Oil to Wood

[VT maple maker]

Im sure this has been discussed on here before as just about everything has, however I looked and couldnt find it. My question is converting from oil to wood. Id like to get rid of the expense of the oil for the 2012 season to cut expenses and I have tons of wood available and time to cut it. The guy who had the evaporator before me always ran oil on it. The rear pan being tin and in tender but not bad shape is what concerns me. If i convert will the wood fire kill the pan all together?

[Brian Ryther]

Not to worry. I converted my 6x16 from oil to wood when I bought it. It was a medium sized project. I had to re build the inside of the arch. You will need to make a fire box so you can put in grates in. You may also need to re shape the slope of the arch under the flue pan. The hardest part for me was finding a 6' cast iron arch front. Check out my photobucket album. There should be a few progress pics of the arch rebuild.

[brookledge]

I'd recommend you look at other wood fired evaporators and see how they are constructed. It can be done but it would certainly be easier to switch from wood to oil than from oil to wood
Keith