Still another oil barrel arch. :)

[For_the_kids]

I finally got around to getting this built. The main reason for posting is because I was very happy to find so many good ideas on here that I felt obligated to post mine just incase it helps someone else out. Everything is complete except for the paint and filling the back of the ramp with 4-1/2 inches of sand. I may use 2 inches of sand and then put firebrick on top of that if anyone feels it is needed. I have tons of pictures of this build, but I took the 14 that best describe the build without going into too much detail. If anyone is interested in seeing any other parts of this build I can see what I have for other photos or I can take more too. The main pan is 2x4 and the preheat pan is a steam table pan. If the preheater pan doesnt heat well enough I will add a copper line around my stove pipe leading into it. I have a small pump that pumps my sap into the steam table pan so I would just pump through the copper line and then put a tee at the end so if I shut off the flow to the preheater pan it will just recirulate back to the tank, this way the line always has flow. I'll know more once the sap starts flowing. I'll post the next photos in the following posts. Thanks again for all the great info on here and I hope this helps someone out.

[For_the_kids]

Here are the next 5 pictures

[For_the_kids]

And the last 4 photos here

[Danielb]

I love it. Awesome design, I really like the way you did your stack, and allowing room for a steam pan to sit up there. Stove glass in the door? I used to work for a glass company, and wish I still had the access to put a piece of neoceram in my door to watch the inferno...

[For_the_kids]

Yes it is stove glass. I picked up two pieces of it on ebay for $25. I thought it was worth it to see the fire cooking.

[Johnny Yooper]

Very nice build. I did a similar build about 6 years ago with one of those 275 gal. oil tanks. I have been using the copper coil wrapped around stovepipe preheater as well......I pump 40F sap in and it exits the other end around 180F and goes into the smaller of two pans.

[Cjadamec]

That's a nice oil tank evaporator. I like that shelf too. I might try to copy that next year to add one of my old steam table pans back into the mix.

On the copper coil heater make plans so that you can flush it with fresh water and let it run dry when needed. I use sharkbite style fittings on the end of my preheater so I can remove the valves as needed to protect them from the heat.

You want to avoid recirculating preheated sap back to your storage barrel that you feed the evaporator with. You want to keep that tank cold to keep the raw sap from spoiling.

I would place the tee on the outlet of the pump and before the preheater that way you can re-circ the cold sap back to the tank and use a valve on the tee to control the flow into the preheater to match evaporation rate. If you add a stack coil you will want a valve on the outlet of the coil to create backpressure in the coil and keep sap from flashing to steam in the coil. I can dig up some pictures of how I have mine setup if you are interested.

[For_the_kids]

Cjadamec, thanks for all the info about the pre heating. If you have time and wouldn't mind posting some pics of your pre-heater I would appreciate it. How many wraps and what size copper do you use? Thanks

[Cjadamec]

I will be boiling tonight to finish up my pan before it freezes I will snap a few pics then.

I have 3/8" copper refrigeration tubing wrapped around the stack. Not sure how many wraps exactly but there is about 40 feet worth of tubing in my preheater. That's on an 8" stack. It can easily keep up with the 13gph my pan needs putting out sap at or near boiling.

[woodguyrob]

I will be boiling tonight to finish up my pan before it freezes I will snap a few pics then.

I have 3/8" copper refrigeration tubing wrapped around the stack. Not sure how many wraps exactly but there is about 40 feet worth of tubing in my preheater. That's on an 8" stack. It can easily keep up with the 13gph my pan needs putting out sap at or near boiling.

Is your tubing exposed or insulated and covered?