Kitchen Stove - Gas or Electric?

[Tim in NY]

Looks like my old woodstove will not generate enough heat to boil sap, at least sitting outside exposed to the wind. My trial yesterday with an 8 quart pot was a failure. It was cold and windy, which probably did not help.

I have 20" diameter SS pot that I hoped to use as a pan, if I can pick up an old kitchen stove, will 4 burners be enough to bring it to a boil? If so, should I look for a gas stove or an electric one? Been thinking about running 220 in the garage anyway for a welder. Does anyone have experience with boiling like this?

Thanks in advance,

Tim

[PerryW]

I believe a gas stove would boil quicker and be cheaper to run than electric. I believe it takes something like 5 gallons of propane to make a gallon of syrup using straight evaporation, so if electric is more expensive, you might have a hefty electric bill.

You might consider building a simple arch from concrete blocks and still using wood. Or remove the top from the woodstove so the pan is directly exposed to the fire.

[KenWP]

Your going to have trouble with a gas stove boiling out side also. The drafts are going to play havic also. Look how hard it is to even BBQ in the wind. Electric will work but be expensive and the wind will also play a part there also. Can you not rig a windbreak for the wood stove. If you can cut down the wind you will gain a lot. I made simple wood frames with heavy 6 plastic and then made a lean too off the garage and it worked well. The only time I had problems was the couple days I got a straight on east wind and that was only because my stack pointed t othe east. The fix for that was a simple wind deflector on the stack.
I would try the wind break instead of spending money on other stoves and such.

[BarrelBoiler]

what do you have for a wood stove? i use a heater type oval sheetmetal stove but added fire brick and a grate to concntrate the fire and heat toward the pan it was outside and a wind break was a must had to use my chopsaw to make the wood small enough to fit in hte reduced size of the fire box --BUT-- it worked!!!!!!!!

[BarrelBoiler]

another thing would be to get a steam table pan so you can run your sap shallower fo ra better boil

[Tim in NY]

My woodstove is an old Vermont Castings Intrepid - the smallest one they made in the 80's - I realize that is a problem. I was thinking of putting a gas or electric stove in my garage, or at least right by the overhead door - that will shelter it from the North and West.

I can remove the griddle from the top of the wood stove and expose about 6X 12 inches directly to the flame. I still wonder if the stove has a big enough firebox to make the heat needed. That's why I was thinking of trying a kitchen stove and putting it right in the garage. I don't know that I want to build a wind break for just a few weeks.

So far I only have $100 bucks invested in the pot. Before I do much more cobbling I would consider saying the heck with it this year, and perhaps buy a small used arch and put up a building for another year. I can always use more outside storage.

Still pondering - but thanks everyone for the ideas.

Tim

[PerryW]

The concrete block arches can be built real cheap and fast.

In the simplest case, you can buy 8 cinder blocks and lay two rows of them (end to end) in the dirt and set your pan on it and start boiling 10 minutes later.

Or get fancy and lay a piece of sheet metal against the front with a rock against it for the door.

Then lay another piece of sheet metal against the back with a 6" hole for your stove pipe.

These block setups will boil way faster than any elec or gas range.

Search through the archives here and look at some of the pics.

[KenWP]

We are talking a hours work to make a windbreak. Just how deep did you have the sap or water in the pot also. 2or 3 inchs max would be the best. Then you could have small pots of sap to the side heating up to add as needed. Yes take out the grid for direct contact to the pot also. Dosn't take much of a fire box to heat a pot up.
Now for the other guestion. Does the stack come out the side of the firebox. if so you need to screw or attach a deflector over the hole to slow down the heat escapeing before it gets the pot hot also. Pretty simple to do. All these different fixs are pretty simple and won't take much time and give you a chance to make syrup this year.
The fun of this is to actually do it on your own instead of buying it from a store.

[vtjeeper]

of course if you spend a $100 on a pot a few dollars to buy a turkey fryer burner and some propane would make it boil pretty good

[Z/MAN]

If you do go with the stove idea you want electric to get a good boil. I have gas in the house and electric in my garage. The gas takes forever to get to a boil and the boil is nothing compared to what the electric in the garage will do. I finish my syrup on the electric and it will boil my syrup as hard as my wood fire! Cost of electric vs propane is something you would also have to take into consideration. I also suggest that you go with some sort of wood such as a block arch.