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I have managed to make syrup for 6 seasons without a head tank, by just dumping buckets into my preheater pan. I am determined to set one up before this season kicks off. I have been trying to decide between inside the sugarshack or outside for a while.
I do remember MapleFlats saying he mounted his tank flush to the outside wall which allowed the valve to be accessible from the inside through a little cutout in the wall. Eliminates the freezing valve issue but still leaves you with the battle against rain, bugs and ash getting in.
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Mine is a white plastic drum inside the building that I have a float switch in to run a fill pump. I like it inside so I can see there is enough available to be safe and it does not freeze. I have the fill pump come on at 1/3 full. If ever see it below that level, which has happened when the fill hose froze up, its time to act quickly but don't quite have to go full panic as you have a little time to deal with it. If i had an outside tank i would at minimum want some sort of gauge inside the building. If you have open rafters you could mount the drum up high out of the way.
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We actually run 2 head tanks, 1 inside, 1 outside. The outside tank we pump all our raw sap into. Inside we have it set up by just flipping a few valves we can run that raw right into the evaporator, or into the RO then up into the inside head tank and run off that. Once we are done RO'ing raw sap, another flip of a valve and we can RO the head tank.
