2x4 Drop Tube Flue Pan

[warners point]

Is this hard for a newbie with no experience in metal work? No, that would describe me to a Tee. Just lots of research on this website and lots of hard work. I would guess that I probably had 40 hours into making it. All of the joints between the copper and stainless are silver soldered and the caps are also silver soldered. The solder has a high melting point, so as long as you keep liquid in the pan the solder will not get warm enough to melt.

[Kev]

How did you make the connections between the copper and stainless? How about the copper caps - I don't suppose you can you use regular solder joints since it is right in the fire?

Would that be hard to fab for a newbie with little/no metal working skills?

you can boil water in a paper cup... but every bit of the cup above the water line burns up. the paper can not burn as long as water is pulling the heat out of the paper.
the solder only has to withstand the 220 ish degrees of syrup

[TimJ]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am thinking of tackling this - we need to increase our evaporation rate (or rather we want to increase it) and a bigger evaporator is probably not the right way to go since we don't have enough taps.

[warners point]

Well I did my first boil today. This pan is awesome!!! I had about 150 gallons of sap that had to be boiled today and it took 4 hours to run through all of the sap. I figure it was going at about 40 gph. This was with just a natural draft coming in through the ash door and a copper coil preheater getting the sap up to 60 degrees entering the flue pan. Can't wait until next year when I add air and a real preheater. Finished it on the turkey fryer tonight and will bottle it tomorrow.

[Kev]

Well I did my first boil today. This pan is awesome!!! I had about 150 gallons of sap that had to be boiled today and it took 4 hours to run through all of the sap. I figure it was going at about 40 gph. This was with just a natural draft coming in through the ash door and a copper coil preheater getting the sap up to 60 degrees entering the flue pan. Can't wait until next year when I add air and a real preheater. Finished it on the turkey fryer tonight and will bottle it tomorrow.

way to go!
how high did the sap launch out of your firing tubes?

[wnybassman]

Well I did my first boil today. This pan is awesome!!! I had about 150 gallons of sap that had to be boiled today and it took 4 hours to run through all of the sap. I figure it was going at about 40 gph. This was with just a natural draft coming in through the ash door and a copper coil preheater getting the sap up to 60 degrees entering the flue pan. Can't wait until next year when I add air and a real preheater. Finished it on the turkey fryer tonight and will bottle it tomorrow.

You're gonna make me put drop tubes in my 2x4, aren't you?

[RileySugarbush]

Wow Bill, that is fantastic! I hope to head up that way late in the season to visit Sad Sam in Isle. Maybe we can connect then and I could see this pan run? I think we will be firing up Wednesday evening if you want to stop by here in EP.

[RickinFarmington]

I did the same thing though on a smaller scale. I run a blower system under the grates and have found that the fine ash starts to build up rather quickly on the from faces of the copper tubes. Being a small pan, I am able to lift it out and clean the tubes after about six boils. Other than that, it is nothing short of a multi vent volcano. Works well.

[wnybassman]

Are the tubes rigid, or secure enough, to really scrub them down hard? Inside and out?

[RileySugarbush]

Inside is easy. Scotchbrite on a slotted dowel with a cordless drill. They shine like new in second each. Outside is trickier to do mechanically because you don't want to push to hard sideways. I have used a brush intended for cleaning refrigerator coils. Oven cleaner works well too.