arch lengthening or building from gorund up?

[SIGNGUY]

Hey There.... My son and I want to start sugaring this year and would really like a 2x6-2x8 evaporator. Can not afford new and used ones donot seem to be cheap..... I know where there is a 2x4 for what seem to be a reasonible price. I am looking for an opinion on whether or not it is worth lengthing something like that or just coughing out the $1700 and up for a used 2x6. or possible building an arch from scratch and buying pans. Any advice would be helpfull!! I would also have to buy steel or scrounge around for some, do not have materials on hand....So that is also a factor..... You advice would be helpfull!!
Thanks,

[morningstarfarm]

If you have access to a welder and chop saw I'd say build your own. Took me about 4 hours and cost like 350 bucks, including fire brick, to build my 2x6 arch last year. Toughest part is the doors..keep your eye out at the local junk yard for a wood stove that someone is getting rid of..then go buy a set of pans(new or used) that you like..good luck

[SIGNGUY]

what is the industry standard for pans, are they actually 24'' when they are saying 2'x6'? or is it actually something else?

[morningstarfarm]

yup 2' pans are 24" wide

[Sugarmaker]

This is a great question!

Here are some things to consider.
Do you like to fabricate things?
Is your skill level adaguate to take on this?
Do you have the time for building this project?

Example:
I helped my neighbor work on a ground up system.
It is a 2.5 x 7.
There are pictures on the trader under Keith Talbott.
He told me that he as a little over $3000 invested. He wanted a few bells and whistles but nothing wild. He did most of the work himself on the rig. I helped with the hoods and smoke stack.
He is getting about 20-25 gal per hour.
Took him better part of 2 years to gey it all together.
And as mentioned he started with a dicarded door from a wood stove, and it snowballed from there!:)

Chris

[morningstarfarm]

Actually, if you're thinking of building the arch, i would strongly suggest you go find the pans FIRST! then build the arch to fit them..its much easier to widen/narrow the arch than to find pans that fit perfectly after its done. learned that the hard way when I built mine...there needs to be a center divider between the flu pan and the channel pan..I was an inch off for the drop flus to fit, had to cut it out and reweld one in..:emb: FYI my 2x6 arch with drop flu 2x3 pan averages almost 40gal/hr.....

[SIGNGUY]

morningstarfarm do have any pics of your evaporator?? Any opinions on lengthening an Arch? Taking a 2x4 and streching it to a 2x6 or 2x8.....

[morningstarfarm]

I'll go out tomorrow and take a couple pics of the arch for you..Given a chioce between lengthening your arch and building one...I would sell the arch you have now and use the money from it to build one to fit whatever pans you buy. If you try to lengthen it, you have to also lengthen the firebox to get a good boil in the back of a flu pan. It'll be much easier to just build one to suit than to tear apart, redesign, and rebuild a new one that will set perfectly level.

[Quabbin Hill Farms]

i started with a D&G 18"x 3 now its an 18" x 7 works good only invested a few hundred dollars to complete.