Steam hood stack size

[gunnergo4th]

I had built a cupola and thanks to Haynes pointing out that having an all steel building I would have an icing problem. So now I'm going to build a steam hood I'm getting a 2x6 raised flu maple pro (if it ever gets here) So over the flu pan it will be a tight fit and over the syrup pan I want to hinge it to swing up out of the way. Wondering what kind of space is there from the pan to the hood on the syrup pan? What size of stack should I use with running one stack for both pans? I want a good draw as I don,t want to much steam in the building. I will build it out of stainless or aluminum with channels to get rid of condensation. Any thought"s or help would be appreciated
THANKS

[Haynes Forest Products]

Gunner I have a Aluminum hood on mine and its not all crazy high and I dont get condensate dripping back in. If the hood is hot and it will get hot from the steam it wont cause the hot water laden steam to condense. My steam stack is 14" on my 3x10 and it to does dot drip water. Now if you run tha e stack so high up in the sky yes you will cool the steam inside the pipe and will get water running back in. All you need to do is clear the bldg. My hood is tight over the flue pan with the steam stack and then the syrup pan hood is hinged and sits about 7" over the pans at the hinge side (off the flue pan hood) I cut a hole the size of the hood and the steam draws into the flue pan and out. I do at start up get some swirling of the steam into the shack but bot bad.

If your hood is totaly tight then the stean is forced out the hood area IF its open to the outside then you need a draft to get it out. I have 10x10" covers on the sides of the flue hood for viewing and foamer. Im still waiting for Clan to take me up on my offer to past my pics on the site for a small stipend that would not cause a conflict of intrest with is moderator duties:D

[gunnergo4th]

Thanks Haynes I was planning on a 9" stack going into a 10" roof jack so I can raise the flu hood and probably be using aluminium. What is your stack galvanized or stainless?

[maple flats]

On my 3x8 I made my own hood. Aluminum. I have a raised flue and the hood fits tight on the flue pan and then is elevated about 16" or so over the syrup pan and extends toward the front until about 4" from the front of the syrup pan. Where the hood is set back 4" I do get a very slight amount of steam that does not go into the hood but it is such a small amount that it is almost nothing. It is all one unit with a drain gutter on the elevated part emptying into the gutter on the flue hood and that drains out one back corner and into a bucket. I have 2 steam stacks, each 10 going up into the cupola and they end there. The stacks actually start at 10" go up 4' and end, then I have 2 8" stacks suspended from within the cupola that go down into the 10"ers. I then have a light weight cable attached at each corner, straight up to a pulley and then routed to a common cable that is hooked to a small winch. I can raise the hood up for access if needed this way. I also noticed the stack dripped some so I made a trough that catches the drips and channels it into the gutter. I made the gutter out of aluminum 1" channel. It works great. I also have an access door (slider) on each side to service or add de foamer. When in operation the hood sends all of the steam to the cupola and it goes out the open cupola doors. The stack in the cupola is hung on a rod thru the stack and the lower section in riveted to the suspended one. The open fit looses very little steam when first starting to boil and after the stack gets hot I see no staem lost where the 8" extends down into the 10". There is no fitting , it just hangs there. Doing it that way I can raise the hood with one hand and go up a little over 2' if needed before I run out of travel. My steam stacks are galv and have no visible rust yet but someday they will be SS to last longer.

[Haynes Forest Products]

My hood is aluminum and as Maple Flats the stack only goes a high as the coupla floor and I just open the doors. I do keep one closed on windy days to keep a good draw and stop the wind from back flowing. I put a spot light in the coupla so it looks cool from the HWY and so the fire dept thinks Im fire:evil: 2nd time the Jacksonport volunteer Basement Savers have been by:confused:

[gunnergo4th]

I was wondering what gauge aluminium did you use on the hood?

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im bad at the guage thing but its in the range of the cardboard on a note pad. Mine is light and easy to lift and yet when its on the evap its strong. The steam stack 6' 14" sits on it with out distortion.

[ryan marquette]

Do most of you guys build your hoods with a flat on top for the stack to sit on(14" stack 14" flat on top with a ring the stack fits over)? What gauge are most of your stainless steam stacks, I'd like to find someone to roll me one, is 26g ok? How tall does everyone make their hoods (ht. from bottom of hood to top of hood)? I have 3x10 pans & 4x10 sheets to make hood just trying to figure out how to get the best material usage.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mine is 26 gauge and it works great and is plenty heavy. Not sure of height of it, don't know if I ever measured it.

[Sugarmaker]

Gunner,
Just finished custom hoods from 20 gauge stainless for Keith Talbot see other post with pictures. Stainless in this thickness (about .040 inches) is tough to work: IE not easy to bend! Unless you have the correct tooling.
Since I am doing this in the corner of the sugar house using minimal tooling these are functional but not perfect.

Several things to consider. Are you going to put a preheater inside? Then you may need some room for that too. What do you want the rear and front hood system to look like. On Keith's he wanted his front hood 11 inches off the front pan so we made the back hood higher on the sides to line up the tops of both hoods. A little detail that takes some more time to build but will look more complete.

I built custom hoods for our 3 x 10 and yes I built them with a flat on top larger than the pipe size by a inch or two. This allow a thimble to be fitted to the hood for the stack to match up with.

On our 3 x 10 ( 5 foot rear and 5 foot front) I have two 10 inch steam stacks ( no cupola). I have the front hood setting on the front pan with eyeball space in all sections. I had stainless stack custom rolled by RABE company in ERIE. You may be able to see some of the hood features on our web site.

On Keith's 2.5 x 7 we used 8 inch stack on both hood, but the front suspended hood, tees into the rear hood stack. I think Keith is going to use galvanized for this year but will go to stainless in the future.

Maybe check with WF Mason on hood fabrication? I believe he has all the goodies to get you real nice hoods!

Regards,
Chris

[Rhino]

Ryan, here is a number of a guy who makes or can point you in the right direction on stainless steam hoods. Made ours for our 5'x18'. Ours are flat on top with 16" stainless pipes. Make sure you have drip trays for them made. We have 5/16 hoses off of our trays running out the side of the hoods and on colder cook days it does condensate alot back in the drip trays. He lives in Thorp Wis. his name is Mike...715-669-3059. I know he is busy with building evaporators now, but he may have amish buddies do the hoods.