Commercial propane griddle as an evaporator?

[sap seeker]

Hi folks - I have an old 2 foot square commercial griddle that when you remove the griddle itself, looks like it would make an excellent base for a 2X2 pan, sufficient for my needs. The two burners are rectangular and would really cover a good portion of the pan. A plate on the front says the burners are 24K btu's each. My concerns are this isn't enough "horsepower" to boil a 2X2 pan.....agree? disagree? It's not usable in its current state with out me doing something to it so no way for me to give a test run as she sits. I'm also wondering if I could safely retro-fit the burners with a larger regulator, like sold at bayou classic, without endanger everyone.:D I guess I could always gut it and use a corresponding burner from bayou classic. Wouldn't one burner capable of 185,000btu (w/ a 20psi regulator) centered be enough?

I'd love to give it a try just as she sits but want to make sure its safe. The burners are a nice cast iron but not sure if its safe to "oversize" the regulator to increase the output.

Thanks guys, sorry for the stupid questions. PS - yes, I know propane is expensive to use.:o

[red maples]

there are no stupid questions. What I would do is see if there is anyway you could get it going "as is" see if you could find or make a makeshift pan out of what ever sheet metal you can find check your local scrap yard, you can do the folding method which is pretty easy to make a pan. and test it first. usinf water if it boils go for it!!! if it blows up well little money spent and chock it up to trial and error and make improvements. but just remember your going to go through alot of propane!!!! so be prepared for that. depending on how many taps your going to running it at full blast for 6-8 hours.

[firetech]

Man what a great idea I've got one also and it will get the gridle to 400dg so that should boil water. There's the base for my finisher/bottler. Keep us posted how this works out please.

[sap seeker]

there are no stupid questions. What I would do is see if there is anyway you could get it going "as is" see if you could find or make a makeshift pan out of what ever sheet metal you can find check your local scrap yard, you can do the folding method which is pretty easy to make a pan. and test it first. usinf water if it boils go for it!!! if it blows up well little money spent and chock it up to trial and error and make improvements. but just remember your going to go through alot of propane!!!! so be prepared for that. depending on how many taps your going to running it at full blast for 6-8 hours.

I will junk something together Red Maples and give it a go "as is" first, thank you. I have a flex hose for an ice shack heater that maybe I can do something with:confused: My gut tells me its not quite enough, if each burner was 50K instead of a total of that amount then i think it might be a different story. I think it will probably heat it but won't do the "hard boil" we all look for, hope to be wrong.

We only make 2-3 gal. of syrup, the convenience of it would worth it for me with little kids even if its 1 20#cylinder of propane = a gal. of syrup.

[BryanEx]

sap seeker... just to give you some numbers to work with, my first season I used a 65 000 BTU propane burner with a 16 1/2" round pot and averaged about 2 gallons per hour with 10 taps. 1 20 lb propane tank would last all day but would ice up severely so I had two full ones for the start of each weekend and swapped as needed. Second season with 25 tapes I went to two 65000 BTU burners, two 16" round pots, pre-heating on my gas kitchen stove, and added wind blocks all around the burners and was pushing the 5 gallon/hour mark but couldn't keep up with the propane. I ended up buying adapters to run off two rented 100 lb tanks and they lasted 1/2 season each.

The syrup cost almost as much in propane to make as I could sell it for... but it sure was fun. :D

[sap seeker]

sap seeker... just to give you some numbers to work with, my first season I used a 65 000 BTU propane burner with a 16 1/2" round pot and averaged about 2 gallons per hour with 10 taps. 1 20 lb propane tank would last all day but would ice up severely so I had two full ones for the start of each weekend and swapped as needed. Second season with 25 tapes I went to two 65000 BTU burners, two 16" round pots, pre-heating on my gas kitchen stove, and added wind blocks all around the burners and was pushing the 5 gallon/hour mark but couldn't keep up with the propane. I ended up buying adapters to run off two rented 100 lb tanks and they lasted 1/2 season each.

The syrup cost almost as much in propane to make as I could sell it for... but it sure was fun. :D

Thanks Bryan - I believe a 2X2 pan would give you 5 gph or better on just one of the 65000btu units, all about the surface area for sure, those stock pots are all about volume.

I actually have a 185,000btu Bayou Classic cooker that smokes a pot of lobster or clams in no time, and is surprisingly efficient considering. I could actually remove the burner and regulator / hose from it and put into this griddle frame, should I chose for the sap season, or buy just the components and double it up. Worth trying the burners in it I guess first but this is an old unit, thinking they had never heard the word "efficiency" by the looks.:D

[davey]

I use one as a heat source for my finishing pan and for the most part have been pretty happy with it.

[maple flats]

In 20# tanks propane can run you into the poor house. My evaporator runs on wood, but I use propane the reheat for filtering. The way I have been doing it is draw syrup slightly too heavy into 20 qt SS pots. When I got 3 pots filled and a 4th is almost full, I re heat the pots and run 3 or 4 pots thru the filter press in fairly quick sucession.(I had 2 burners, 75,000BTU, but now bought 2 new 170,000 BTU rigs from Agri Supply for $32 ea and had to get rid of one smaller burner that was borrowed) In my sugarhouse I set up a big tank outside, 50 gal I believe, and I plumbed a 3/4" pipe in with several take offs. I can now run my canner and 3 burners at the same time when needed. I have the propane company fill the tank as needed. Getting it this way gets the propane cost as low as possible with my usage. Prices are bases on the amount you use in a year. I just got my tank refilled at $2.329/gal this last week and a 20# tank holds about 4 gal. (compare price base) If you do much with propane you will pay lots more per gal of syrup but it sure IS convenient.