evaporator size

[twobears1224]

is there any old posts on here about evaporator size for a given number of taps?? i,am looking for real life numbers not manufacters numbers.
say,you have 500 taps and would be using a woodfired plain jane evaporator how big a evaporator would you want?
i know it depends on alot of factors but,500 taps and get the boiling done in a reasonable amount of time.
i,am just thinking aloud here because this question seems to come up alot with new guys just starting out and/or growing operations.
my dad has 1300 plus taps and uses a 5x14 woodfired arch..raised flue and two 2x5 crossflow stainless syrup pans normally his boiling times are very short.he could handle alot more sap and still have decent boil times.

delbert

[mapleack]

You're going to want at least a 3x10 for 500 taps if you don't want to spend a lot of time boiling.

[KenWP]

If for a flat pan you can use the formula of 1.8 gallons a hour evaporation rate for every square foot and go from there. Sounds so slow when you see the figure and is even slower when you use a 2 foot square pan at 3 gallons a hour at the hardest boil possible. I am trying to expand to 6 square feet with a flue pan to speed things up a bit.

[twobears1224]

here another angle i,ve thought about.say,you have a evaporator ooo,say a 4x12 whats the MINIMUM number of taps you would need to make it worth while??

DELBERT

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Delbert,
We did 400 on our 4x12 one year when my Dad was sick. It worked but I wouldn't want to do any less.

[maplecrest]

when i started 35 years ago. it was 800 bucket taps on a 4x12. was a nice fit. at the end of that 4x12 era. it was 2800 taps boiling around the clock in two 12 hour shifts[ tubing on vacuum]

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I run 525 taps on a 2x8, but I do have some help boiling and I run 60 to 65 gph, but I have it juiced up pretty good. A 2x8 evaporator with a max flue pan would boil off close to 100 gph with a 6' flue pan and would be very realistic for 500 taps.

[Sugarmaker]

Our 3 x 10 seems about right for 500 taps on gravity tubing. runs varied from 125 gallons ( 1.5 - 2 hours of boiling) to 700 gallons ( 8- 9 hours of boiling) and finished product about 2 gallons per hour.
I have started the fire for 65 gallons but its a little over kill. Minimum or low limit of taps on a 3 x 10 might be 200 taps? But you could hold small sap runs if the weather was cool and the grade was not a concern.

Chris

[Haynes Forest Products]

We run a 3x10 Waterloo small with 1125 taps on vac and we plan on 200 more. we boil about 140 GPH and it will be an all day affair.