Can I use sand with stainless steel arch?

[heus]

Patrick told me to fill my arch with sand. I have read alot on here that sand will hold moisture and cause the arch to rust prematurely. I assume, though, that since I have a stainless arch this would not be an issue, right? All I would need to be concerned with is the fact that it will take longerr to cool down after shutdown. Am I thinking correctly?

[smitty76]

your right, it will take longer to cool down and yor arch is stainless. Is the whole thing stainless(frame and skins) or just the skins(sheetmetal covering the sides)? Most ss arches are just the skins, not the frames. frames are usaully just steel. My arch is steel framed with galv skins and i have sand in it. Have been using it that way for 17 yrs and have had no problem with moisture or rust, just my 2 cents


good luck and have fun.

[Father & Son]

Heus,
You can use vermiculite or perlite to take up the space in a raised flue arch. The only sand I used was a thin layer over the vermiculite to keep it from blowing out. I don't know where in NE Ohio you are, I bought the bag of vermiculite I used from the CDL/MaplePro dealer in Middlefield.

Jim

[heus]

Smitty,
The frame is angle iron.
Jim,
I am in Andover. I actually have 8 bags of vermiculite from another project but they are sealed in my attic. I will just have to break back into there to get at them.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Heus Do you know Jerth3 He said he is from Bendover Maine:lol: So you shut down your arch and the heat sticks around a little longer.......COOL, GREAT, FANTASTIC thats good it will keep the pans from freezing and will keep the room warmer during the work day. If your worried about the pans burning dont if you allow for a little sap to run into the pans at shut down your ok. I shut the transfer valve between the sap and syrup pans so they stay seperate. Use heavy playground sand so it doesnt blow away. Plus if your arch stays hotter longer that means your using less fuel to run the rig

[3rdgen.maple]

The bottom of Patricks arches are all stainless the way he makes them there is no angle iron in the bottom of the arch in the flue area. Sand would be okay.

[heus]

3rdgen,
Now that you mention it, there is no exposed steel inside the arch.

[maple flats]

If you have vermiculite intended for attic insulation it likely contains foam beads. This would not be good. If you use vermiculite buy it from a greenhouse supply house. Perfect insulation, can not burn or melt, and reasonable. Sand would be pretty heavy and would not insulate. Did Patrick say why he suggests sand?

[smitty76]

sand insulates pretty good. heat transfer thru it is very slow.Heus, is the angle stainless, and if none is expossed in that area use the sand, I did.

[KenWP]

If the sand gets hot it should dry out and not hold moisture. Of course like most things I could be wrong. I have the large bags of vermiculite in the greenhouse I might have to rob some.
Instead of the ceramic blanket I might just use rock wool insulation and cover it with fire brick as it has the same heat tolerances as ceramic and I can buy a lot of it for the same price. When building the arch I never took into consideration the size of a few things and ended up with a oddball length.

[jason grossman]

heus, when we did our arch we used vermiculite from bfg supply in middlefield and put a layer of sand on top to keep it in place. we have had no problems with moisture. sand is ok to use we just scrape a little off the top each year to remove soot and fused sand and add a little new.

[smitty76]

Grossman, your sap house is amazing. nice job. me, my brother and my father have drawn up plains for a old fashion post and beam construction sap house about 2 yrs ago but have not comitted the money to the new building. Still working on getting our operation up to speed but is difficult due to the fact that we keep wanting to get bigger every yr.

[Z/MAN]

Jason, I agree your sugarhouse is beautiful! My question is, what part of the sugaring process is the rifle standing against the wall used for?:lol:
Paul

[jason grossman]

well, paul i'll tell ya two things are done really well on our farm. one make syrup! and shoot stuff. way back our family was from tennesse (the patron state of shooting things) so there are always guns around , for taking care of annoying things. .22 to 50 bmg's ;)