Reconditioning an old evaporator.

[farmermike]

I've been reconditioning an old wood evaporator. I'm putting a preheater on my evaporator, do I need a pan under the preheater? This will be our second year doing syrup.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mike,

Will definitely need a drip pan under it from everything I have read. Gotten think that the cold sap coming in and all that hot steam around it is that you will have a ton of condensation and you would be defeating the purpose of a preheater! :D

[brookledge]

As Brandon said, Definetly need to collect the condensate from the cold sap. The nice thing about the pre-heater other than heating the sap is that you get a constant supply of hot water. You will need to plumb the tray out through your hood. Also if you are building it your self you may want to size it acording to your evaporator. Basiclly you don't want it to big or too small if it's not big enough you won't be getting max efficiency and if its to big can cause vapor lock(boiling inside pipe) which could give you problem unless it is vented.
Keith