Converted evaporator to fuel oil

[afretired]

Today I finished converting my Lapierre 2X8 evaporator to fuel oil. I found a new Beckett CF800 burner on eBay and got it mounted on the evaporator. Had to make a new front out of 1/2 plate steel to replace the doors. More ceramic wool insulation inside. It really wasn’t that hard after I got it figured out. The directions were not real clear on how to set up the burner and run the electrical connections. It will get boiling in just a couple of minutes from a cold start. Right now it is maintaining a stack temperature of 550. Tomorrow we are actually going to cook some sap. We have about 400 gallons ready to go just waiting in the milk tank.

[afretired]

After the first day of cooking with the fuel oil burner, I wish I had converted it years before. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The way it is set, it burns 6.7 gph, and maintains the stack temperature at 560 +/- 5 degrees. Additional benefits; warmer sugar shack since not fanning the doors packing in wood. Cleaner sugar shack since no wood or ash. Lots of time to sit down and talk. Now to think about a RO...

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[maple flats]

How loud is it? That's my biggest concern about going to fuel oil. Because of my concern about the noise I've been thinking propane, tube burners instead but I hear getting enough gas pressure can be a problem if boiling when the temps drop to 25F and below.

[afretired]

It isn’t any louder than the blower I was using with wood. I first thought about propane, but after looking at a burner big enough I changed my mind. Fuel oil (diesel) has a lot mor BTUs than propane, also diesel is a lot easier and cheaper to deal with. If I run out, I can go down to the local gas station and get a couple five gallons of fuel. With propane, I would need a 500 gallon tank, and if I ran out it would cost me an emergency run from the gas company. I have a 2x8, and Lapierre suggested a Carlin 301 gas burner, it burns a stream of gas as big as your finger. A 120 pound cylinder would last about 3 hours.

[maple flats]

As I was looking into propane my thought was a 1000 gal tank, then get it filled as it reached about 40%. I'm still concerned that the propane would struggle at lower temperatures.
The gun club I belong to has a 1000 gal tank, and a 2,500,000 BTU variable propane burner (the colder it is, the bigger the flame) but when it gets down to zero (F) it doesn't keep up. At 20 it does fine. That is a different animal for sure. It heats air in the incoming ventilation air, flows from the wall behind the shooters to the targets, then exits to the outdoors. So the air being heated is always whatever the outdoor temperature is. Definitely not efficient by any means. I realize that it's a rare thing if I'd ever be boiling when it got to 0F, but what about 15F? I don't know if it would boil hard enough then, and that has happened, warm day, sap runs good, then a cold front arrives and it goes to 15F or even lower that evening.
afretired, was that blower a HP blower that you're comparing it to?

[afretired]

I think you have a valid concern with the cold, it would be hard for the gas to vaporize efficiently and provide the correct amount of pressure. You list a 3x8 evaporator, it would take half again as much gas as my 2x8, and I checked with a HVAC guy and I would have to plumb it with 1” black iron pipe. Your RO will save you a bunch but it will still burn quite a bit. I had a double squirrel cage blower blowing from the back into the bottom of the arch under the grate. I was burning cabinet shop scraps, blocks that were 3/4x2” cut offs of varying lengths, 2” -12”. I would throw a five gallon bucket full in about every 5 minutes. I went through a lot of wood, but it was free, and burned extremely hot. However the cabinet shop closed down. I thought about putting the propane tank on the sunny side of my sugar shack, to help in the vaporization. But it isn’t the good days you need to worry about, it’s like you stated, those cold days. With the diesel, I ran 3/8 copper and it doesn’t matter how cold it is.