Sap Preheater design advice....

[craig1bc]

Give me some suggestions to change or make this better before I solder it together.

Thanks!!!!

Craig

[craig1bc]

I have a 2x5ft pan so I designed this to go over the main boiling part of the divided pan (2ftx3ft) . I thought a 2nd level might give me a little more chance to preheat.

Hoping to get this right the first time!

[wiam]

I would add a vent at the highest point with a hose that goes higher than your feed tank.

[craig1bc]

So I am going to run a 55-gallon drum into the preheater. Can you show me a pic of the vent I should add?

I was considering adding something like this to both the inlet and the outlet.

Craig

[Super Sapper]

For a vent just put a tee in the line at the highest point and run that line to the top of your head tank.

[Maplebrook]

I built a similar preheater for my old D&G Sportsman. You are on the right track.
Make the inlet the lower pipe and the outlet the upper pipe.
For a vent, tee into the highest point (outlet pipe) put a ball valve outside the hood with a piece of sap line running from that valve back to the float box. That saves you heating sap in a line all the way back to your tank. Crack the valve once in a while to bleed any air trapped in the preheater. The sap line will empty into the float box and you can see what is going on in the preheater.

[mol1jb]

Is that 1/2 or 3/4in copper?