Bad mistake and close call

[mass maple]

I lost a run my 1st year so I know it sucks. I had a pan over a grill and I went in the house when it was lower and almost syrup, bad idea. This week I was boiling in my barrel set up with three hours sleep after another night with 5 hours sleep. around 2 am I was sitting in a chair watching it and it was nice and warm form the fire. I was nodding off so I pulled the warming trays and put the sap inside the basement.

[johnpjackson]

I got back on the horse last night, finally. We had a break in the sap running for a bunch of days and I used the time to add the dead man timer and shutoff feature to my setup. That turned out very well. The propane flows as long as either the manual on/off switch or the countdown timer switch is turned on. If you leave the manual switch turned off, then the timer switch will shut off the propane valve when whatever countdown time you set it to runs out. I was using it when it got late last night and I was fighting off falling asleep. 20 minutes is about when I need to refill my warming tank, each time. The scheme worked great!

[Sugar Bear]

The one great thing about letting unattended syrup blow up is that after you do it one time you will likely never do it again.

[johnpjackson]

I did go to sleep last night instead of boil. I was too tired from the night before, boiling all night, to trust I could do it again last night..

[red/one]

The difference between we are good and uh-oh. Last nights boil became panic when I thought the float box was set right but it was not. It looked good for the start up but then the temps started to fluctuate and I opened the draw off and a trickle came out. It got to +11 before I could fill an uh-oh bucket. You dont have to fall asleep to have a bad day in the saphouse. You have to be on your toes for sure.

[DrTimPerkins]

OK...I know I've said it many times, but things happen really quickly once you get close to syrup. Here is why...let's assume 4 gal/hr boil rate on a small rig.

To go from 2-5 Brix, you have to boil off 26.5 gal of water (6.3 hrs).
To go from 5-10 Brix, you boil another 8.8 gal water (2.2 hrs)
To go from 10-30, you boil off 5.9 gal water more. (1.5 hrs)
To go from 30-60 Brix (close to syrup), another 1.5 gal water (0.38 hrs or 22 min).
But to go from 60-67 Brix, you only need to boil off another 0.2 gal water (0.05 hrs or 3 min). Happens in the blink of an eye at the end there. Takes even less time to go from 67 Brix to black char. Kind of like a steam-roller rolling down a steep hill...except the steam-roller will eventually reach peak velocity (based upon the steepness of the hill and the friction with the road). The evaporator has no peak velocity...it just keeps going faster until it all turns black and the sugar catches fire.

So in that total of 10.4 hrs of boiling...not paying attention in the last 3 min can really turn things into a bad day quickly.

[therealtreehugger]

OK...I know I've said it many times, but things happen really quickly once you get close to syrup. Here is why...let's assume 4 gal/hr boil rate on a small rig.

To go from 2-5 Brix, you have to boil off 26.5 gal of water (6.3 hrs).
To go from 5-10 Brix, you boil another 8.8 gal water (2.2 hrs)
To go from 10-30, you boil off 5.9 gal water more. (1.5 hrs)
To go from 30-60 Brix (close to syrup), another 1.5 gal water (0.38 hrs or 22 min).
But to go from 60-67 Brix, you only need to boil off another 0.2 gal water (0.05 hrs or 3 min). Happens in the blink of an eye at the end there. Takes even less time to go from 67 Brix to black char. Kind of like a steam-roller rolling down a steep hill...except the steam-roller will eventually reach peak velocity (based upon the steepness of the hill and the friction with the road). The evaporator has no peak velocity...it just keeps going faster until it all turns black and the sugar catches fire.

So in that total of 10.4 hrs of boiling...not paying attention in the last 3 min can really turn things into a bad day quickly.

I have always understood the general concept, but it really drives it home when you put numbers to it! I didn’t realize it could happen that fast!
Thanks Dr. Tim!

[richwilly]

I was once helping son with school work when got a whiff of the smell of something .went out to garage where i was boiling to a filled garage of smoke.smoke billowing out of open garage door ,someone had pulled over i waved like nothing out of ordinary here smell lingered for a few weeks.