is preheater really worth it?

[For_the_kids]

up until this year I used 4 steam table pans set down inside the fire to act as drop flue pans. I had a small pump system that would trickle feed cold sap into each pan seperatly. This was all on a concrete block arch made from the big roadside concrete blocks. I never lost a rolling boil doing it this way and I was able to hit 12 GPH several times throughout the season but 10 GPH was very normal. I never ladeled any sap until the end when I would move the sap forward to finish up, once a pan was empty I would fill it with water. I added a picture of what my setup was. when I acheived 12 GPH I would block the top 2/3 of the door opening with a big green log up on a couple bricks so that air was drawn from under the fire grate. once my door was burned up too much I would make a new one.

[tommymc]

Hello All,

I am running a very DIY setup compared to everyone else's but I have a question about preheaters. Right now, I am running a setup with two hotel pans, end to end, and batch boiling everything. Usually I just add cold sap to both and let it boil down a while, and add more. This boil I'm going to use one as the preheater and use a ladle every so often to let the other one keep a roiling boil. Do you think keeping a rolling boil will actually helps with boil times? Or is it just about pumping BTUs into the sap?
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I think you would benefit from a pre-heater. In my opinion, it's all about maintaining the boil, and you're losing the boil every time you add cold sap. You might consider a DIY gravity fed preheater like I use. It consists of a tub (which I lay a filter cloth over) with a short pipe and valve draining out the bottom. This is attached to copper tubing coiled around the stove pipe and draining into a corner of the pan. I have the coil wrapped with aluminum foil to hold the heat. The idea is to create a trickle of warm sap that (ideally) matches evaporation. It can be a balancing act getting the trickle just right, but it generally works well. You have to be careful to keep a steady flow, otherwise the sap will boil in the tubing and plug it up. When all the sap is gone, I redirect the end of the tubing off to the side and just run water through the tubing until I finish the boil.

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[maple flats]

I’ve been on both sides of pre-heating and I will say hands down that preheating is the only way imho. If you can fashion a hood to capture the heat of your steam and put a pre-heater inside the hood, you’re gonna bump evap rate up. Teach yourself how to solder and build a preheater. I built a preheater similar to the one that smoky lake maple sells for around 1k,cold sap going in and 170-180 after it’s gone through the preheater. I cobbled a hood out of a stainless drum from a clothes dryer that I cut in half,cost me $0.00.
Good luck and good sugaring!!

http://mapletrader.com/community/att...0&d=1550849505

I'll bet your wife got upset when she went to dry the cloths!

[In da bush]

I'll bet your wife got upset when she went to dry the cloths!

There’s a reason I’m not married😜🤣
It was from the "pile of treasures",no working clothes dryers were harmed in the construction of the hood

[Trapper2]

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I constantly trickle 40 degree sap into my top pan to preheat and then it exits that slowly at 80-100 degrees. Darn sidways picture.

[woodguyrob]

I think a pre heater makes a huge difference. A coil preheater is easy to make and has a short learning curve. When I originally started using mine I did what what tommymc did., run water through it when there was no more sap. I stopped doing that and found no issues with burnt sap in the tube. When I start a new boil I just catch the first pint or two in a coffee can in case there's anything burnt in the tube. I us 3/8" copper. It also comes in handy to make hot water at clean up.

[Michael Greer]

It's all about BTUs. You get them from your fuel, and add them to your liquid. A preheater should capture wasted or lost BTUs from steam of flue heat. Steam is a better heat-transfer medium. Simply adding more fuel isn't really a preheater, jut a bigger evaporator.

[Muddy Bottoms]

A preheated pan can be made very simply.

Another restaurant tray, a step drill, and a cheap brass ball valve with a threaded nipple on one end. The steam trays are typically 24 gauge stainless. Very thin. Once the right diameter hole is drilled, the threaded nipple will screw right into the tray with nothing else on the backside.

I like to set mine on trickle so I get a few minutes to do other stuff. If you set that trickle tray on top, you would only need to ladle from the one pan to the finish pan without losing to much boil. HTH.

[Gremlin]

There’s a reason I’m not married😜🤣
It was from the "pile of treasures",no working clothes dryers were harmed in the construction of the hood

I knew there was a reason I am keeping that old dryer stored in the shed. Have to take a closer look at that.

(In da bush - Mid Coast Maine - Back in the day I spent several years in Rockland and some time up in Gods Country - Lubec. Beautiful country)

[In da bush]

It is indeed beautiful out here,I grew up in the Midwest and did some time in the NE wisco area. I’m a big fan of western and northern wisco these days. Happy boiling!!!