Wood? Oil? Propane?

[MassMapleAdict]

I am wondering if some of you experienced sugarers could shed some light as to the reasons or differences in using a wood, oil or propane evaporator? e.g. How much wood, oil or propane is needed? Is there a quality difference in finished syrup? What about efficiency in burning? I see most people on here burn wood and some of the larger setups are burning oil. No one seems to mention propane, however I do see propane evaporators for sale.

I sipped from the wooden spoon last year and have been adicted ever since!

[mapleman3]

Well let me start off saying wood is the cheapest if you get it for free!! or cheaper if you get it lower than the going rate of cordwood. Oil is expensive if you buy it during the heating season, but if you lock in during the summer your all set, Propane is expensive most of the time, but as oil, burns pretty hot and steady. wood burns as hot as your wood allows, if it's green wood your not going to get much heat out of it, if it's seasoned for years... you have rocket fuel!! add a blower and it's even better!! you can get your doors cherry red :D as far as consumption figure anywhere from 18-25 gallons syrup per cord of wood .... roughly 2-4 gallons oil per gallon syrup and propane I'm not sure... remember it all depends how efficiently your evaporator uses the fuel.

I myself used wood last year.. 3 cords made 67 gallons
this year I will use oil, mostly because I'm not as fortunate as some of the guys and get wood free :( and also I want to fire up the evap at night for a couple hours after work during heavy sap runs, and with oil I can just flip the burner on and boil within minutes.. it took me anywhere fom 25 minutes to an hour to get the boil going on wood, and shutdown with oil is real fast, your not waiting for the coals to die down and hav enough sap in the pans to not burn the pans.

don't get me wrong now, Wood is prolly the best way to go, cheap, hot, and that real feel of sugaring past!! nothing like the smaell of wood burning in and out of the sugarhouse, just has that warmnes about it.... oh yes 1 more thing, wood will keep the sugarhouse warmer in the winter during boiling than oil.. the evap is more insulated with oil so you don't get the radiant heat off of it :(

Good luck whatever you decide... Doug M is using propane this year for the first time he may give you his view too

[MassMapleAdict]

Thanks for the info, very helpful!! I'm sure I won't be going from my little outdoor firepit to an oil fired evaporator anytime soon. Although I am in the market for something a bit more efficient. If anybody (in New England) has an old evaporator they want to get rid of or something that resembles an evaporator, I may be interested in taking a look.

I too have been bit - http://www.desjardinsmaple.com/maple_bug.htm

[DougM]

We bought our propane rig in November, so this is our first year with it. It uses a different style burner than the propane ones I've seen available, and I don't know how the efficiency and output compares to the other style. You can see a picture if you go to my profile album here on mapletrader.

We burned wood the past 5 seasons, and went to propane because
1) that's the way it was set up
2) we can shut it off at any time.
We only really have 2 days a week to boil, and it's a half-hour drive for me to get there, so it's nice to be able to shut it off and not have to deal with retained heat. We are paying $1.63 per gallon for LP, and we use it for firing and finishing on a 3-burner.

I miss the wood smell, etc., but I don't miss the time spent cutting and splitting, and the dirt that comes in the sugarhouse with it. We did add a wood stove for heat, as there is very little heat off the rig as mapleman said.

It's a tradeoff not using wood: there is the expense and loss of tradition, but if you are short on time, it's really nice.

[MassMapleAdict]

Again, thanks!!

Where did you purchase the unit? how big is your lp tank? This is WAY bigger than anything i'm looking for, but curious about costs, where purchased, etc.

[DougM]

We purchased our rig used on eBay, from upstate NY. We paid $4150 for it. It was built in '01, and used by a dried-fruit plant to recover sugar from water used in making the dried fruit.

The burner is a "Buzzer" from the Charles Hones Co., in NY. It makes around 165,000 BUT/Hr. at full blast. We only run it at around 1/2.

Our tank is a 1000 gallon (formerly anhydrous ammonia) tank on wheels that the gas co. brought us since we are (still) hoping to move to another building, and didn't want a permanent installation yet.

[MassMapleAdict]

Are there smaller propane evaporators on the market? If so, any idea who sells'em?

[tstew]

check out the mapleguys link up top. they have a small portable multi-purpose one on there site.

[Al]

Algiers makes a propane unit. Supposed to be able to do 20 gallons a hour. They also have grill attachments for it too. I'm sure the Mapleguys can tell you more.
Good luck

[themapleking]

Go back and read the old posts. I think we covered this topic 20 x's.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Thats the problem mapleking as most won't go back and look at old threads to see what has been said about what?

[howden86]

the reasons for oil for me. i lease my woods and would have to by wood,
no storage needed for wood, quick star and shut down, only one person needed/ no fire danger from sparks flying up the chimmey. my neighbors had a grass fire every year from wood and peace of mind