My biggest investment for 2023 will be a new pan for my cinder block evaporator.

Changes for 2023, I will be dropping down from 109 taps to 80 and if the new recommendations come out against double taps, it will be more like 68 taps.

I will have a pan that will be sitting on top, instead of the five steam pans sitting inside. I will redesign my evaporator slightly because of that, which should help to keep the heat and smoke better inside the evaporator.

My evaporator this year had a lot of heat on the front two thirds of the evaporator and a fair drop off in heat on the last third, which makes me afraid of any two pan system. Flue pans are outside my price range.

That sort of leaves a 2x5 flat pan or 2x5 divided pan.

I really like the idea of a float box. I know I can use a float box with a divided pan, not sure if it typical to use one with a flat pan. I like the idea of maintaining the sap level in the pan with the float box.

I like the idea of a divided pan, but I worry if I have enough sap volume for it, especially if my RO is working and it halves the volumes.

If I have a float box, I will design my sugar shelter to have a head tank and I would pump concentrate from my garage to the head tank.

Thanks for any suggestions.