Mason 2x4 XL Operation

Did a test boil (with water) yesterday on my new 2x4XL. 25 minutes from ice cold to full boil in all four channels, which I thought was awesome compared to my old 55gal barrel rig.
My question is on shutdown. Obviously, once sweetened, the pan will be left alone until the next boil. But what do I do with the contents of the preheater pan if I'm out of time and need to shut down? Looks like the preheater will hold up to 5 gallons of sap, and I will be boiling concentrate @ 7-8%. On test boil yesterday, the preheater pan went up to 170 degrees. I don't think leaving 170 deg. concentrate in there overnight would be the right move. Do I flood the evaporator pan with whatever is left in the pre-heater pan? Do I need to drain the preheater and boil for a period of time in the pan before shutting down? Thanks for the help.

Id just flood the pan with the preheater sap if you are worried about it spoiling or something along those lines.

If the preheater isnt in direct contact with the flame it wont scorch or anything like that if you drain it.

Good luck!

-Scott

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Originally Posted by UB29

Did a test boil (with water) yesterday on my new 2x4XL. 25 minutes from ice cold to full boil in all four channels, which I thought was awesome compared to my old 55gal barrel rig.
My question is on shutdown. Obviously, once sweetened, the pan will be left alone until the next boil. But what do I do with the contents of the preheater pan if I'm out of time and need to shut down? Looks like the preheater will hold up to 5 gallons of sap, and I will be boiling concentrate @ 7-8%. On test boil yesterday, the preheater pan went up to 170 degrees. I don't think leaving 170 deg. concentrate in there overnight would be the right move. Do I flood the evaporator pan with whatever is left in the pre-heater pan? Do I need to drain the preheater and boil for a period of time in the pan before shutting down? Thanks for the help.

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I have a 2x3 with divided flat pan, and I let the preheater continue to trickle into the pan as everything is cooling down. I don't want to risk any scorching from low levels as it continues to eveperate on cool down. On a restart it will form a quadrant sooner then you think.

"The preheater isnt in direct contact with the flame so it wont scorch or anything like that if you drain it."

On the Mason XL the preheater is on the flame. Maybe drain the sap into the evaporator pan and then just add 5 gallons of water to the preheater, to be dumped when the evaporator is refired.

I just got a new 2x4 Mason XL this season. My shutdown plan (tentatively) is going to be to flood down the pan maybe an extra 1-2" and let that boil. Then once the boiling has pretty much stopped ill drain and immidately fill my preheater with water. The next time i start up, first step will be to establish the proper level in the evaporator (by draining sap side of pan), add the drain off back to the preheater, top off the preheater with raw sap and start the fire.

Well see how it goes i guess but thats the direction im headed in.

I have had a 2x4 mason for several years but no R/O. When I am ready to shut down I stop firing when pre heater is about 3/4 full and sap level in pan is about 1". by time the pre heater sap has slowly emptied into pan the depth will have increased to around 1 3/4". And when evaporator has fully cooled it will be down to around 1.5" or a bit less. Unless its getting real cold I leave concentrate in pan and if its getting into low teens I than empty it.

Thinking along the same line as TomBaisley. On the 2x4 XL, preheater pan sits on top of the arch and is in direct contact with the flame; so if I dump contents into the pan will immediately need to refill with water to avoid scorching.
Overall concern though, is that 8% concentrate that has only heated to 170 in the preheater and not had a chance to boil before shutdown. Looks like a) flood pan with whatever is left in preheater; b) put a few gallons of preferably permeate into preheater; c) boil down for ??? to allow the preheater contents to get some boiling time so it won't spoil when left in pan overnight.