Evaporator & wood Floor

[steve J]

I sort of searched thru the arkives here and found one thread on wood floors with evaporator and and I got the feeling its a dicey situation if the evaporator drops its ashes right to the floor. I currrently have a 2x3 Mason and he has an ash pan bottom built on his rigs that is at lease 4 inches above the floor and I use a stove Fire proof mat below it with no issues. do any of the arch builder make a 2x6 that does not drop ash to the floor?

Or does anyone have a solution to this wood floor problem I can't affor both a new sugar house and an evaporator

[Brookmaple]

Hi Steve,

I built a new sugar shack last year and posed a similar question to yours. The general consensus was that as long as the arch is on "legs" allowing air to circulate beneath, it is insulated with fire blanket and firebrick, and the entire rig is set upon cement board, everything should be fine. As an extra precaution I extended another sheet of cement board out the front of the rig to give stray coals/sparks a safe landing spot. Used it the first time this year with great success! I may, in the future, rip the floor open, dig a hole and pour a cement foundation just to have a more solid and level floor--but the entire shack seemed stay as close to level as one could wish.

Good luck!

[trackerguy]

My floor is wood but I have an oil fired. The floor is 12" wide rough sawn pine, nailed green, with 1/2 to 3/8" cracks between boards. It works well, i hose the floor and wash with hot condensate and it drains to the ground quickly. I can dump 5 gallons on it all at once and it's gone within 5 seconds. It was my shed when "the bug" bit - so it's what I use.

[maplefarmer]

steve, i put a 2x6 leader in a 12x16 shed with a wood floor, i put a sheet of steel down first, that extended out approx. 2 ft. in front of firebox, and 6" on each side and back, then i put a 30"x30" patio block, then i sat the evap. up on that and firebricked the bottom just laid them on floor, didn;t cement them. the steel plate caught any sparks that flew out when putting in wood. the steel did get fairly warm, but this setup worked very well, one day was very warm outside and temp. got to 86 deg. in my shed.

[WF MASON]

A 4'x8' sheet of galvanised is cheap , put it down and nail or screw it to the floor. Its easy to sweep off to.

[concord maple]

steve j,
I built a new sugar shack last year and my evaporator did not have a bottom in the ash section so I placed cement board on the floor to cover the entire ash area and extended out past the front doors to catch any hot coals,etc. Then I used 7" solid block ontop the cement board around the perimeter of the fire box frame work of the evaporator which left an air gap for the entire ash area, then used a 1/8" plate steel set ontop the block and the evaporator was set on this. Inside the ash area of the evaporator I placed full brick in the bottom. Was worried more about my stack and rafters this season and not at all about the wood floor.

[maplemark]

I have a wood floor in the shed I made into my sugar house . I got some cement board , it came 3 x 5 and put 12 x 12 cement pavers over that. I went 3 or so feet on each side and about 5 feet in front . I feel very secure about sparks and ash with that set up. The only thing I have a little worry about is the weight

[KenWP]

Well loose weight and then your safe. Easy enough. I would probbably have to use a wood floor also as such becasue of tax issues. Make the building permanant temporay and they can't tax you on it.

[maple flats]

I also had a 2x6 with a wood floor. I used some 8" high concrete blocks to form a apron out front and a hearth under the firebox. I capped that with a piece of 20Ga galv sheet metel and put the arch on top, and extended the rear legs to level it. This worked OK but I now have a 3x8 with concrete floor. I do not have to worry about sparks. The wood also was not as solid and I could feel it slightly when people walked on the floor. The joists were 2x10, 16" on center and the span under the 16' width of the sugarhouse was supported by a beam down the center directly under the evaporator. This beam was 6" x 8" and only spanned 6' between posts.

[steve J]

Well I just order a 2x4 with a blower from Bill Mason and he is going to weld a bracket on the back so that the pre heater can sit in front of the stack above the elbow vs over the main pan that should solve the condensation going back into the pan. And his 2x4 model does catch the ash vs dropping to the floor.

[Gravel]

I have a wood floor and just put a piece of flat steel in the front of the arch to catch any sparks that may fall out when firing, worked great!

[red maples]

I have a wood floor for my 2x6 and what I did was double up the 2x10 joists under the fire box with 14" on centers and put in what ever there called cross piece supports between the joist every 2 feet. and so not even a bounce good and sturdy. 3/4 inch PT plywood (darn expensive stuff). then 1/2 inch hardy mold repent cement backer under the firebox and in front of the arch. and lifted it up 2 full firebricks worth to get the air draft under neath. and the once things start to settle out your going to need to re-level things a bit I re leveled mine 1/2 way through the season.