 16x18 pan with 135 taps and it sits idile for a week at a time waiting for sap. But when I do boil its good for 3 days boiling. Next year hopefully can increase to double the size of pan or even triple. After boiling to 5 in the morning a nice half pint really looked good even at the price they are.

[PerryW]

Ken, You need more than a half-pint.

In a typical season your 135 taps should produce a minimum of 17 gallons (pint of syrup per tap), and an average of 25-30 gallons to syrup per year.

That's a lot of sap to boil on a half pint.

[danno]

Russ brings up a great point. RO = smallerr evaporator

[Russell Lampron]

I'm doing just over 600 taps with my 2x6 and RO and know that I could do 1000 easily. My parents used to do 1300 buckets with a 4x12. I plan to match that someday with my 2x6 and RO with tubing on vacuum. At the current rate of consumption that would be about 5 or 6 cords of wood instead of the 2 cords that I am using now. And that's a whole lot less than they used to use with the 4x12.

[KenWP]

I have the welding skills to improve my evaporator any way I choose just have to get a welder to do it. I never knew my shop was wired for 220 untill recently so had put off buying one. I am thinking in the next couple of days that a really big evaporator would come in handy by the sap I hauled in today.