2X3 Evaporator

[Farmboy]

How many taps will a 2x3 flat pan with dividers handle. I will be able to boil all day on the weekends and after school on weekdays. Also haw many gph will it evapotate. Im going to be using hardwood, slabwood and some pallets.

[3rdgen.maple]

Farmboy I think it would be better asked how many taps can you handle?
D&G catalog has an 18 by 48 which equals the same square inches as yours and it says 25 to 50 taps. For reference I had a 2x6 flat with 4 flat pans and a syrup pan on it years ago and it took alot of time and late nights with 150 taps. Evaporation rate on a good day was around 15 gph. So if i was a guessing man I would say half that. So if you put out 50 buckets and get 50 gallons of sap divided by say 8gph that is 6.25 hours not counting start up and cleaning. Now there are days when it does not run either and there are days where you could get 100 gallons off those 50 taps. You can always have too much sap and never not enough though. Just have fun doing it and learn as you go.

[Scott Prindle]

Farmboy,

I had a Leader Halfpint for years, which is pretty much what you have at least for a pan. I had a similar availability of boiling time as well. The 25-50 tap recommendation is pretty much dead-on, I comfortably ran about 30. Two years I had around 55 taps, the first year I was laid-off and had lots of time. That was fine, but the next year I tried that number again while back at work and was way over my head.

I went back to around 30 !!!.

For what it is worth,

Scott