Reasonable/Acceptable GPH boil rate on a 2 x 5.5 with a steam hood?

[Pdiamond]

I do have it switched and marked AUF. Along with it is a string of LED lights that go all around the inside of my 12 x 16 Sugar House. This lets me know when the blower is on and when its off. This was also my first boil of the year, late start. Hoping to squeeze at least another week or two in, praying for the weather to hold for a longer season. Trees are still looking good.

[Super Sapper]

It sounds like you may be adding too much wood at a time. Is there a layer of coals? If so you need to add less wood more often as the coals will slow down your boil.

[pete3046]

I have a 2x4 SL drop flue on an old Leader arch. I was getting around 12gph for the first few boils. I added board insulation and fire brick under the flues, decreasing the air space from around 5” to 1.5” along with adding a few feet of stack, from 8’ to 10’ and increased my boil by about 5gph. I should be able to get 20+gpm.

[sap seeker]

That is how my SL 2 x 4 raised flue evaporator is set up, and I boiled off 325 gallons last Sunday in 6.5 hrs, straight sap no RO. Made 6 gallons of syrup. Used wrist size hardwood, beech, ash, and maple. We fired every 6 to 8 minutes.

That is an insane rate for a 2x4, dropped, raised, or turbocharged!

[red/one]

I have a homemade arch with flat pans and AUF. 2'x3' and 2'x33". This year I started out with about 13gph. The wood was hickory and had been slightly wet. I changed to dry fist/wrist sized cherry on the last boil and pulled just over 20gph. The fire box is insulated and bricked, no ramp to the back pan. Its a wall till about 2.5" under the pan, then flat to the stack. The back pan was boiling pretty good. I was firing every 7 minutes and like gbeneke stated my pants got real hot when the door was open. The bricks were glowing.

[Old County Road]

Thanks Super Sapper - I will definitely try adding less wood more frequently - that should help to keep the boil from slowing down in the syrup pan. How many sticks of wood per firing would you recommend? In terms of coals I didn't really have much when I fired and what I did have I was pushing to the back of the arch under the flues.

[Super Sapper]

I try to keep the firebox approx. 1/3 full and do not add based on time. I use stack temp to let me know when I need to add more and if coals start to build up I add a few pieces of soft wood to get the coals down. The fire is hot enough that I can instantly start a piece of hardwood on fire when touching the plate protecting the door insulation when the door is open.

[Old County Road]

I will tinker this weekend based on everyone's suggestions and report back. Unfortunately my sugar house is about 200 miles away so I only get up there on weekends mostly. I am splitting my wood I am bringing from home much smaller, and I should be able to focus more on boiling as I will have help this weekend.

I should have between 400 & 500 gallons to boil by Saturday - so hopefully I can do this in 12 - 16 hours at maybe 30 gph instead of 30 to 40 hours at 13 gph!

[woodguyrob]

We finished up our season here in CT. on my SL Dauntless. Our last two boils using a 20" x 4' flat pan avg.d 11.5 GPH . It took a few boils to dial it in but wood size, timed firing and type of wood made a huge difference. Hoping to get up a little higher next year. I would think you'll be able to jack up your GPH with a little fine tuning. Especially with a drop flue are your flues sooted up?

[Old County Road]

Sorry to hear your season is over in CT. Were you able to make much while you had sap flows? 11.5 gph seems pretty darn good for your pan so you must have gotten your system down pretty nicely.

In terms of my drop flues being sooty - they were/are blackish when I started the season but it wasn't caked on. If cleaning flues is beneficial I will definitely do that for next year.