Venting Steam

[backyardsugarer]

Did a test boil last night and everything went great except the build up of steam. I have two 10" holes and one 6" hole piped. The two 10" holes are over the flu pan and the 6" hole is over the syrup pan. They vented but not enough. I and going to add a 200cfm fan to one of the 10" pipes. Do you think that will be enough for a 2 X 8? If not I am going to put in an exhaust fan from a dairy farm.


Chris

[mapleack]

Put hoods on and you'll be fine.

[backyardsugarer]

Not in the budget for this year. Plus visitors love to watch it boil and that is how I sell most of my product.

[jdj]

Build a cupalo. I'd say for a 2x8, a 2x6 or 7 cupalo on the roof should vent all your steam.

[RileySugarbush]

Best of both worlds:

Hood and preheater over the flue pan. Open syrup pan so the visitors, and sugarer, can watch. That will reduce the room steam by a factor of 4 or 5, which should be manageable with your vents and small fan, or better a cupola.

Bonus....lots of hot distilled water and a small improvement in rate.

[Grade "A"]

I fan should help it you can't have a hood or cupalo. The fan from a farm may be to big, you should find out quickly if it will work for not. If it rips the door out of your hands when you open it you may want to down size a little. :lol: You would have enough pipe if it was hooked to a hood, but it is hard to get steam into a pipe without a hood of some type (without help from a fan).

[briduhunt]

I have a flake board steam hood that I did my self. I sealed the inside of the hood with polyurathane and left the outside of the wood bare. The wood hood is piped to a 10" vent pipe out the roof. The hood is over my sap pan and a little bit over my syrup pan and it is about 12" above both pans. This way it removes the steam and I can still check both pans at all times. I learned this wood hood idea from a large producer in Clifton Springs NY who has had a plywood steam hood over his rig for over 10 years. He only sealed the inside of the hood and left the outside of the wood bare so it can breath. Give it a try, cheap hood and easy to do your self.

Just my 2 cents

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

With that size evaporator and those small holes, it won't even think about taking care of the steam, just a small percentage. Days that it is snowing or raining, you will hardly get any of the steam out of the holes. Good exhaust fan mounted just below 10" hole should work good as long as it is designed to stand up to all the steam and it will need to move a lot of air to keep up.

[Dill]

What about one of those spinning resturant style vents?

[Brent]

how good is the venting into the sugar shack ? If you want the steam to go out you need to let fresh air in, preferable on the upwind side to help the flow.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I find that my visitors like to look thru the inspection holes in my hood:lol: Beats going outside to talk and get the glasses clear. Im with Westverginy you aint getting the steam out those pipes with a inline fan. Steam is heavy and slow and will not zip over to some fan. Just sit back and look at all that steam coming off the evap. How many CFMs of heat and steam do you think per second 16-20 ok sounds good.........so go get a 960 CFM fan thats 960 per min not some lame bathroom fan that 80 per hr.

[backyardsugarer]

I just found an exhaust fan at tractor supply for $120. It is over 1,400 cfm. I will have to open both windows to keer that thing fed with the air it wants.
I am going to install it in one of my window in the top of the shack. Before I spend the $ would a good box fan work or would the moisture get to it?

[Haynes Forest Products]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmYES over time. You are going to freeze yourself out and hate the noise:mad: NOW for the bad news as the cool/cold air comes in to replace the warm steam air they will meet and you will cool the moisture laden air causing it to become heavy it will condense and cause more trouble. Then as the cool steam air settles on you and everything else you will be colder:mad: I say pull the sides off the shack and be steam free. and you will be warmer:)

[Smitty]

Chris,
the fan from tractor supply, is the drive motor mounted directly to the
fan, or is it belt drive. it is important that the fan is not directly mounted
on the motor (like a box fan). I have a 2x6 lightning with hoods, two
6" pipes in sap pan - one 6" pipe in syrup pan, all 6" connects to 8" pipe
goes up 6' to squirrel cage fan ( belt drive-keeps motor out of steam and
condensation ) than continues out 8" pipe. it works great, when you
open 8"x18" hood door, no steam escapes. you need a fan that does
not have the drive motor in the elements, mine has been running for 12
years.



i hope this helps,:)
Al Smith

[Haynes Forest Products]

BackYardSuger doesnt have a hood that changes everything!!! When it comes to trying to pull cold heavy steam out of the room thru a small pipe is crazy. The hot dry air is going to get sucked out quicker because we all know its called the path of least resistance and the hot dry air moves quicker. The steam is SLOW. If he had a hood why would he want a fan. I have a hood and its open on the end for the finish pan cover. Its still a hood and it draws just fine.

Smitty what would happen if you didnt have the fan in place? I have looked in lots of hoods that were tight and when I open the doors you create a way for the steam to create a natural draft and you can see the room air get sucked into the hood and out it goes just like opening a fireplace door.

I think all this talk of fans is the wrong direction.

[3rdgen.maple]

Throw those pipes to the side and build a coupla. Skip the fan. When you get some cash for the hoods stick the pipes back on and shove them up in the coupla. You will never get rid of all the steam in the sugar house without a set of hoods but the coupla will help better than a couple pipes stuck through the roof.