Intense O Fire,Hurricane Force 5,Tornado Evaporators

[Bruce L]

Hello fellow sugarmakers,now that another season has pretty much finished,I would like to hear from owners of the above mentioned three evaporators.I am considering upgrading to one of these new high efficiency units and would like some input from owners rather than salesmen.
Why did you choose your model,did it perform as well or better than you expected or were told,what was the after sales service like,and is there anything in particular you really like or dislike about the unit?
Thanks in advance for your responses.

[upsmapleman]

I bought one of the first Intense O Fire arches when they first came out. (1998) I think my serial # is 003. They had a few design problems with the grates. They have changed them and I was promised a upgrade but never saw them. I have had mine around 11 or 12 years and have had no problems. I moved the blower outside because of noise. It gets the job done when it is time to boil. We fire with Ash slabs and fire every 6 mins. We have a 3x12 with a home made steam a way and average 200 gallon a hour. Can get about 240 if we fire for any length of time. I think they are all about the same and if you burn wood a good way to go.

Dale

[Bruce L]

You fire every 6 minutes?Hopefully that's a typo,otherwise door would be open almost continually

[dschultz]

You fire every 6 minutes?Hopefully that's a typo,otherwise door would be open almost continually

That is not a typo. I have a 4x14 intense-o-fire and fire every 5 minutes and average 325gph

[upsmapleman]

It is not a typo. We burn Ash slabs that we get from a place that puts out baseball bat blanks. They are 39" long. No cutting no splitting and cheap. We season them 2 years. Trust me it makes no difference if door is open or not. I RO my sap to 8% and make a 1000 gallon on less than 12 full cord.

Dale

[theschwarz1]

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It is not a typo. We burn Ash slabs that we get from a place that puts out baseball bat blanks. They are 39" long. No cutting no splitting and cheap. We season them 2 years. Trust me it makes no difference if door is open or not. I RO my sap to 8% and make a 1000 gallon on less than 12 full cord.

Dale

Sale,could I ask where you get your ash slabs? I called the place over near Troy and they said that they don't have any waste. I have heard about this place you are speaking of. Do you just have an inside on the source?
By the way...good job on the open house today! My two boys loved it. You picked up my one boy to look in the evaporator. :) the maple hot dogs were a hit!
Oh, I saw that your sap tank was low and yo took org to see if your pump was working ....everything OK?

[upsmapleman]

Thanks for stopping in. Had a great day.:) Had several hundred come thru. Will be up most of the night getting things ready for tomorrow. Ran out of sap at 3. My vacuum pump died so guess that is where I will throw in the towel.:( Sap ran some but with no vacuum it was slow. Will have enough for tomorrow.


Yes I have an in. Have been getting for a few years. Also if i don't get any they may not get their packages on time.:lol:

[Eric McLellan]

I purchased a intenso fire two this year. Size 4X12. I can load fire box every 20 minutes on pine that has been split and is 36" long. Burning hard wood it would go too about 45 minutes. This is burning on what they call their gasacation mode(bad speller). If you run air setting on full force cut loading times down to about every 10 minutes. Evapotor seems to boil well. But have had problems with air adjustment cables getting stiff. Caused by cables touching side of fire box and melting. Had toreplace one all ready and will be most likely replacing the other too this summer. Also spark screen on top of stack get's plugged with ashes . Was told this was caused by burning soft wood. Just hit screen with brush and it cleans right up.. Service from maple pro hasn't been very good.