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I have a 4 x 8 raised flue pan with about 15 cracks and small holes on the tips of the flues. It happened when my feed line plugged up and the pan ran low.
Does any one know of a good welder in southern New England that could do a reasonable job fixing it.
Thanks Luke
Luke are you in Mass or further?
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Hi mead maple
I am in Mass but will travel for quality work
Thanks Luke
The best place for pan repair near to you is in Manchester, Vt. and the folks at Monarch Auto Body (don't let the name mislead you; they have been doing maple work for many years). Call them at 802-362-2344
If you haven't yet, after the repair, develop a way to help you not run low ever again. On my head tank just inside the sugar house I have a site level on my head tank. On that I have a few marks showing how much sap is still in the tank. The lowest lines show 5 gal, 10 gal and then 18 gal, they were marked by putting those amounts in the tank. Above that I have a few marks that are guestimates, including one to indicate full. When boiling, I stop fueling when I get to 18 gal. If I fail to notice the level until it is below that, I pump more sap, or even permeate into the tank.
Others actually have an audible alarm or flashing light that comes on shortly before the tank is empty if on wood fuel, or if on oil or other quick off fuel, the level is then watched closely so the heat can be shut off as needed.
If the low sap level was from another reason, find a way to prevent it from happening in the future.
You are officially now a maple producer.
I was scrambling to get every thing done last season an had 7000 gallons of sap backed up. Fw webb was not open on a sunday so I had to go to home depot to get a piece of copper pipe. They did not carry 1 1/4 pipe and only had 1 inch which I new was way to small but had to start boiling as some of my sap was over 7 days old. We put it together with the 1 inch pipe and boiled for over 36 straight hours between me and a friend . I should have changed the pipe out after we got caught up but did not bother. some debris got stuck in the small 1 inch pipe and stopped the flow. Shortly after I noticed smoke coming for my second flue pan as my evaporator has 2 flue pans. the syrup had burnt to a crisp an i frantically ran around back and fourth from the feed take with bucks of sap to save the pan. pan was save from being junked but now I do have some holes to get welded. I will be calling the people at monarch to see what they have to say. Thanks for the info Luke
Too late now, but if you can't find the right size, it is better to upsize rather than downsize. I think Home Depot has 1.5", my local Lowes does.
The home depot in Greenfield,ma is a small one as the locals did not want it in there and they had to make it abridged, so nothing bigger than 1 inch unfortunately.
A little off topic but I noticed maple flats is closing in on 10,000 posts. I feel like there should be some sort of party or award ceremony.
Who ever is doing it make sure they drill at each end of the cracks, to stop the cracks from spreading. I have done a few of them from people that repaired them prior.
He is a huge contributor and I will personally thank him for all the insight and encouragement he gives in each post. It is always sincere and you can tell how much he loves the maple world.Quote:
Originally Posted by log cabin luke
Hopefully his favorite Stormy Kromer hat still fits after all this
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