Stack temp

[TRAILGUY]

I did a test run on my new to me 2X6 the stove pipe ran 300F to 350F the feed door was over 800F is that what I should be running??

[KenWP]

300 to 350 is a medium temp. How well was the water boiling in the pans.

[Fred Henderson]

First you should insulatle the inside of the feed door and then get the stack upi to 400 or 500.

[TRAILGUY]

what would youuse to insulate the door?

[KenWP]

Ceramic blanket. You drill studs into the door to hold the blanket and for me anyways a piece of tin to protect the blanket. Sure is nice not to have a blazing hot door faceing you

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

300 to 350 seems really low in stack temps. I would think you should be running 700 to 1000, but that depends on how long you boiled. Longer you boil the hotter it will get. If you only boiled for 45 minutes to an hour, it didn't have time to get stack temps up much. I run mine from 1400 to 1750 degrees with an airtight arch.

[KenWP]

1450 to 1700 is inside temps not the outside temp. The highest a outside temp thermometer goes is 900 degrees but the ones with the probe go rather high becasue the temp inside the stack is higher then the surface temp. I have my stack red hot most of the time near the bottom which I know is more then 400 degrees.

[3rdgen.maple]

I think there are to scenarios going on when people are talking about their stack temps. A low stack temp might not mean you need more heat it might just mean your setup is efficient and the pans are absorbing alot of the heat leaving cooler temps exiting the stack. And yes it could also mean you just are not plain hot enough. I remember in the old days on grampa's farm Leader would come in with new pans for gramps to try and the salesman's concept was he new the arch was efficient and was shooting for a pan configuration to get the stack temps down, meaning the pans were absorbing most of the heat instead of it going up the stack which lead to a better gph. The test believe it or not was bailing twine tied around the stack and grandpa finally bought a new set of pans for that old arch when they got a setup where that string did not burn up. Grandpa went from boiling all night to being able to shutdown sooner and get some sleep before milking time the next morning. I am wondering also does anybody know what the stack temps are on the force 5? Be interesting to find out.

[Dave Y]

The stack temps on the force 5 is 650-750 degs

[syrupkid]

Lapierre is advertising that the stack temps on a Force 5 are 650 degrees farenheit i do not know if this is inside or outside stack temps

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Yes, my stack temps are internal which is significantly more than external and no, my stack never gets red, guess it has something to do with stainless. I have played with it many times and no, I don't like blowing that much heat up the stack but I am getting a slightly better wood to syrup ratio with those stack temps than I ever did before and getting a much faster evap rate. If I back of stack temps, the boil slows down significantly. Every evaporator is different, what works good for me may not work good for the next person.

I would like to have a higher efficiency arch with most of the air over top of the fire and may endeavor on that sometime, but we'll see.

[3rdgen.maple]

Yes sir Brandon it is amazing the difference in arches. I also am a firm believer that location and of course barometric pressure has alot to do with it as well. Shoot for the stars and tweek from their.

[rob1640]

A lower stack temperature is generally means a higher efficency. But all evaporators are different and have their own sweet spot.

[red maples]

I have my outside temp gauge at the top of the base stack and I got it up to 400-500 and it wasn't even burning at full force. that was for about 45 minutes after I cured my cement!!

I insulated the doors and I can still touch them after the 45 minute burn(I know the longer it cooks the hotter they will get)!! . the 1 inch ceramic blanket worked great!! I used 1- 1/4 #10 -24 machine screws with the biggest fender washers I could find. tapped it right into the door along the webbing. 4 screws per door took me about 30 minutes to do both doors easy!!!!

[Amber Gold]

My stack temps last year were 1400-1600 for a good boil...anything less and it wouldn't boil good in the flue pan. These are internal stack temps. Called Leader and they said yes they were high, but if it's boiling good don't worry about it. My syrup/chord ratio wasn't any worse than anybody else's.

I find it odd that your's are that low...maybe you're not getting a good draft?

[red maples]

mine is that low because the base stack is 4-5 high (forgot the exact height) so its about 3-4 ft higher than it should be. and I didn't have it ripping full yet no reason to waste wood boiling water!!! and internal is alot higher than exterior.

[3rdgen.maple]

I yet to see a base stack on a manufactured rig that isn't 4 to 5 foot high Red. That is the norm. I have never bothered checking stack temps on mine. Bottom line is, it is what it is and boils like crazy. Red you just wait until you get your first 100 gallons of sap. You are gonna put half in it and once it gets ripping good you are gonna have to shut it down.:lol: Ahhhhhh I remeber it like it was yesterday. " I got a hundred + gallons and Im gonna boil for a few hours to sweeten the pans. An hour goes by and I was like that is it Im done already, sort of bitter sweet. I wanna keep going but happy it boils so fast.

[KenWP]

The directions for my thermometer I use for the house stove says to have it 18 inchs above the top of the heat chamber. Seems to let me know what's what so far. When I first started heating last year useing it the first thing I did was adjust the automatic draft controls to get the stack temp higher. it's no wonder the former owner had soot problems.

[red maples]

OH yeah 3rd gen I can't wait baby. I might make a plexiglass splash guard though when I was boiling water it was splashing a little on the oposite side of the float box on the flue pan not much but just enough to make a mess and I don't want anyone to get splashed!!!

on the woodstove its like the directions say my temp gage is 18" from the top of the stove. but for the evap it is really just going to be a monitor for me to "try" to maintain temps as consistant as posible!!!

[TRAILGUY]

I ran for 45 minutes to an hour. The water was not jumping out of the pan. most was a low boil with a few hot spots. I am going to insulate the door and split wood smaller. I do not have forced air. The guy who had water jumping out of the pan have forced air? I am new so set floats at 1 1/2 inches, is that to deep???

[red maples]

mine is at 1-1/2 inches no forced air just burns like a mother@!$%#$%!!!!

I want it that deep until I get used to the rig being its my first. I'd rather have it a little darker than scortch the pans!!

[3rdgen.maple]

Red when you get that rig really boiling there is going to be more than a little sap splashing out of the flue pan. Especially on the front side of it and then the back is where the hardest boil is but it boils hard front to back. When Patrick delivered mine last year I was asking him why the sides are like 18 inches high and he replied with you will soon find out. I run my flue pan most of the time so the sap is just covering the flues. 1/2 at best. Even with this little amount in it the sap splashes over the side of the pan. I ended up just fabricating some aluminum roof flashing and angled it in towards the pan and it help keep the splashing in the pans. Be careful with the plexi it just might melt. You got to quit talking about boiling it is making me feel like a kid waiting for christmas morning. Stupid thing is I have a season on this rig and am the 3rd generation maple maniac and It just never gets old.

[3rdgen.maple]

I ran for 45 minutes to an hour. The water was not jumping out of the pan. most was a low boil with a few hot spots. I am going to insulate the door and split wood smaller. I do not have forced air. The guy who had water jumping out of the pan have forced air? I am new so set floats at 1 1/2 inches, is that to deep???

Trailguy every setup will boil different. Red has the same rig as me and it has drop flues and will boil alot harder than a flat pan. I don't know what you are running. An inch and a half is a great comfortable starting point for sap depth. I ran it that way the first few times I boiled and then kept getting shallower and shallower. The way I ran mine I had to be on my toes to make sure things did not get out of control. But I like to push things sometimes. I personally left my rig stock as I plan on trading it in after this year and upgrading to a 3x8. I did not want to change the arch for this reason. Small dry wood about the size of your arm unless you are Hulk Hogan is what boils the best. Criss ross your wood like lattice to get air space in between them and fire constantly like every 5 to 6 minutes. Seems like alot and it is but a consistant hot fire is key.

[TRAILGUY]

older small brothers lighting raised flue 2X6

[red maples]

Red when you get that rig really boiling there is going to be more than a little sap splashing out of the flue pan. Especially on the front side of it and then the back is where the hardest boil is but it boils hard front to back. When Patrick delivered mine last year I was asking him why the sides are like 18 inches high and he replied with you will soon find out. I run my flue pan most of the time so the sap is just covering the flues. 1/2 at best. Even with this little amount in it the sap splashes over the side of the pan. I ended up just fabricating some aluminum roof flashing and angled it in towards the pan and it help keep the splashing in the pans. Be careful with the plexi it just might melt. You got to quit talking about boiling it is making me feel like a kid waiting for christmas morning. Stupid thing is I have a season on this rig and am the 3rd generation maple maniac and It just never gets old.

I don't think I will have problem with the plexi they have that lexan stuff that is pretty heat resistant. and the top rail of the pans stay pretty cool so if I can make some sorta metal clip to screw on the plexi that will rest on the top rail of the pan then it should be fine I just won't put one in the back against the stack. I remember that little video with the guy making that hickory syrup and he made a hood out of plexiglass. (I made some but it turned out bitter so I poured mine over cracked corn for the deer they loved it) but anyway I think I only need it on the side if it splashes out in the front then It will hit the cover/clip between the 2 pan or go into the front pan anyway.

Come february I am gonna be like a little kid the night before christmas. too excited to sleep and up at 4am to start checking buckets and tubing!!!

[TRAILGUY]

insulted door and front wall, added a few brick for turbulent, upgraded to 1" feed and just finished a test boil much better the wife said it spit at her and i SAID THAT'S IS A GOOD THING THANKS FOR THE INPUT ON a raised flue how much distance below sap pan? stack was same temp with twice the boil

[3rdgen.maple]

Glad to hear you got it worked out. Now the wait is on!!!!!!!!