Over the river and thru the woods
No I'm not going to grandma's house, today I'm headed to visit mountainvan. His posts and methods have interested me for years, today I go to visit. Hopefully I can learn from the master. I have to see a little of how he manages to handle so many taps with minimal help. I have loads of questions but I don't want to ask so many I have no way of remembering even a few of the answers. It will be a great visit I'm sure.
Dave
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.
My Brother in Law and I had a great visit with mountainvan yesterday.
Van, you are truly an inspiration. I'm one step closer to making the switch to oil. You're the second one I've talked to this summer who recently made the switch from wood to oil. Both had nothing but good to say about the change and both seem to have ended up with a 20-25% increase in their evaporation rate. That is one big reason, another is the time savings and physical labor saved with oil.
With mountains as steep as you tap on, I'm not sure how you can even do it, but we're glad you do.
May your health continue to improve, God bless!
We're recharged to do the prep work and expansion we want in the coming months.
Dave and Dave
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.
Radio Silence.
Last edited by amaranth farm; 04-06-2018 at 01:34 PM.
Unfortunately the calculation isn't that simple. Burning wood does use oil/gas/electricity in the cutting, transferring/skidding, and splitting for wood, and often for forced ventilation of the arch, so that option is not completely carbon-neutral. If wood is cut and left to lay on the ground, it will rot very slowly, releasing the stored carbon over many decades rather than instantly up the fluepipe.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
New Thread maybe? It's worth discussing and is bound to be a long windy one for sure.
I figure I can cut over a cord with a gallon of gas. Splitting is done with a Mantis SwiftSplit Electric Log Splitter. No longer made but a great machine as it only runs when you hit the button.
Yeh, I'm a wood guy, but oil starts to look better as each cake gets another candle.....
John Allin
14x18 Hemlock Timber Frame Sugar House 2009
Leader 2x6 w/Patriot Raised Flue Pan 2009
Leader Steam Hood 2014 - Clear Filter Press 2015
Leader Revolution Pan and SS Pre-Heater 2016
CDL Hobby RO & Air Tech L25 Hi Vac Pump 2019
06' Gator HPX to collect wood & sap
14' Ski-Doo Tundra for winter work in the woods
Great Family 3 grown kids+spouses and 7 grand kids who like the woods
7th Gen Born in Canada - Raised in Chardon Ohio - Maple Capital of the World..<grin>.
Not that I need to justify why I might start to use oil, a few energy facts. The US only imports at this time 25% of it's crude oil, and over 43% of that imported oil comes from Canada.
I've heated my house for over 45 years with wood, 100% for 40 of those, since 2012 only burn wood if it is cold enough, my new home gets too hot if not under 20F when I burn wood. For 12 of the years I burned wood I also used draft horses to pull the wood out of the woods, no carbon footprint there. I also have a total of over 8000 watts of solar, 6320 at my sugarhouse and 1710 at my house. The excess produced at the sugarhouse is credited to my home bill. How many have done that much to reduce oil use? At 71 years of age, I think it's time I can start to use some oil and use less wood, but, since I'll still thin my sugar bush, I'll be selling some firewood to help others use less oil. I just did most of my reduced oil consumption from age 24-65. All this time I own about 30 acres of woods plus 4.5 acres of blueberries, sequestering CO2.
I think I've earned the right to burn oil if I so choose, when you get to the point to the point when you have reduced your carbon footprint as much as we have, you can switch to oil too.
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.
Radio Silence.
Last edited by amaranth farm; 04-06-2018 at 01:34 PM.
Directly from the US Energy Information Administration (USEIA): "In 2016, U.S. net imports (imports minus exports) of petroleum from foreign countries were equal to about 25% of U.S. petroleum consumption. This percentage was up slightly from 24% in 2015, which was the lowest level since 1970."
However, you certainly have the right to question all posts and I fully support that right. The quote above comes from the USEIA latest report. However that does not mean we should over use oil.
While I do own a 1 ton diesel to enable me to haul enough sap (rather than driving a 1/2 ton and taking 4 trips to haul what I do in one trip with the 1 ton and a gooseneck trailer., I also own a Prius which regularly gets 42-44 MPG and on a trip it gets 48-50 MPG. We also do some local driving using a totally electric Car, 24V batteries and solar charged. It uses no gas. Apparently they are no longer in production I did a search and didn't find them, it is called a "Palmer Car", but is slow, can only be driven legally on roads with a top speed of 35 or less MPH.
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.
Radio Silence.
Last edited by amaranth farm; 04-06-2018 at 01:36 PM.
Thanks flats. No walleye yesterday, just largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, pickerel, and rock bass. Maybe I need to ho out with Dave.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote