"New" pre-heater - input please

[sap seeker]

Went to Marden's and bought a s.s. pot and valve pieces and through it together for a pre-heater upgrade to my peach can with a nail hole in it last year.:D It's a brass valve with stainless and rubber washers on each side. It will sit on a camp rack over the lasagna pan that I use to boil. Actually quite tight on the water test. Don't expect it to get that hot, more just to drizzle in fresh sap. Wanted to make sure there are no issues with the components I used. We don't sell any, just use ourselves and give away. Thank you for your input.

PS - I know I'm behind and missed the first run, still ice fishing.:) Going to tap this weekend I think after we get by this week's yucky weather.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/gamefisher_photos/DCP_2189.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/gamefisher_photos/DCP_2190.jpg

[KenWP]

Should work fine and it will double as a bottler also.

[TF Maple]

I wonder how much heat the rubber washers can handle? Probably OK for the preheater like you said. If they can handle the heat from canning, it would be a nice canner like Ken said.

[Mac_Muz]

I would wash and trim the rubber washers to the flat washers size. There is no sence having extra rubber at all, and it might flavor the syrup. Once someone cooked lobsters and left the rubber bands on the big claws in fear of taking them off, and that left a rubber taste I could taste! :mad:

So long as the rubber is submerged it will never get over 219'F, unless you shoot for candy in that big pot. "For our use" says, you are a little guy, like me, and so chances are you won't be making candy in a pot that size. I sure could NOT.

The valve should be cleaned well, and dried well for long term storage and in a place not likely to get damp. You have a possible 3 kinds of metals, the SS pot, perhaps a different but very close ss valve, which are close on the galvanic scale, and brass still a noble metal, so there shouldn't be any big probem in the first place, but the brass is the lesser and could corrode given a wet storage, or worse grow molds. The good thing is dry storage for that pot should be easy.

I have a pot alot like that, but with a transmission drain plug fitting for a auto tranny car. I use a bolt that comes with the fitting as a plug on the kitchen stove and remove the bolt to fit a brass union when the pot is on my barrel stove rig. Then the pot is attached to a many bend copper tubbing that 'switch backs' back and forth 1/2 encircling the smoke stack, and going up the stack, which can pre heat sap to better than boiling, and it will spit steam and sap into my flat pan.

page 2 should pop up if you click on the link. This is NO LONGER how I wrap the copper, but the effect is the same.

It was too hard to wind the copper off hot, other wise that idea worked well.

The pics were taken on a far colder rig, because when this rig is 'runnin' you can't see anything. The pic with the copper flowing I bent it down a bit to show a flow, but no sooner was the pic taken I bent it up a bit to make it function the way I intended, which is to spit screemin' hot sap into the pan.
http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll275/Mac_Muz/Maple_Sugarin/?start=20

[sap seeker]

Thank you gentlemen - mac, yes I remember our setups and size are similar, I will trim the rubber washers with a razor knife. Like I said, I think it will be more of a sap drizzler than a hot sap injector so not too worried about getting it too hot. I have another pot to finish in so should be o.k.

Making a few other minor upgrades to the setup as well, hopefully going to do that this weekend once the bad weather passes. Thank you for your input.

[Peepers]

Nicely done Mac - I'm thinking of adding a preheater this year and was wondering if the "heat rises" technique would work instead of a gravity feed upwards. Its good to see a picture of it in action!

Mac - when you say that you don't wind it around the stack like this any more do you now zig-zag the copper on one half of the stack with something holding it on the stack that is more easily removable? I've seen some pics of folks doing that on here and like that thought as well.

[Mac_Muz]

Well I was figuring you might use the pot as a finish pan with about 5 qts of sugar water at first. I try real hard to boil off what I tink might be 1 gallon finished on the barrel stove, and take the sugar water off at around that 5 qts, so I am a qt away or so from syrup. In my 20 qts pot, that is about 1/4 full, leaving lots of room for foaming to happen if it does.

I firgure so long as the valve faces you, on a kitchen stove burner and if it's gas like mine, that if you see any long flame near the valve you will set the pot off a bit, so the valve isn't toasted.

I don't know if you could extend the valve any, but if you could then you could use it to fill jars and bottles too.

I havent done that myself, but i suppose I could. My pot has some sort of plastic washer seals, might be a teflon, but I really don't know. That rubber has a higher melting point than 219'F anyway, and with out a doubt if you had a gallon to make candy with you could use that pot with the rubber seal and go to 237'F or what ever candy temp is with no problem.

Your main fear should be a direct flame to ruin that gasket. I suspect that gasket can take over 350'F in heat like baking, and not be bothered a bit.

I set the pot very close to the smoke stack and have melted hunks of bucket ice, while the side of the pot closest to the stack is a mild boil, or atleast i see foamy bubbles there, that rise up on the pot at times, and can turn a light gold if I look real hard.

My main problem with the pot over the pan is condensation forming, so I bent a small pice of sheet metal as a sort of tray which is bent up to prevent water from running into the flat pan, and bent down over the rim of the flat pan outside of it, where plain condensed water will fall on the barrel.


Peepers I almost missed your post... Yes, I no longer wind a coil around the stack. I git the idea i could get it on and get it off the same way. The idea comes from a type of hook I make for primitive events I attend, where a hook with a coil is formed to wind on and off a light line, that holds a tee pee liner shoulder high or so inside a tee pee. One just spins this type of hook On and Off the rope at will.

Great idea and the coil spins on the stack fine, but it isn't easy to get it off hot.
So I changed the methid to a back and forth weave like 'S' turn that wraps the stack just a bit over 1/2 way, and so sort of clamps itself to the stack.

I added 2 srews with 2 short pieces of metal "Plumbers Tape" 2 holes per tape piece, and placed stiff shor springs in the eye of the tape not screwed to the pipe, and bent the spring hooks tight.

The more open factory spring hooks I left as is, and these hold the copper wrap, which with a stick or a screw driver I can flip the springs loose and move the copper away as it is attached to the pot with a brass swivel union.

This type of union doesn't crush a seal bead in the center, so I can put the union togther and take it off as I please. The pot vertical coil will work to a certain level and stop, when the level gets to low for proper fuction, the sap left in the wrap boils and will spit simthin' aweful, and I have been hit with flying hot sap, which dosn't really bother me much, other than the sudden shock for the instant.

At that point I add more sap to the pot, or get ready to pull the coil if there is no more sap, so the sap in the copper tubing won't burn. The level in the ppt might be apx 10 qts then. If I have no more sap I can also bend the tubing down a bit more to make the tubing work easier, to a point.

My flat pan is divided, so it isn't a real big deal to hand ladle a few cups of warm sap from the pot at the ending point anyway. Probably the bog boys would toss out that much sap, but i savor every last drop.

[KenWP]

You can wind the tubeing around the stack and when your done you don't have to remove it. Just run a bit of water through it to clean and it will never melt as it takes like 1800 degrees to melt copper and your stack would have to get red hot to do that. You can also do like some of us and run water through and divert it and you will have nice hot water for cleaning after your done. I shake my head hearing about trying to uncoil copper tubeing off of a hot stack.

[Peepers]

sounds like either way is better than putting cold sap into the pan and slowing down the boil. I have an old welded-shut kitchen sink with two separate halves so last year I put the fresh/cold in one side and kept the other rolling all the time. I'm hoping to have some preheat this year so they can both boil away. Of course that means I need a stack of some sort. And I don't want my whole sink in the fire like last year - scorching sucks. I have quite a few things to fabricate in the next couple of weeks. :D

thanks guys!

[palmer4th]

Is that a bulkhead fitting thats on your SS pot? If so where did you pick it up? Think if could take finishing temps?

[sap seeker]

Is that a bulkhead fitting thats on your SS pot? If so where did you pick it up? Think if could take finishing temps?

Not sure about "bulkhead fittings" sorry, just a 1/2" brass valve from Aubuchon's, may was $12 or so. It worked great as as sap drizzler but not 100% leakproof so I didn't use it to finish. I am strongly thinking about flattening that spot where the valve is and making new washers out of old ice cube tray inserts as has been suggested on here by others. Also replace the galv. fasteners on the backside with a s.s. nut and finishing with it as well. Good luck to you.