e-Vaporator

[Cedar Eater]

I have an old stainless steel kitchen sink that's been lying around for a while. I think maybe I can get a hole cut in it for a water heater element and find some way to plug the big drain hole in the bottom. It would be a poor man's version of your eVaporator, but if I can add a valve to the drain hole, it might be almost as useful. I wouldn't expect 3 gph, but it looks about the size of a full size 6" steam table pan, so maybe 2 gph.

[Newbie18]

Just down the road in Warkworth and started a few trees this year. Just using a home made barrel evaporator but would like to improve. Made about 6 gallons this year

[saphound]

Holy crap! I spent 40 dollars in propane to make a gallon and a half. Are you going to market these things, Eric?

[Fyreaway]

I have an old stainless steel kitchen sink...

This is brilliant! Honestly never thought of using a sink. So many possibilities, makes my head spin. I really like the bottom drain concept. You should be able to see the sugar sand building up and then drain a bit through a filter and dump back and never lose the boil. Get a double basin unit and use one side for finishing at a reduced boil. Even if you want to go with new equipment you should be able to set up a whole system with one trip to Lowe's. One other thing I forgot to mention; the heating element should be Ultra Low Watt Density. The longer heating tube spreads the heat over a larger area so the burning is greatly reduced.

[Fyreaway]

Are you going to market these things, Eric?

I would love to market these things but I'm already having more fun with the crowd sourcing of ideas and improvements. Posting on this forum makes the concept more available to more people who are more inclined to offer suggestions for improvement. Perhaps somebody will seize on the idea and make something available commercially and I'll have a wee giggle when I see one in a catalog. As a tiny little hobby producer it's more about finding ways to make the fun more available to more people. I can imagine an electric evaporator being used on an apartment balcony.

[Cedar Eater]

One other thing I forgot to mention; the heating element should be Ultra Low Watt Density. The longer heating tube spreads the heat over a larger area so the burning is greatly reduced.

Thanks for that. I was wondering whether I could get enough heat at 120 VAC to boil a sinkful.

[jrgagne99]

I would love to market these things but I'm already having more fun with the crowd sourcing of ideas and improvements. Posting on this forum makes the concept more available to more people who are more inclined to offer suggestions for improvement. Perhaps somebody will seize on the idea and make something available commercially and I'll have a wee giggle when I see one in a catalog. As a tiny little hobby producer it's more about finding ways to make the fun more available to more people. I can imagine an electric evaporator being used on an apartment balcony.

Those were my exact thoughts when I was working on the small-scale RO system 5 or 6 years ago.

[Fyreaway]

I was wondering whether I could get enough heat at 120 VAC to boil a sinkful.

There's really two different questions here; 1. how much energy is enough 2. how much energy is available.

We really don't need to boil the sap to evaporate the water. If the pot is steaming you're making syrup. Realistically the faster boil will reduce the sap faster. Something about BTU input and bubbling and surface tension and fairy dust that I don't fully understand but experience shows that more BTU input will make the water go away faster. One of my early experiments was a 6" hotel pan with two heating elements. I didn't have access to a 240v outlet so I used two 120v elements and plugged each into a separate outlet on different circuits. Actually this worked too well. I was in the kitchen and the window box fan couldn't get rid of the steam fast enough. After replacing the wallpaper I decided to try something different. I think a single element in a vat the size of a sink might struggle to keep a full rolling boil. So... either figure out how to use 240v or try the twin element thing. A word of caution; I have no idea what I'm doing so anything you hook up or plug in should be carefully thought out and probably looked at by someone who understands the concept of AC power. Offer your neighbor/electrician some fine homemade syrup for their time and we'll all rest easier.

[Cedar Eater]

A word of caution; I have no idea what I'm doing so anything you hook up or plug in should be carefully thought out and probably looked at by someone who understands the concept of AC power. Offer your neighbor/electrician some fine homemade syrup for their time and we'll all rest easier.

No problem there. The first few years of my career were spent as a power systems engineer. Everything from 5 VDC to 12K VAC. I know more than enough to get myself in big trouble.

I used a water heater to make biodiesel, and that was a flammable liquid, so as long as I ground the sink and use thick enough lead wires, I'll be able to safely kluge this in. I have a 240 VAC 30A feed to my spa that I can rewire for this purpose if I have to, but I hope I can just plug into an outdoor 120 VAC receptacle so I can have this on my deck where my propane burners are. I could conceivably ramp up to 5 gph by running everything at once. I think I'll just manually control the eVaporator at first. I think I'll put the sink in a cardboard box and fill the space between with foam insulation. That will help make sure that the heat is going into the liquid before going out into the air.

[VTmaplehobby]

Something about BTU input and bubbling and surface tension and fairy dust that I don't fully understand but experience shows that more BTU input will make the water go away faster.

Where can I get the aforementioned "fairy dust" I feel like I have exhausted all other options?