oh no i bought another evaporator

[dano2840]

my uncle called my cell phone on friday and i said "whats goin on"? he responded "40"x12' oil fired evaporator stainless syrup pan, hood with preheater, stack and cover in good shape $750" i went right home and gave the guy a call, went and looked at it on saturday, and it was in good shape, guy hadnt used it in 2 years, pans never scorched or burned, 7' flue 5' syrup its a leader, has an agway oil burner, hood looks almost new i think it was aluminum but it may be ss i cant remember but it has the preheater in the hood, with drip tray, and it came with all the "little things with it like scoop thermometer etc" and a 800-900 gal tank that leaks "about like a bucket spout would, when it gets more than half full" ( so does my feed tank but thats nothing a 5 gal bucket cant solve) is what i said to that. i said i think i will buy it from you but i gotta talk to the parents, i did and i talked to my uncle and i called the fella up and told him me and my uncle will be up weds. to look at it ( i already looked at it, my uncle is just making sure its as good as it sounds) (and it is) and i will have 250$ down payment with me. i told the old fella he could get alot more for it but it was like a godsend to me being 16 and i need to buy a truck a new husky 372XP, a log winch and a snow machine for sugarin, he said that he was firm with his price and he remembers being 16 with a smile so i figured he could relate. he said there should be nothing wrong with it and he is a man of his word. they are telling people who call on it that its sold. but my problem is its an oil fired arch, i could do 1 of 2 things, i could re build the old leader 40"x12' arch thats down to the farm, (needs all new tin, the tins all off so i would need to some how find all the measurements for the arch) or some how convert this arch to wood using the arch front thats down to the farm, the oil arch is square so i would have to make a bend in the sides to make it fit the wood arch front, then i could atatch some angle iron to the sides to hold the grates, then maybe brick it up high in the back like an wood fire box, under the flue pan the guy filled it with some stuff like vermiculite but it wasnt vermiculite, some other light stuff like it, or i could cut the long part off the bottom and raise it up like a wood fired arch and screw it back together but i would hate to do that to a perfectly good arch. any thoughts on which to do?
oh and does any one wanna buy a 3x8 by chance?

[Jeff E]

WOW what a find. At that price maybe stick with oil. Fuel being pretty cheap for a while. Maybe cost you $12 per hour to run, but! no need to spend time and $$ on fire wood work. Cost of a Hsuky 372 XP will buy you a season of oil I bet!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

OOOOORRRRRR You could come over to the dark side and us OIL. ;)

[Amber Gold]

Is that $750 or $7500? What a steal if it's $750. You could convert the arch to wood if you know someone with a welder that could build grate shelves, an air tight front, and a blower opening. I'd stick with what you have.

[PerryW]

What a deal!

My cousin paid $3700 for a new 2x4.

[dano2840]

NO THATS $750.00 sevenhundred and fifty bucks!, again i in a sense "stole it" for that price going to put a down payment today and i will try and take some better pics and post them, i dont like oil and putting up wood keeps me out of trouble and gives me something to complain about, plus when i clean up the sugar woods it gives me free fuel. i was going to put some angle iron in to hold up the grates and then take sheet metal and build up a little ramp from the grates and another piece that makes the flat that goes under the flues then take the arch front from down to the farm and just push the sheet metal to the curveature of the front and rivit or bolt it on so i dont have to bend the sheet metal just kind of push the sheet metal onto the shape of the arch front so that i can always go back to oil when i finally smarten up, and cross over to the dark side. of coarse when i get tho that point i will probably have 6000 taps and need a bigger rig any way, i figure i will switch to oil at 6000

[SamNWPA]

Tell us about your 3x8 and how much you want for it. I'm just getting into this craziness, and it might work for me.

[dano2840]

3x8 drop flue, leader arch and pans, i believe they are leader special, float sits in the pan and has a pre heating tray where the sap comes in that sits on the flue pan dividers 4ft flue ft syrup. good rig grates are pretty straight, comes with a bunch of stack (like 25 ft) and all the brick ( i reused them this year so you would want to replace some, and the brick in the back part of the arch are red brick not fire brick) front pan is a little warped but that didnt affect syrup in the least bit out of the 101 gal i made this year about 20 were fancy and about 50 medium (i did get a late start) great syrup. but i think the pans are original. boils hard will do 65 + gph when shes going good and the weathers cooperating. great rig i really liked it, shes an OLD girl says "the leader evaporator co" on the front "burlington vt" has a crack in the arch front that was repaired before i ever got it. solid rig replaced a little tin in the back of the arch this year but it should be good for 8 years before any tin needs replacing. could use a new base stack, doesnt [I]need[I] it but the one that comes with it will work for another year maybe 2. i would like 1750 for it, i plan to paint the arch up this week or next week, going to clean the pans this weekend , im done for this year.

[OCVTmaple]

if you are serious about selling it i will take it off your hands. I cant put up with a flat pan anymore and i am planing on putting up around 500 taps next year. PM me to set up a time to look at it i am located in corinth vermont but i go to school in burlington so i am driving by there every weekend.

[3rdgen.maple]

Danno what a find. All that work you did this year is paying you back. Good job and post some pics of the new to you rig.

[syrupkid]

dano if you want to sell yuor 3x8 i would like to look at it its just about the size i need i need to know the price on it though

syrupkid

[syrupkid]

i would like to see some pics of the 3x8