Evaporation rate on a Lapierre Mini Pro Evaporator 19 in x 48 in?

[74maple farmer]

I have a lapierre 19x48 and was getting about 12 to 13 gph. This was with seasoned hardwood from a pallet factory near by. This is a easy rig to use, and being fairly new to sugaring works for me. I do think with the float boxs and seperate syrup pan makes it even better.

Hello I'm trying to set up my new 19"x48" laperrie mini pro, I'm having trouble set the cold water tank float, any thoughts and ways to make this work properly, also how much sap should I have on had before fireing up the rig, also another question at the end of a boiling session what do you recommend doing with the sap in the flue pan that does not run into the syrup pan

[74maple farmer]

Hello I'm trying to set up my new 19"x48" laperrie mini pro, I'm having trouble set the cold water tank float, any thoughts and ways to make this work properly, also how much sap should I have on had before fireing up the rig, also another question at the end of a boiling session what do you recommend doing with the sap in the flue pan that does not run into the syrup pan

[ennismaple]

We're at about 4 GPH per square foot so for that unit I'd guess 15 GPH average because it's natural draft without a pre-heater.

[honeymooers]

I purchased a mini pro at the end of last season used. The gentleman I bought it from said it would do 18-20 gph but it does have a preheater unit built into a steam hood that he had custom built. Here are some picturesIMG_2162.jpgIMG_2166.jpg

[74maple farmer]

How much sap did you have on had before firing it up, and any trick to setting the back float to the cold tank?

[Maple Bud]

This is the first time I have participated in this forum but appreciate all the great information and advice I have received from other sugarmakers over the years. We produce maple syrup as a hobby and have been using a LaPierre Minipro evaporator for the past two seasons. Like many maple sugar producers, we started out with a large pot, then a flat pan and decided we would purchase a small evaporator. We decided upon the LaPierre Minipro because, as the Maple Guys who have designed it say, it has all the features of the large evaporator (two pans, raised flu,continuous flow system) and is easy for us to operate. We are getting an evaporation rate of somewhere between 15-20 gallons per hour (depending on the quality of our wood) and last year produced approx. 6 gallons of syrup from 130 trees (105 on tubing, 25 on buckets. It was not a good year for us as we had a major ice storm at the end of January which took down our mainlines and lateral lines so we were delayed getting started. One of features that I like is that the evaporator has a ball value between the flu pan and syrup pan which I am able to close at the end of each boil to prevent the mixing of sap with the near syrup. It took me a while to figure out how the float boxes work but if I recall correctly the higher the float sits in the box, the deeper will be the sap and syrup in the pans. There is an adjustment screw at the top of each float which allows you to adjust the depth of the sap/syrup. When boiling, we have been on the cautious side and have been running 2 inches in the flu pan and 1 1/2 inches in the syrup pan. I though I would post a link to a video of our Minipro in operation from last season to give you some idea how it works. Hope this helps.

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...I-7XKiu-5LSAHn

[74maple farmer]

Thanks for the info that's very helpful, your link didn't work but I should be able to figure it out with your input
How often were you drawing off syrup , and roughly about how much at a time