What's it worth 3x12 raised flue lightning

[godin1317]

I am looking at a 3x12 lightning raised flue evaporator. It has 2 stainless syrup pans, bricks, a blower, it includes the stack also but I dont think it will last a lot longer. He says he can boil over 100gph. Im not sure what its worth. It needs the grates for the forced air which run about 200 a piece. He said that you only brick under the syrup pan in the arch, but what would i put under the flue pan? This would be my first evaporator and I am think I would need atleast 300 taps for it correct? Thanks for any help.

Mike

[Flat47]

I think a 3x12 would be best suited for around 800 taps. I'm sure others will chime in, but with 300 taps you'd be forced to store sap until you've got enough to boil. According to CDL-Dallaire, their 3x12 will boil 132 gph. I'd look for something smaller, say a 2x8, especially for your first rig for 300 taps.

Google search "Dallaire" and you'll find an owner's manual in pdf format that's got a lot of good info, plus a photo of a bricked arch. Under the flues only requires vermiculite instead of bricks.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Call me crazy but I will be doing 6000 taps on a 3x12 lightning. That thing probably wont shut off all season. I will learn my lesson the hard way before i upgrade.Need to show the boss of my household that there is some money to be made at this before i upgrade.

[johnallin]

I think a 3x12 would be best suited for around 800 taps. I'm sure others will chime in, but with 300 taps you'd be forced to store sap until you've got enough to boil. According to CDL-Dallaire, their 3x12 will boil 132 gph. I'd look for something smaller, say a 2x8, especially for your first rig for 300 taps.

Google search "Dallaire" and you'll find an owner's manual in pdf format that's got a lot of good info, plus a photo of a bricked arch. Under the flues only requires vermiculite instead of bricks.

Wow, now that's a manual! Sure wish Leader would provide something like that, but then who would need this forum?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Get some square "C" channel or two pieces of angle iron welded together to make a "T" and get some firebrick and drill about 3 holes about 3/4" in diameter in the firebrick and you have cheap and very effective forced air grates. You will need one of the supports on each side of the row of firebricks. You actually have the outside of two rows of firebrick sitting on each piece. Run the firebrick from front to back of the arch. Probably take about 7 rows with a 3' arch. Any small spaces on the outside next to the wall on each side, I stuffed with ceramic blanket.

Hope that is clear as mud.

[farmall h]

Randy, bring your extra sap on up the road!

[MrBig892]

Mike,
In 1985 I bought a new Small Brothers 3x12, and with a homemade preheater, I was able to evaporate about 115 gallons per hour. Also had 1500 taps so had many long hours boiling, But I loved every minute of it! Sold it in 1992 to a friend, and just bought it back a couple months ago. Am planning on fixing it up a little and hopefully sell it for the 2011 season.
Wayne

[PerryW]

I would not hesitate to use that evaporator for 300 taps (even lower-producing gravity taps). A typical run for 300 gravity taps will be about 300 gallons, which should take about 3 hours to boil. Add another 1/2 hour at the beginning and end of the boil and you can boil after work and still get your beauty sleep.

I have no problem firing up my 3x10 and boiling up as little as 50 gallons of sap. Sure, you might not take off any syrup for a batch that small, but bringing the sap to a boil (and emptying your storage tank) will kill all the bacteria and your grade will stay higher.


You would probably be fine without the blower for that many taps.

[danno]

I would love to boil 300 taps on a 3x12. On a decent collection day, including start up and shut down, you're looking at 4 to 5 hours. I looked all over for a 3x12, but could not find one, and wound up with a beautiful 3x10 through Parker.

And, you still have some room to add taps.

In terms of value - that's a tough question. Welded or soldered? Stack won't last too much longer, or the whole unit? How old? Condition of pans (any burns, warping, repairs). Condition of arch - doors, steel, etc?

Price could be anywhere from $500-$15,000 depending on age/condition.

[Amber Gold]

That owners manual was a great find. It looks like I'll be rebricking the back half of my arch. I have some questions on it.

On the wall x-section, what's the air chamber they're talking about? Says to use waffle tin??

Why do they put the fire walls in if you're filling them in?

What's the 4" spacer for at the back? Are they just trying to get a 12" gap between where the ramp starts to come back down and the collar? I also noticed the back ramp is vertical vs. sloped like you typically see...I wonder why.

I was thinking of using vermiculite topped w/ a 1" layer of sand as a filler material. Will the sand harden once the evap. is fired? I'm thinking the temp's will get hot enough to create a hard surface.

They're also claiming a 72 gph evaporation rate for a 2.5x8, when leader claims 55 gph. That's a significant difference.

[Amber Gold]

Upon rereading the manual, I have another question.

It states "Draft adjustment of a wood fired evaporator is made by adjusting the
distance between the base stack and the back pan on the arch.
To get more draft, adjust the opening from 2” to 4” under base stack frame."

I don't get it. Are they adjusting the 4' spacer from the back of the flue pan to the stack collar or are they changing the depth from the bottom of the collar to the bottom of the arch?

I wonder if my high stack temps are due to too large of an opening at the back end of the arch which allows too much heat to escape. I have a 14" stack so I'm wondering if I should reduce the distance top of ramp to collar from my current 12-14" to 8" so the area matches my stack area? Thoughts??

[Flat47]

I had to re-read that a couple of times, too, when I found that manual. I understood it to mean how much vertical space there is between the bottom of the pan and the arch filler (sand, vermiculite, etc) at the back of the pan. I think a 2" space would be like closing the stack damper on a woodstove. 4" seems more reasonable for a 3x12 which requires a lot of air to move through it.

[JohnsSugarShack]

I was also checking out that manual and it shows an 8" space from the back of the flue pan to the back fire wall. Right now I'm allowing 12" on my 2x6 Leader with patriot pans, should I decrease this dimension or leave it at 12"? I asked this question on another thread but I'm haveing a hard time trying to get an answer just don't want to mess up my new arch.

[Amber Gold]

You're not going to mess up your arch, it just may not fire properly. I had mine ramps too close to the end of the flue pan to start last year and I wasn't getting a good boil at all in the flue pan. I think I was choking off the flow area.

I wonder if you figure the area of the base stack as the area you should leave for your taper. I think my base stack is 6"x24"+/-. This really becomes the limiting factor on moving exhaust. So maybe take that dimension and add 25% for a safety factory.