I started my fourth and final boil test this morning at 8 am, the ambient temperature was 40° F (4° C) and there was a slight breeze. All went well, pans 1 and 2 (1 being closest to the door) boiled first and pan 3 was right behind and all 3 boiled vigorously throughout the test. Pan 4 was what the test was all about. It did come to a moderate boil, but it took an hour to do so. Near the end of the test I removed the pan and saw the two metal plates that were below it, that were designed to keep the flames from overheating the sides of the pans. Pan 4 was over the arch, so the fear of flames was very minimal, so I removed the two plates, stoked up the fire again and almost immediately pan 4 came to a vigorous boil. It did not boil quite as crazy as the other 3, but it had a good boil on it. Once I removed the plate, I could see flames running under pan 3 to under pan 4. The flames never went between the two pans.

Pan 5 was meant to be a preheat pan. The water got very hot and had bubbles in it, but did not boil.

Some questions:

I had my gas powered leaf blower and running at idle speed, it turned the firebox into an inferno, however, some flames and sparks came out from under the door and the draft out the stovepipe completely stopped. As soon as I removed the blower, the draft up the chimney started immediately up again. Is this supposed to happen? What I ultimately did, was to fire up the leaf blower for about 15 seconds or so, about a minute before I would add wood again.

With pans 1 to 3 running equally as hot and pan 4 boiling well, but not as well, would I take the sap from preheat pan 5 and put into pan 1 and then to 2 then 3 then 4?

While this is going on, I will have 2, 5 quart pots boiling on an induction stove near by. It comes to a boil about every 20 minutes. Which pan should I dump the boiling sap into, pan 1?

I did have some smoke come out between the blocks and the pan and between the door and the blocks. Definitely I will have to get gasket and ceramic blanket material to make the evaporator more air tight. I do have a call into CDL and they do have material in stock, so he will help me find the correct material for my application.

There was also some smoke coming out minor openings between the cinder blocks. I will tighten up those areas. Not sure if I should add some heat resistant caulking to any of the spaces between the blocks.

Three observations from the test, one is to have a chair nearby, two is you have be eagle eyed through the steam to make sure a pan’s sap level does not go too far down. I had one pan where the water level expectantly was low. I thought I had been watching for that, but with the steam, it can sneak up on you. The third is that the pans are heavy with liquid in them and they can slosh back and fourth in the pan. I will be sure to scoop it as much as I can before lifting it.

Thanks for any advice.

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