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Thread: Sugarhouse Lighting Question

  1. #1
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    Default Sugarhouse Lighting Question

    I'm having power and overhead lights installed in the sugarhouse. I was originally planning on two simple fixtures centered on the wall ties with one of them being right over the evaporator. The evaporator is centered.

    The electrician is worried about the heat and steam affecting the fixture or bulb and the danger of a broken bulb over the sap/syrup. He's right - especially if I use CFLs.

    So, how do you all light up your sugarhouse? Specifically, where is your lighting placed and what kind of fixtures do you use? Mine is 12'x20' and the wall ties are about 9' up. Would four spaced out evenly in each direction like a rectangle be overkill?


    Sean
    Woodville Maples
    www.woodvillemaples.com
    www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
    Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
    Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
    2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
    Deer Run 250 RO
    Ford F350
    6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
    Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.

  2. #2
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    Barre, Vt
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    No such thing as overkill. More lightbulbs equal less shadows.
    Thad

  3. #3
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    Does the steam mess with a typical single-bulb fixture?
    Woodville Maples
    www.woodvillemaples.com
    www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
    Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
    Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
    2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
    Deer Run 250 RO
    Ford F350
    6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
    Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.

  4. #4
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    New Hartford, N.Y.
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    Spend a little extra money for fixtures and get the vapor proof housings. Its a fixture with an unscrewable, clear bulb cover thats sealed. It will protect the bulb from steam and heat and catch broken glass, but I doubt you'd break a bulb with the cover over it. I've seen these fixtures used quite a bit in new horse barns- they also keep hay dust from building up on the bulb and inside the fixture. Your electrician would know of these.
    2014 Upgrades!: 24x40 sugarhouse & 30"x10' Lapierre welded pans, wood fired w/ forced draft, homemade hood & preheater
    400 taps- half on gravity 5/16, half on gravity 3/16
    Airablo R.O. machine - in the house basement!
    Ford F-350 4x4 sap gatherer
    An assortment of barrels, cage tanks & bulk tanks- with one operational for cooling/holding concentrate
    And a few puzzled neighbors...

    http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/t...uckethead1920/

  5. #5
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    Default

    He mentioned something like that. Can it be ceiling mounted? What he was describing sounded more like a wall sconce.

    Sean
    Woodville Maples
    www.woodvillemaples.com
    www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
    Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
    Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
    2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
    Deer Run 250 RO
    Ford F350
    6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
    Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.

  6. #6
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    Location
    Oneida NY
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    I have 6- 4' x 2 bulb moisture proof fixtures, florescent. Each bulb is 32 so I have 6 x 64 total watts of lighting in my 16 x 24 sugarhouse. They are placed about 2' out beyond the sides of the evaporator and are suspended from the trusses at about 8.5' high. I have 2 each side, one in front and one in back of the evaporator. They are on 2 circuits. It seems OK but I have been in better lighted sugarhouses. Remember, good lighting helps you see what is happening more easily.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

  7. #7
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    Barre, Vt
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    http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

    I have one of these inside my steamaway. Definitely vapor proof.
    Thad

  8. #8
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    Location
    NW Wisconsin
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    I have standard, sheilded 4' florescents, but use steamhoods to contain heat and steam.
    Good idea to keep lights shielded and not right where you may bump them or where a failure can wreck your product.
    Jeff Emerson
    www.emersonsmaplehill.com
    3x12 Leader with over air, custom piggyback, 600gph CDL RO
    2500 on 25" vacuum
    350 4 wheeler, 500 snowmobile, and 1950's Ford 600 tractor, Husqvarna! (261, 372xpBigBore, 562xp), Stihl MS193 for in tree work

  9. #9
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    Dec 2009
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    Sutton,Vermont
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    Thad are you self sufficient yet? Probably NOT after this season. Hopefully you'll have a bountiful berry season.
    Bob- 4 x 12 Small Bros. Lightning w/raised flues-open pans
    20 x 40 sugarhouse, all tubing-main line to sugarhouse
    1400+- for 2011 & 100% vacuum
    Polaris 500 HO w/Tatou 4s Tracks
    1 Chocolate Lab from TEXAS

  10. #10
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    This is all helpful. Thanks!

    Sean
    Woodville Maples
    www.woodvillemaples.com
    www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
    Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
    Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
    2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
    Deer Run 250 RO
    Ford F350
    6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
    Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.

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