Moving the steam

[backyardsugarer]

Do any of you guys use a fan to move the steam out of your shacks. after I get boiling for a while the vents I have are simply not enough to get rid of all the moisture so I get some drips going back in the pan. I am going to try suspending a fan about 3' above the evaporator and aiming it towards the door. Anyone else try this and have an success?

Chris

[mapleman3]

Chris, how big are your vent doors on the roof? mine are 4x2 each(2 of them) when both open, sometimes it is still a bit steamy in the sugarhouse, and yes I get alot of drips on ME :lol: seems to drip from everywhere, I think unless your vent doors and opening are much biger than your evap, thats going to happen, UNLESS you have a hood with steam stack going all the way up... thats my plan for next year!!

[backyardsugarer]

I have 1 12" vent and 1 8" vent and the widows open. I have a steam hood but took it down as the problem seemed worse with it suspended above the evaporator. I will try the fan tonight and see if that help my GPH. I am only running about 20 GPH and the pan is dancing.

Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

One thing that might be hurting you too is that there is so much steam inside you shack that the humidity is 100% and the sap doesn't want to evaporate. The vents you have don't sound like it is even 1/2 as much as you need. Might want to look into a hood for next year if possible or else make the coupla much larger. :?

[gmcooper]

I solved a problem with drips resulting from the steam condensing on a cold roof. Soon after we built the sugar house I used 1" blue styrofoam insulation between each of the rafters except around the stack pipe. This did 2 things. One was it helps speed up steam rising to the steam vent and best of all it eliminated 90% of drips.I get no condensation on the insulation and now I have to drip is the rafters and ceiling ties. I should have put the foam over the bottom of the rafters and eliminated that problem as well. Hope it helps
Mark

[sapman]

I did the same thing with the blue "dow-board", except we did cover the rafters and all. Some condesation does still form on the face of it, but most runs down to the bottom, then in to a trough we mounted to catch the drips.

[John Burton]

I once had an old timer tell me that your coupla needs to be at least the size of your evaporator . I run a 2x6 and built my coupla 2x8 and tonight int the pouring rain... 100% humidity steam was no problem at all i dont know but it worked for me

[backyardsugarer]

I have a steam hood and had it suspended. So last night I put it right on top and my rate seemed to pick up to about 27 GPH and there was no steam in the sugar shack. Those of you that do have hoods, do you suspend them or set them on top and if you do suspend them how high above the pans do you hang it? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Chris

[forester1]

The commercial hoods made by the evaporator companies are made to sit right on the flue pan. The syrup pan hood is suspended.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

You would be fine with suspending it, but you are going to need probably at least twice the draft of a normal hood that sits on top of the pan due to the steam stack pulling air from outside the hood with steam. Another thing is as it pulls air other than steam, it cools down the steam stack and will likely cause more condensation to run back dow the steam stack. :?

[mapleman3]

I just aquirred(read free)about 15' of 8" stainless stack(single wall). is that big enough for the steam stack on a 2 x 4 hood? (without syrup pan hood)

[syrupmaker]

Jim.....8" is what we have on our hood which is 33"x 60", we do have an xtra hole for another stack. Yesterday when the borometer fell to never,never land we plopped another section on and things took off. Wow what a difference when you get the steam off the pans. Next year it will be set with the two stacks in place and have a damper in one of them.

Chris...We had ours suspended and the steam would roll out from underneath it. We set ours tight to the pan and you could see it draft the steam under the front of the hood from the syrup pan. I agree with Brandon, no sense in creating more condensate. Get it up and out ASAP.

Rick

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jim,

I have 10" on my 2x8 hood and 1 steam stack for everything. Probably would work ok for 8" for the entire evaporator.

Either way, if you decide to get a hood down here and your stack isn't big enough, sell the steam stack you have. He only charge me $ 30 for 10" stainless stack 4' long. :D

[TroutBrookSH]

Chris, Stop by and check out the hood on my 2x6. It's down close to, but not resting on the evap. Mine is wider than yours so I can still sneak a peak :oops: while the boil is going on, but very little steam escapes. My stack is 12", which seems adequate. I have rain gutters that catch the condensate from dripping back into the pans. I also have custom raised walls on the flue pan, which keeps the sap from flying out during a heavy boil, and probably helps direct the steam.

Greg