Cleaning my pans. (Just say "no" to steel wool)

[Justin Turco]

I polished the last bit of niter residue (The white haze) off with a piece of wet fiberglass insulation today. Seemed to work well without scratching. May be just my imagination, but seems a bit shinier than before. Thought I'd pass it on for your consideration. JT

[PerryW]

The procrastination has gone on long enough.

Time to clean the pans. Wish me luck.

Gonna put the pan acid to it and start out with a wooden paddle and a sponge abut probably end up using scotch brite pads, grinding wheel, chisels and sand blasting.

EDIT 7:23 PM: Well the pans are done. Turned out the sap in the back pan had turned to vinegar and the nitre just wiped out with no pan acid.

Put 1/2 quart of the concentrated pan acid in the front pan, fired it up and let it sit for 3 hours. Got the bottom of the pan nice and shiny but the dividers has buildup that is difficult to remove. Scraped some of it off with a putty knife and a screwdriver and called it good. Rinse it with baking soda and drained the pans. I'll put the pans up on blocks tomorrow.

[Justin Turco]

Today, I'll remove the firebrick from under the fluepan & get all the ash out of there. I'm going to dump some used oil under there to protect it from rust this summer. (the wind blows my stack cover open now and then.) Then put my pans up on blocks for the summer as well. Time to take the firebird down off the blocks! Vroom Vroom.

Once Again...I yeild my sugarhouse back to the birds, the bats, and mice.

JT


PS. Perry if you were to use a hammer (the bigger the better), you could probably get that nitre off the dividers....

[Jeff E]

Nitre from HELL!!!

I suppose it is due to using an RO, but my 3x12 had serious niter build up throughout. The flue pan in particular surprised me with the amount of build up on the second section, from my preferred draw off side. This means I need to switch sides more often.

Was it a bad niter year or was it just that most of us ran a lot of sap through this year?

Another question: I am using milk stone remover/acid wash (dairy industry) acid for clean up. $8 a gallon. Are there better options for this, and what is the normal disposal method for this material?

Like the membrane wash of the RO, I have been going with the old phrase:
'the solution to polution is dilution". Running the 30 gallons or so of wash through the drain followed by 400 gallons of rinse.

[KenWP]

In a dairy barn we just flush the milk stone remover down the drain into the pit. It gets pretty dilute in there.

[Jim Brown]

Milk stone remover works well for us as we let it sit in the pans for about a week before we build a fire. fill with water to about 2 inches above the scum line and put 1/2-3/4 gallon in the flue pan and the rest in the finish pan and let her sit. After about a week build a fire to a large simmer or a slow boil and let the fire go out. While it is still warm rinse with all the water you can and then touch up with a scotch brite pad and let them set till next year . This is what works for us.

Our two cents :)

Jim

[Amber Gold]

To the ones who use milkstone, do you use it at the containers recommended dilution or do you make it stronger? Do you heat it up and how long do you let it sit before you scrub it?

I left sap in my flue pan for 4 weeks and was glad to see it came out about spotless with minimal scrubbing. I'd recommend that to anyone. Syrup pan has a hole which needs to get fixed before I clean that though.

The outside of the flue pan was/is a mess after the season due to sap spilling over and making a hard layer on the outside. Just went in over the weekend and the hard layer was gone. It's going to make cleanup much easier, now I'll just need to attack it with a sponge and make it shiny.

[Amber Gold]

Jim, you answered some of my questions while I was typing. Do you make the wash at the containers recommended ratios or stronger?

[Jim Brown]

Amber Gold. stronger!!
We just pour it in until the water turns orange and let her sit

Jim

[markcasper]

Last year I did the old sap method for the first time and I loved it, except for the stink. I kept 250 gallons in a bulk tank and will pump it in sometime and let it sit for a while. I had to use no acid cleaner last year.

[Amber Gold]

Mark, my sap was in for 4 weeks and covered so the smell didn't permeate into the sugar house. Lifting the plywood cover it was starting to get a pretty good smell going, but not overbearing. Not sure if I'd take it any further and didn't need to. Everything came of with hardly any scrubbing.

[Brian Ryther]

I tried the rotten sap cleaning method. It worked very well. Except for the black carbon spots where I burnt the pans. What is the best way to remove the black carbon?

[3rdgen.maple]

Brian
Elbow grease, How big are the burnt marks. I use a copper 1 1/2 elbow. I use the round opening end and lay it flush with the pan to scrub the burnt mark I had, kinda like a scraper. Worked very well and left no marks as the copper is softer than stainless. finished up with light pressure on a scotch brite and it only took a minute or two.

[red maples]

happy father day to all the fathers!...I haven't tried it but, I have a bunch of black birch around and they yeild a ton of sap...but little sugar!!! I heard if you tap a few trees. fill both the pans above the scum line and boil it gently in no time it will clean out the pans, float box, connecting pipes and where ever the niter builds up on. because the birch syrup natually has a higher amount of acid. and no chemicals or tired arms. anyone hear of this strategy before. those who make birch syrup might be able to add a word or 2