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It seems the hottest area is near the back of the firebox. Not by the door and not by the stack. You get nice radiant heat for the flat pan above the fire. Conductive heat transfer in the flues further back. The grates should not go all the way back, only the first 20 inches or so.Quote:
Originally Posted by striker3636
Also, if the flues were up front, you would be banging them with wood when you load it.
Nice!! How good of a deal did you get on those pans?
Paid $1000 back in the middle of the summer, pans, arch, about 120 aluminum buckets, about half each of 2 and 3 gallons, covers, spiles, and a bunch of odds and ends like skimmers, thermometers, and a bunch of pre-filters, plus a couple of collection barrels. Seemed like a great deal to me since usually just the pails here are around $5 used without covers.Quote:
Originally Posted by 325abn
I would also make the grates 20" max, front back. Then make a brick wall to push the heat up to the flues, ideally with a slight slope rearward, the wall should end about 4" from the last flue and then be about 6" lower to give a chamber for under the stack. This wall can be a big U shape from front to back and fill the inside of the U with vermiculite, capped with iether bricks or a thin layer of cement to hold it in place. The stack should be at least 8' tall but if you need more that is ok, just no less. No damper in the stack. I also think that small draft door will need a blower, or make the draft door the full width of the fill door. Boiling sap fast reguires lots of heat. Then use good dry wood, split no bigger that a wrist size.
An extra piece of tin between stack and back pan will help prevent sugar from burning on back pan above the fluid level in the pan.
That's a good idea, I have some heat shield I can use.Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
I'm not sure I'm following all of this one, at least the additional wall part. The arch already slopes up at the stack end.Quote:
Originally Posted by maple flats
I've been reading through lots of posts on blower fans, but having trouble figuring an appropriate cfm for this size of arch. I found a nice all metal 60 cfm that looks like it would be easy to mount. Would that be enough?
That looks like a sweet setup at a great price. Well done and welcome to the wonderful world of sugaring.
You have it setup correctly. Syrup pan to the front, and there is only one way the rest can go together. Looks like there is no provision for a float - so for starters you're going to have to control the inflow sap by way of a valve, opening and closing as needed. Without a float, start out running about 2" deep until you get to know the way it runs.
Make a grate as suggested. V up the ash insulates the steel and protects it, V down the ash falls off and the steel overheats and sags. Other than that - I'd make no changes to it at all for the first year until I see what can be improved. The air inlet looks a bit small to me, but see what happens first.
The siphons will take a bit to get used to. Submerge inverted in a bucket to fill, turn right way up, and lift into place.
Get a good thermometer, a nice pile of dry wood and go at it.
I think that evaporator is well sized for 120 taps.
Big_Eddy
So, I made up a grate today, hopefully got it right.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8056/8...2c7e787e7a.jpg
IMG_6304 by striker3636, on Flickr
I had to raise it higher than I might have liked so it would be above the door intake vent. At the back, with my lowest flue pan, I have 8" clearance between the top of the grate and bottom of the flue. Anyone think this might be a problem?
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8225/8...0318fc11f8.jpg
IMG_6301 by striker3636, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8...e025d046fb.jpg
IMG_6300 by striker3636, on Flickr