Yard sale find

[jasonl6]

I'm going with a new evaporator next season and though it's not ordered yet i know the size i'm going with. Yesterday on my way home from town i swung into a "crappy" looking yards ale just for somthing to do. The man came out and we talked a little while i looked around. He had some 304 SS stove pipe on a trailer. I ended up getting five 3' sections of 12" stovepipe for $200. It's brand new tig welded stuff thats rated for 2100 degrees :-). I have never seen this design but ever section goes together like normal pipe then has a SS collar that clamps the two pieces together. The guy said it was stuff left over from a bio-fuel burner.

He asked what i was going to use it for and after telling him he said "I have some other stuff you would like". He took me around back of the garage to and old sugar house where he had 2 old grimm holding tanks (150gal and 200gal). He told me they are mine for the hauling if i want them. Also gave me several hundred feet of white 3/4" pex line that has never been used.

Overall i'm pretty happy with my "crappy" yard sale LOL.

[TF Maple]

Now I have to stop at the crappy yard sales too. :lol:

[DrTimPerkins]

He took me around back of the garage to and old sugar house where he had 2 old grimm holding tanks (150gal and 200gal). He told me they are mine for the hauling if i want them. Also gave me several hundred feet of white 3/4" pex line that has never been used.


Not to rain on your parade, but a couple of cautionary notes:

1. If the tanks are pre-1994 (very likely), they contain lead-solder. These tanks "can be" heavy contributors to lead levels in syrup. As long as you don't use a lot of other lead-containing equipment, or store sap any longer than necessary in these tanks, and you test your syrup occasionally to be sure you're below the action level for lead, it should be fine.

2. Most "PEX" tubing doesn't have UV stabilizers in it since it is meant for for in-house or in-floor use. You may find that it will break down after a few years if exposed to sunlight. If you use it inside it should be fine.

[jasonl6]

Thanks dr tim. The one tank is super old and has the grimm nameplate on the front. This i am simply going to store and bring our on our county's maple weekend for a show and tell. He was going to scrap it and i didn't want to see an important part of maple history getting crush for >.12/lb. I think the other is a grimm too but couldn't see any tag as the light was poor. This too will probably be used for a talk piece.

What type of testing equipment is avail for testing the amount of lead in syrup/sap?

The pex lines i will probably use only for my wet/dry setup i want to test this spring. If all works ok with the inital setup i'll add the other 500 taps the folling year we 30P.

Thanks

[DrTimPerkins]

What type of testing equipment is avail for testing the amount of lead in syrup/sap?

You can test for lead solder using a cheap test kit from the hardware store. Useful when you go out to buy equipment. Generally, if it is pre-1994, it has lead solder (pre-1991 for most Leader Evaporator equipment). If it is welded, it is almost certainly lead-free.

As for syrup, there are a couple of commercial labs that test maple syrup for a fee. Check with your local assocation to see who they recommend. In most cases, the action level is 500ppb. In some cases it is 250ppb. Most syrup has lead levels that are far lower than that, oftentimes non-detectable.

Again, it is quite possible to make perfectly fine syrup even with old equipment. When you have a lot of old equipment, old buckets, old sap storage tanks, and lead-soldered evaporators (esp. backpans), lead can build up to levels that are unacceptable. The way you manage your equipment is also an issue....you don't want prolonged contact of sap, or partially boiled sap (sweet) to sit around in contact with lead solder for any longer than absolutely necessary. And NEVER store sap or syrup in old milk-cans....these are often made of terneplate....which is LOADED with lead.

[Grade "A"]

Is there anything that can be used to seal up old solder so the sap wont be in contact with the solder. There's lots of older but still in good shape tanks out there, I would like to think there is something that could be used to coat over the solder (food grade) to make the tank safe for use.

[DrTimPerkins]

Is there anything that can be used to seal up old solder so the sap wont be in contact with the solder. There's lots of older but still in good shape tanks out there, I would like to think there is something that could be used to coat over the solder (food grade) to make the tank safe for use.

Not really. We've investigated dozens of paints, epoxies, coatings, etc. that people have suggested. They all are either not food-grade, or can't be put on by consumers. Most epoxies must be baked on.

There was a company that made liners for tanks. We tried one. Worked fine, but slimed up more than a metal tank did. Eventually a mouse chewed a hole in it, which ruined the liner.

The best thing (for evaporators at least).....niter. Don't be real agressive at cleaning the niter off the seams. Obviously you have to clean the niter off the pan surfaces, but leave a coating on the soldered seams. This provides some protection.

[Farmboy]

My new evaporator has English tin pans and when I power washed them I tryed not to take the nither off the seams for that reason. I'm going to replace the pans in the next few years hopefully. Do aluminum buckets have any lead in them? I'm switching over to tubing and I'm only going to have a few buckets and if the aluminum ones are the best I will only use those.

[DrTimPerkins]

Do aluminum buckets have any lead in them?

No....if they are truly aluminum buckets they will not have any lead. There's one type of bucket out there though that is very shiny, looks almost like aluminum. Easiest way to tell is to see whether it has some rust on it. If it does, it likely is NOT aluminum, but could instead be this type of bucket, and does contain lead.