blower advice

[bison1973]

Hey need advice on a blower for my standad arch evaporator.

I was looking in Leader's catalog and saw the blower called "Grimm Woodsaver". I can get one of these for about $350- $400 vs. a couple thousand for the forced draft with the grates.

Would the Wood saver be a good addition? How much would it cut downwood consumption? How much would irt boost evap. rate? I'd like to add some type of blower but can't spend the big dollars right now for the other system.

Thanks

[maplehound]

Look around for an old furnace blower. I often see them at flee markets and auctions. Then make (or have made) a short duct with a restricter plate, that can be adjusted, to connect it to the fire box.

[KenWP]

I am wondering if a guy could use a oil gun as a blower. I have a couple floating around here and they do blow air and they have that nice round tube coming off the front of them and they they are made to take heat so you don't have to worry about turning them off to load the fire or what ever.

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

I use an old furnace blower on my arch. I made the mistake of reducing the size of the outlet on the blower before it entered the arch. This greatly reduces the effectiveness of the blower. A cost effective alternative to the forced draft grates are sections of well tile, cut in 130 degree arcs, and perforated with a torch. Be sure to include a damper as previously mentioned and consider wiring it through a rheostat.

[bison1973]

So does this attach at the back of the firebox under the grates?

And will it help save on wood use?

How much will it increase evaporation rate?

[Jim Schumacher]

I use an old furnace blower on my arch. I made the mistake of reducing the size of the outlet on the blower before it entered the arch. This greatly reduces the effectiveness of the blower. A cost effective alternative to the forced draft grates are sections of well tile, cut in 130 degree arcs, and perforated with a torch. Be sure to include a damper as previously mentioned and consider wiring it through a rheostat.

Are you using the forced air blower from the furnace?; or are you using the blower that blows the exhaust outside the home from the furnace?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Lot of good Dayton blowers cheap on ebay if you can build a duct to connect it to the arch.

[Sugarmaker]

bison1973,
I asked Leader and they kindly gave me a lot of good information on sizing a blower. ( that was 10 years ago) I choose a new Dayton blower 500 CFM ( I wasnt shopping the internet back then) mounted it under the arch entering below the grates. I placed a damper in the pipe coming from the blower to the arch. (we have a 3 x 10 KING arch)
Does it save wood? Well I am not sure about that but it does make a very hot fire!:)
If I can help let me know.
Chris

[bison1973]

Chris, do you have a standard arch front? I do.

So you don't know if it saves on wood? I was hoping it would at least some. Did it at least increase your evaporation rate?

Do you have a problem with it blowing ash around the sugarhouse?

[Jim Schumacher]

In my evaporator, I burn at least as much wood with with the blower as I did without it, But without the blower I was struggling to keep a constant boil and was having a lot of unburned coal build-up.

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

Are you using the forced air blower from the furnace?; or are you using the blower that blows the exhaust outside the home from the furnace?

I use the forced air blower and attach it to the back of the ash pit and my arch has a standard cast front. With a blower you will still add just as much wood to the fire, just as frequently, if not more. The advantages are: increased efficiency due to more thorough combustion, a more consistent boil even after firing, and an overall increase in evaporation rate. The blower wont cut your wood consumption, but will increase your syrup:cord ratio.

[Mark-NH]

I think you guys are right on with increase in boiling rate and much quicker recovery time after reloading. But don't both of these lead to reduced wood consumption?

No, you don't add more wood each time you load, and maybe you load just as frequently as without a blower but the amount of sap you process during that 10 minutes between loading is greatly increased by the hotter fire and quicker recovery of boil.

Boiling more sap means you will have to boil for shorter times and that is where your wood savings comes from.

[Jim Schumacher]

I just think that if Bison were to add a blower JUST for fuel savings he would be dissapointed. Keep just as much wood on hand as before, you'll love the blower.

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

What I meant was, the blower wont cut your wood consumption in a given amount of time, but by increasing your syrup:cord ratio, you are reducing your overall wood consumption.

[Brent]

Adding a blower under the grate will increase the speed with which you burn.
You'll get a hotter fire. When I did that with my Leader Half Pint is was so hot that 6' up the stack it was glowing a dull cherry red and the top of the stack looked like an afterburner on an aircraft carrier jet taking off at night. It boiled fast and used wood at a hell of rate. But more efficient? no not a chance. I was still burning wood gasses in the stack, which is why it got the afterburner effect. None of that helped efficiency 6 feet above the pans. Oh, maybe I should add that rig was outside on the deck.

Now I've got a 2 x 6 evap. The firebox is the same size as the Half Pint. Last year, my second year with this evap, I drilled 2 holes in the side of the firebox just below the syrup pan and inserted a 1" pipe in each. The pipes had about a dozen holes in them and I set them so they pointed down into the flames. I put a small blower on the end of each. You could see and hear the difference in the fire. It got more whitish-yellow than reddish-yellow and roared or rumbled more. The stack temp went up 50 - 75 degrees and drum rollllll, the wood consumption went down. I was putting wood in less frequently.

The two little blowers did not add enough air to cause any blow back at the doors. I did not put any blown air in under the grates. Studies on evaporator efficiency show that we should but more air on top of the fire. This is what the Hurricane Force 5 rigs do.
Modern house heating wood stoves don't put any air under fire. In fact many of the most efficienct ones don't have a grate at all, including the one that we use that heats our 3400 sq ft home all winter.

I have put one article I found on our web site so you can download it and enjoy. It's full of lots of good ideas. Too many.

http://www.duffyslanemaple.ca/Making-syrup/preheater%20study.pdf (http://www.duffyslanemaple.ca/Making-syrup/preheater%20study.pdf)
I can't recall where I downloaded it from.

This year I'm going to try to emulate the new Hurricane arches by adding a 3/4 Hp blower that will put as much air as I can on top of the fire, without getting blow back. I expect even better results than last year.

Hope this helps

[nymapleguy607]

I don't want to get to far of the topic but if you do add a blower make sure you spend a little time trying to seal around the doors. I have had troble with that the last few years so this year I built a new door that is insulated and air tight. As brent said there is research that shows adding air above the fire is beneficial and can help lower wood consumption. Before you started building I would suggest looking into air above and below the fire.
Just my opinion though.