2x6 Oil Drum Evaporators

[PARKER MAPLE]

Ok So I Saw Alot Of People Last Season With These Oil Drum Evaporators That They Had Made, Some Of Them Were Very Nice And Every Detail Was Well Thought Out. What Im Wondering Is, What Kind Of Evap Rates These Things Were Turning Out. The Size Imparticular Was A 2x2 Front Pan And A 2x4 Rear Pan.. Anybody Know??

[KenWP]

Evaporators tend to boil off 1.8 gallons for every 1 square foot of pan area. Thats with haveing a good preheater so that it boils at a proper rate. I hear all kinds of different ways to improve on that but haven't tried any so far. One problem I have is that I hear all kinds of boiling rates for the same size pans and have no idea what to expect if I improve my evaporator except the 1.8 gallons a hour which I have acheived useing 3 preheaters to get the sap hot enough so that my boil dosn't slow down.
I find that I just have to do things on my own and see how they work. I boiled with a 2 foot square pan and got a lot of sap done away with.

[PerryW]

My guess?

If the whole setup (front & rear pans) are both flat bottom pans, then you would get 10-15 gal/hour.

If your back pan is a flue pan then maybe 25-30 gph

[3rdgen.maple]

Way, way to many different configurations to even guess at that one. Is the arch lined with archboard then bricked? Is it full brick or half brick? Any preheater? Flat pans or flue pans? Is there a ramp built in the arch? How high and what diameter stack? Grates or no grates? Blower or no blower?
I use to run a 2x6 flat pan with a factory built arch with archboard and full brick, 4 flat pans with siphons and 1 12"x26" finishing pan. When the sun the moon and the earth were all aligned I could get 15gph. Normal was more like 12gph. My 2x6 I have now is a drop flue with a 2x4 flue pan Arch is lined with archboard and bricked and I got a consistant 40gph on that.

[Dennis H.]

Very tough question to answer.

Now I do think you mean the 275 gal tank right, well if that is the case I can't help you there but if it is a 55 gal drum then I can help.

My 55 gal drum evap runs right at 10gal/hr when it is up and running.
Now it is as air tight as I can make it and I use a blower for forced draft.
It is fully bricked and mortared.

Like someone else commented when the stars and planets are aligned I can get 10gals/hr but it is really humming and there is flames and sparks shooting out the stack!:o I like to keep it at a more relaxed pace so I get about 8-9 gals/hr so that I am not on fire watch all the time!:lol:

I looked at up sizing my rig by using the pan that I have now and adding a second syrup pan and with them only being flat pans it would not be worth the time and expense for only about 3 gals/hr. So I wait till I can get or make a real evap with flue pans to get a good increase in evap rate.

[StewieSugar]

I have about the same size, although mine is a 2 x 4 single flat pan. I get about 7 to 8 gallons per hour.

That said, I've got several things going against me:

Flat pans
Uninsulated arch
Natural draft


I plan to doing some improvements this summer, and it seems like I should be able to double my rate by fixing some of these shortcomings.

[Paddymountain]

This past spring we got around 10 gal an hour,with 2 flat pans , one 2'x30"
one 2' x36" . Our 275 drum was firebricked and also had forced air. If you
really pushed it you might get 12 hr. Best improvement would be a flue pan of
some sort. You can't beat surface area for a better evaporation rate.

[PARKER MAPLE]

I Agree A Flue Pan Of Smoe Sort Is The Way To Go, But Here Are Few And Fare Between. I Am Currently Looking For One Myself. Thought About Making One, But Its Way To Compilacted For Me.