I rarely found the need for an insulated sugarhouse, that is until the last 10 days or so. I ran short on packed syrup and needed to put more up. The last syrup I packed in mid Jan. was bourbon barrel aged syrup and I failed to wash (because the temps had fallen so I could not pump water) the finisher, filter aid mixing tank, the hoses to the filter press, the filter press and the water jacketed bottler. I tried 2x in the last week to get water to my tankless heater, but the supply line is frozen. That line is 1" maple tubing, then it tees off using a SS T, and a braid reinforced 3/4" line feeds the diaphragm pump which pumps water to the cold water outlet, and thru the tankless water heater. It was too cold and I could not get the water (150 gal hauled from home) to flow thru the pump and beyond. I ended up having to dump the 150 gal, so it wouldn't freeze in the tank on my truck.
If my sugarhouse was insulated and heated I could have washed the equipment and bottled more syrup. At this point it looks like I may be able to bottle a week from today, as of now, 37F is forecast, time will tell.
Being 74 now (age not degrees) and t5hinking at best I might not do syrup more than maybe 4-6 more years, I won't likely insulate. If I was 20 years younger I certainly would, but only run the heat when needed. As of now, I only heat a very small RO room, using a propane wall furnace that is only 8000BTU.
I've been doing syrup since 2003, and this is the first time I've run out of syrup to sell, but still had a barrel full I could bottle, but couldn't get it done. That was caused by a few things happening all at the same time. Covid caused my sales to essentially double, then I had a big norder from a regular customer , who bought 20 half gal jugs worth, then a wholesale order (new customer) came in wanting more than I had packed, mostly in smaller sizes. If finally pulled some from my only local retail outlet and got enough of the wholesale order filled to satisfy the customer (and without emptying that retail outlet).
A heated sugarhouse would have prevented this, first I would have cleaned right after I finished bottling the bourbon barrel aged syrup, and just a quick rinse would have done it, or I could have washed on the 2 days I tried without success.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.