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Thread: Ok, I'm just going to say it...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Cornwall, CT
    Posts
    356

    Default Ok, I'm just going to say it...

    Was pumping concentrate into my head tank (which is in a separate room outside the main boil room) and got to BSing and next thing I know the dog is licking up something on the floor. Yup, overflowed the tank and pumped two or three or four gallons (or more?) on the floor. Rookie mistake and I'm not proud of it but it happened. Guess it's like burning a pan....Ya all gotta do it at some point.

    Anyway, swept it out the door but I have a sticky back room for now. Worse things could happen. Hope the ants don't smell it come summer.
    1980 - 6 taps, stone fire pit, drain pan evaporator, 1 pint of syrup
    2016 - 55 taps on 3/16 and gravity, new sugar shack, 2x3 Mason XL, 16 gallons of syrup
    2017 - 170 taps on 3/16, 2x4 Mason XL, NextGen RO. 50 gallons of syrup
    2018 - 250+ taps on gravity and buckets, 2x5 Smokey Lake arch and Beaverland pan.
    2019 - 250+ taps on gravity. A few buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
    2020 - 300+ taps on gravity. 50 gallons of syrup.
    2021 - 280 taps on gravity and 40 buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Potsdam in far northern New York
    Posts
    775

    Default

    I'm famous for trying to put 200 gallons into a 170 gallon tank at least once every year. Finally solved that problem by getting rid of the 200 gallon tank.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    illinois
    Posts
    132

    Default

    the ants and flies are going to love you.. I hope a few bees find it too. because I like them better than the first two!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    troy, ohio
    Posts
    224

    Default

    I'd rather have that happen. After finishing a long boil began trek uphill from sugar shack to the house. Tripped on on low cut stump and dumped 4 gallons of syrup and in the fall proceeded to roll in it. Everything I touched was left sticky until the next morning. Wife wondered what the hell happened. Still didn't want to talk about it as I was fuming mad.
    2021
    2x8 CDL raised flue w/ hoods
    SMOKY LAKE SS filter press
    825i JD gator
    400 taps and growing
    SL steam bottler
    250 CDL RO

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Howell, mi
    Posts
    820

    Default

    Nah, you want a rookie mistake? I can show you how to make rookie mistakes.

    I built a closet for the RO.
    The head tank sits atop the closet.
    The control panel for the RO is built in to the closet and directly below the head tank.

    My wife overflowed the tank once, spilling 8% concentrate over all of the electronic controls.
    Now this was just a small display and a few switches, all low voltage stuff (high voltage is in an enclosed panel on the opposite wall), so nothing spectacular happened.
    The display went poof, and I’m here to tell you how well 8% can gum up a switch. Every one of them had to be replaced.

    Solved the problem by first enclosing the control panel and then adding an upper level float on the tank.
    The float controls a relay that will remove power from the pump contactor should the tank level get too high.
    42.67N 84.02W


    350 taps- 300 on vacuum, 50 buckets
    JD gator 625i Sap hauler w/65 gal tank
    Leader 2X6 drop flue

    Homemade auto draw-off
    Homemade preheater
    Homebrew RO, 2- xle-4040's
    LaPierre double vertical releaser
    Kinney KC-8 vacuum pump

    12X24 shack
    Lots of chickens and a few cats.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Rock Creek, NC
    Posts
    5,807

    Default

    A few years ago before I had an organized RO room and tank set up my son-in-law pumped 600 gallons of sap down the drain. Wouldn't you know it! The year that I had my new RO room I was doing a flush on the RO and when I switched back to concentrating I forgot to switch a valve and pumped the concentrate from 600 gallons down the drain. The worst part about that one was that I had a bunch of people coming over for Easter dinner and to watch me boil. I have since made it a routine to walk out into the tank shed and make sure that the concentrate and permeate are going where they are supposed to when I start the RO.
    Russ

    "Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!

    1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
    A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
    Four chainsaws and no chickens!

  7. #7
    Haynes Forest Products Guest

    Default

    Every time you put in another safety system you move the responsibility down the line. I have alarms on all the thanks that really matter because I was tired of running it on the ground or on my head. You can get float valves and 110 volt buzzers and put in warning lights for about $15.00 per.

    Now speaking from experience I start to tune out all sorts of noises in the sugar shack and after a while you will get complacent and revert back to STUPID. OH and the bigger you get the more costly it is.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Brookfield, Nova Scotia
    Posts
    250

    Default

    On Saturday I had just finished pumping my sap up into my head tank from my collection tank which I haul with an ATV. My tank is on a wooden stand 8' high. I'm nursing a broken thumb so the cast makes operating the throttle difficult. Unfortunately I started the bike in reverse without realizing my cast was pushing the throttle wide open. The bike shot backwards into the head tank stand, knocking it over while breaking several fittings and popping the lid off. Lost all of my sap.
    2'x4' Smoky Lake Hybrid Pan
    Copper parallel flow preheater & hood
    17'x12' Sugar Shack
    130 taps
    Two chocolate labs to help collect sap
    Brookfield, Nova Scotia

  9. #9
    Haynes Forest Products Guest

    Default

    I can attest to this by my own actions BUT why is the sport of syrup making fraught with danger at ever turn.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    167

    Default

    Yeah, you gotta be careful.

    When I first got my filter press I started up the pump with the by-pass valve in the wrong position.
    Instead of hot syrup recirculating back to the filteraid tank, it spewed across the the canning room.
    The canning room is fitted with kitchen cabinets that had a Oak finish... they are now all finished in Maple.

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