Pan Covers

[wnybassman]

I'm looking for ideas on pan covers for my 2x4. It's an outdoor operation with nothing but stars for a roof. Wait, it's maple season, more like clouds and rain and snow and sleet and.......etc. lol I think a cover of some kind might be a good idea.

I have an aluminum brake and have recently bent some .020 thick aluminum for a different project and it bent it well. Just need some design ideas. Should I make a flat top with a lip on the edges or some kind of peaked top that can shed condensation if the sap is still warm when put on?

[heus]

Maybe partial sheet of metal roofing.

[RileySugarbush]

We use a sheet of 3/4" foil faced insulation board, cut to fit our syrup pan. It is pretty strong, flat and readily available. It is very light so you need to weight it down on the corners.

[TC matt]

i was just designing mine as I read this. I'm building my first evaporator right now. I planned on using corrugated metal roofing. screwing a 2x4 frame around perimeter of each roof side. 12/12 pitch m/l, 4' wide at the bottom, 7' long, building two triangles out of 2x4's for each end that will attach to 2 4x4's at each end set in 5 gal buckets of solid conc. and be the center end posts. 2x4's at each corner. 2x4 diagonal bracing to keep the rig from collapsing. Mine needs to be transportable. I hope to build it in the next week or two.

[Mac_Muz]

Maybe partial sheet of metal roofing.

That is all I use.... On my pan sets a 20 qt pot as a preheater, and I just place old roofing metal on that and the other end on the front of the pan so there is a steep angle, not 12/12 but steep never the less.

Nothing more, and steam can get out in any rain what so ever. The steepness tends to not drip back into the pan. I wouldn't say no drip at all but mostly no drips.

I have shipping plywood, which isn't much good and thought maybe this year I might take a few dead pine saplings which are abundant here, and use them for a light framing and build a shack that would only last so long as the season.

If that doesn't happen I might (shudder the thought) buy a blue tarp of any color really and hang it up high in the trees, as a fast make shift roof till the first good breeze comes to take it down... LOL

I really wish you NY guys would quit making sugar since when you do I am doomed to rain from your labors :D

[Haynes Forest Products]

I had some covers made and they are Aluminum. They are 18 guage and the guy that built them made them so the top of the cover is the size of the outside of the pan lip. the lip of the cover is a doubble bend that is a fold back over the pan lip into the pan with a lip that goes down into the pan 1/2" I know confusing but its solid and keeps all the bugs and crap out. If your going to use yours outside then you want the lip over the side to keep the water from snow and rain out. I would make it like a finish pan cover.

[wnybassman]

I fabricated a cover today. I had one piece of aluminum around from another project, so I bought another 3x3 piece today. I put a hem in both pieces where they join so they locked together, then riveted them. I didn't want any leaks at the seam. I made it a little over long as well in case I want to put a bend at the ends. Some bricks on the corners and it is good to go.

I am now ready.


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/wnybassman/maple/newpancover.jpg

[maple flats]

My first year I used a half pint. I set up a canopy over it with the stack mounted at about a 20 degree slant awat from the canopy and a brace holding the stack to keep it from falling over. During my boils I had the pan open, but when I shut down I had a short plenum shaped cover I made of aluminum that sat on top to keep critters out. It was about 6 or 8" tall and flat on top with cross breaking for rigidity and to give it a very slight peak for drainage. In one of the thus formed flat quarters I installed a 6" aluminum stack, just an elbow with an aluminum screan covering the opening again for critter exclusion. That cover was put on when I shut down. The heat in the coals and brich boiled about 1.5" more depth away if I had been running it hard for several hours, less if the boil was shorter. This worked good. Now with my 3x8 and also when I had a 2x6, the flue pan is covered with a hood and the syrup pan gets a flat sheet of aluminum, cross broke as described above for stiffness. I also have aluminum covers made for all 3 float/draw off boxes, just to keep bugs, dirt and mice out.

[BarrelBoiler]

bassman
i see you got your pans leveled up
did you caulk the cracks or just lay it up tight enough?

[wnybassman]

bassman
i see you got your pans leveled up
did you caulk the cracks or just lay it up tight enough?

I left the giant fire blocks alone for this year, they are still quite frozen into the surrounding ground. I shimmed the pan level with split firebrick and then stuffed the gap with ceramic blanket strips. I went down to my local stove shop and told him what I was doing and he gave me the brick and blanket. I only used a 1/3 of the blanket he gave me, so I am all set for more gap stuffing in the future. Once the gap was stuffed I set various brick/block materials around the outside to kind of protect the blanket material.

Tomorrow will be the test run, so my fingers are crossed. This is the tightest system I ever had and I have twice the surface area, so I can't be any worse than before, theoretically.