ever tried?....preheater?????

[SPILEDRIVER]

anyone ever tried submerseing your preheater in the sap pan? i picked up a small heat exchanger at a flea market yesterday for 10$ and this was just one of the ideas i had for its possible use.

[Haynes Forest Products]

What ever gain would end in a loss. not only would you need to heat the sap but all the piping too. Its like putting big propellers on your car to generate elec to power the car as you drive down the road.

[SPILEDRIVER]

about 2 minutes after i posted this i said to my self what a dumb idea!!for the same reasons you just said haynes:lol:

[Ausable]

anyone ever tried submerseing your preheater in the sap pan? i picked up a small heat exchanger at a flea market yesterday for 10$ and this was just one of the ideas i had for its possible use.

Hey spiledriver - Haynes is right on. What You want to do is obtain the heat for your small heat exchanger from a heat source that would otherwise be lost as waste -- like stack gases - radiant heat from the stack - the steam given off from boiling - the side of the arch - etc. - not from something you are trying to raise the temperature on -- Mike

[Haynes Forest Products]

Spiledriver lets see some pics of the heat exchanger. I like heat exchangers when it comes to trying to get things cold to warm or warm to hot:)

[SPILEDRIVER]

i have no clue what so ever on how to get picture to down load.
the exchanger is @3feet long,has a manifold on each end,1"inlet/outlet with 4,1/2 inch copper pipes. it is a single pass unit.it is finned but i can get the fins off if need be.

[Ausable]

Hi spiledriver - Being it is made out of copper I wouldn't expose it to intense heat - like say the fire in the arch. You could use it for a preheater. What do You boil Your sap on? Do You have a tank that feeds sap to your evaporator? It would be easiest if you had a feed tank quite a bit Higher then your evaporator - then you could gravity feed - from the tank - thru the exchanger - into the evaporator --- But - then you have to decide what would be the most pratical place to attach your heat exchanger next to a heat source. --- Mike

[Ausable]

Forgot to add - I'm kinda thinking what I would do with it based on what I have - My rig is a homemade Arch and Evaporator made from a 250 gallon Fuel Oil Tank -- I would attach it (if possible) to the side of my Arch and use the radiant heat from the arch to heat up the exchanger to heat the sap -- Mike

[Haynes Forest Products]

That would work nice put a reflective cover over it to get all the heat on it. Now What was it used for? You want to make sure that it wasnt oil or antifreeze.

[SPILEDRIVER]

my evap is a constant work in progress.its all homemade from top to bottom.im thinking i might box the preheater into the side of the arch this summer when i modify it to fit my new home made drop flue im currently building.
if i ever get rich enough to buy a "real evap"i probably wont do it cause i wont no what to do with all my free tinkering time:mrgreen:

[3rdgen.maple]

Will the your head tank be able to push sap from below the pans up through the preheater then into the pans. Im picturing a disaster in progress.

[Ausable]

As long as the bottom of the tank is higher then the top of the eveporator - I think it would with no problem ----- however - I've been wrong before or so I've been told. --- Mike

[Haynes Forest Products]

Things might get a little slow as the tank emptys but physics say that the sap will flow back up to the level of the float box. I would put drains at the lowest point for cleaning and freeze protection. A bypass pipe with valves will help in flooding the pan if things get out of hand;)

[Ausable]

Good idea - but if a bypass line is in place around the heat exchanger and the heat exchange is isolated on each end - it might need a small vent valve on or near the heat exchanger to keep from building up excessive pressure in the heat exchanger and going kapow.....

[Haynes Forest Products]

True things will flow smoother with the vent plus it will drain faster at shut down. If I forget to turn on the circulator pump on my set up things start to sound like a Submarine under depth charge attack.

[Ausable]

Hey Spiledriver -- You can do it -- go for it -- You may become the Tom Edison of Maple Syrup Makers

[SPILEDRIVER]

one benefit ive got is i worked on boilers/steam turbines/steam systems for 10yrs in the usn.i have "a little" knowledge of how things go kaboom when theres exsessive pressure build up,at least i know enough to be dangerous!

[Ausable]

[QUOTE=SPILEDRIVER;112203]one benefit ive got is i worked on boilers/steam turbines/steam systems for 10yrs in the usn.i have "a little" knowledge of how things go kaboom when theres exsessive pressure build up,at least i know enough to be dangerous![/QUOT

My nine years in the Navy was as a Radioman. However - I spent 31 years in Electric Generating Plants - twelve as a Boiler Operator - I also knows about kabooms. So excuse my silly chatter -- You know all about heat exchangers and various power plant systems. It would be fun to hook one up to something as tiny as a maple syrup evaporator and get it to work though. Let us know how you finally end up using it --- Mike

[SPILEDRIVER]

if i do what ive got pictured in my mind(scarey thought) im going to mount the exchanger to the top rail of my arch flat along the side so the top of the exchanger will be flush with the bottom of my pan.my top rail is 3"channel iron.im allso thinking of bringing the in feed line threw/across the inside of the front of the arch with 3/4 stainless pipe and the the same at the back of the arch for the outlet.it really wont take alot of head pressure.my head tank will be 4-5 feet above my sap pan