I've been toying with the idea of using a chimney stack heat reclaimer like they sell for wood stoves then duct it to a small heat exchanger like this one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-to-Ai...4383.l4275.c10
feed that contraption with a variable speed blower to adjust temperature. You would have from no heat up to what the chimney heat exchanger could deliver depending on the speed of the fan. That might fix the problem of burning / vapor lock????? just a thought Jay
Zucker Lager
I run a 3\16ths copper line twice around the inside wall of the sap pan submerged. keeps boiling sap coming out up to 5gph and hot sap up to about 8 or 9gph. Have left sap in the system for up to 30 min with no scorching, I do get air lock, generally when the head tank gets low, opening the valve wide open for a second or filling the tank will clear it out.
Matt Durrell
2012 - 12 Taps hand me down 2x2 and made a barrel stove
2014 - 20 Taps 8x10 timber-frame shack
2015 - 25 Taps
2016 - 28 Taps new 110 acres
2017 - 12 Taps january, 55 Taps spring and 15 Taps fall, same ol 2x2
2018 - Helping another sugarmaker 5000 Taps, 57 at home
I've got an idea for a preheater that involves using two pieces of stove pipe one the same size as your stove pipe and the other one inch bigger... and sandwich a copper line between the two pieces of pipe and then seating it over the first foot or so of your stove pipe.
Say that you have a 6-inch stove pipe from your evaporator... so you buy a 1-foot piece of 6-inch pipe and a 1 foot piece of 7 inch pipe. wrap your copper around your 6 in to give the copper its shape and then set this inside the 7 inch pipe. at the same time unlock the 6 so that it compresses out against the seven and holds your copper in place.
There should still be enough room now inside that unit, the unlocked 6 inch piece of pipe, to fit that copper line sandwich down over the 6" stove pipe from the evaporator and enough transfer of heat that it should preheat the sap running through your copper line. Hopefully with the additional space and layer of metal between the copper line and the chimney pipe it will not allow the sap to scorch inside the copper line. I will have to try to make one of these and take a picture of it. the idea is very clear inside my head.
Last edited by Mark B; 01-10-2018 at 09:51 PM.
2017- Started small-made 7 gallons. Long days & few nights on a 1x2 and turkey fryer.
2018- Bought a 2x4 and built a small scale RO. 21 gallons.
2019- moved up to 100 gph procon for my home built RO. Built a steamhood. About 220 taps and 21 gallons again.
2020- 140 procon on the R0. Added a new mainline at my in laws. 330 taps for 24 gallons, sold excess sap.
I think if you want to preheat using the stack pipe you are best copying what Johnny Cuervo did. Look in his posts, he made a wrap around preheater that can be adjusted for the amount of contact with the hot stack.
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.
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