Stack temps

[DougM]

Anyone with a temp. gauge on your stack I would appreciate hearing what temperature you are running, and what you ar burning.

Thanks

[syrupmaker]

Doug.....we're burning wood and our temp runs around the 450-500 degree mark if we really give er the berries. Had to check with dad to see if he remembered.

Rick

[Sweber]

Funny you should ask, I've always wondered the same thing. My stack runs about 400- 500 as well but I have seen 600+ when its really ripping. I wonder what the temp is in the arch !?
On a buddy's stack, we knew we were getting a good temp when we saw flame shoot out of the stack like an F16 enging.It was cool at night.

[Sweber]

Oh yeah, we are running wood for fuel on a 20x66 evap, drop flue.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

How does a stack thermometer work?? Does you drill a hole and put the probe inside?? Don't mean to sound stupid, but never seen one. :?

[syrupmaker]

Brandon....Stop by a stove shop and pick one up.Maybe $6,Drill a small hole in the pipe and put the sheet metal screw through the thermometer.Tighten up the screw and it will reead stack temp off the quarter size disk that is in contact with the pipe.

Rick

[mapleman3]

I will fire mine up when I tune it this weekend, I'll check what I get and post results.. although it will be oil, but should be close to what you should have with propane. I'm sure I'll be around 500 give or take

[oldemaple]

My stack runs between 500-600 degrees. I burn white pine and stoke it every 7-10 min. When I'm boiling at night, I love to see the flames coming out of the stack right after I fill the firebox. :D 8O

[syrupmaker]

Was at the shack today and looked at the thermometer on the stack. 500 degrees is the mark beween the orange and red zone. SWEBER is right when he says he has seen them at 600+, we have run ours well into the red zone so it is probably around the 650 degree mark.

Rick

[chris]

Doug,
Last year I welded up a port and put a thermal couple right into my SS 14" stack just above my base stack. I ran the wires into my digital command center so I could watch the temperature while I was boiling. On average I would run about 800 to 1200 degs I would control the temp by the amount or air going into the fire box from my blower. The highest I ever got was 1400 deg and I was doing 140 GPH on my 3x10 but I thought I was going to burn the place down so I backed it down to 1200 deg by using the blower speed. I have yet to run my blower over 3/4 speed due to the stack temps. I have only ran once or twice with out the blower just to see what the temp was and it was about 650 deg and slow. I will check it again without the blower when I boil just for kicks and get back to you.
Chris

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

If I remeber right, we usually keep it around 700-800. I've seen it get higher but I'm not sure how accurate it is, so I think I might get a knew one for this season, so I can see what it'll do now that I will have a homemade blower.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sounds like to me that I need to see if I have an adjustment screw on my rehostat to see if I can crank it up a touch. 8O

[saphead]

Chris ,140 gpm out of a 3x10 is awsome! What do you get when you run @ your normal 800-1000 degree stack temp? Do you have a ; steam hood,preheater,reactor...?

[DougM]

We have been struggling a little with the propane, and getting the fuel/air mix right so yesterday we stuck a lead on the outside of our stack. At startup, running the flame the same as the last time we boiled it was around 285. After we played with the air mix for a while we got it up to a consistent 305.
Keep in mind this is on the outside, and if someone left the door open it would fluctuate, so I need to work on getting a lead on the inside so we can get an idea what the real temp. is. But at least this way we know if we are making progress with adjusting the flame.
Thanks to everyone who has posted info...but I think we may need to take up a collection for a sprinkler system for Chris. Or maybe an air conditioner :lol:

[mapleman3]

Doug, I tested my burner yesterday, I was getting a stack temp of 650. which I thought wasn't too bad, maybe just a bit high, but I wasn't getting the results from my test equipment that I hoped for, I'm thinking my oil pump pressure may be higher than 100psi, which would make my 3gph nozzle actually put out more than 3gph... so I will test the pump pressure tonight. I'd like to see the stack temp a little lower actually, maybe around 575-600 deg. with oil I don't want all the heat going up the stack, I want to use as much as I can.

[mapleman3]

Talking with an oil guy that has been around sugarhouses and oil fired evaps, says that what I got for reading was pretty good for the size of the combustion chamber and possible air leaks ... I still will try to improve on it though... I figure I already used up close to 3 gallons oil (from checking my hour meter) just on test firing 8O I could have made a gallon of syrup with that :? :wink:

[themapleking]

Believe it or not people that's what Jim looks like when he awakes from one of Ricks' partys.

[mapleman3]

:lol: :wink: