Sugarhouse plans

[rgmaple]

Where do other producers get building plans for building? Any recommendations in Vermont? Looking for larger Sugarhouse/RO area/Sap tanks/Vacuum pump plans. Rebuilding. Old Sugarhouse is 40 yrs old.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Get out and visit as many sugarhouses as you can. Most sugar makers are more than happy to show you their place and talk maple if you ask. There’s a large range of options from a full commercial setup to a more traditional design but setup for the modern equipment you mentioned above. We’re going to max. Out at only 800-1000 taps but after drawing it up, we want at least a 28x40 sugarhouse which is what we have settled on. The Vermont guys will chime in and will have some good knowledge of requirements for VT and maybe offer you a visit. A few essentials we considered:
-Head tank and permeate tank overhead. Let gravity work with you. Place them over the RO room, less plumbing.
-Bulk tanks under cover is nice to have.
-Don’t skimp on electrical. Know how big you want to be and get enough amperage. The big RO’s draw a lot of power. In any case, I’d go 200 Amps minimum if a new service is needed.
-Leave enough room around all tanks and equipment to be able to clean everything.
-A kitchen of some sorts is nice. We are planning an insulated kitchen in the back of the shack.

[rgmaple]

We have an idea of what we want. We need plans drawn up to proceed. Looking for names of good architects that know this industry.

[maple flats]

How many taps are you planning on, max? Then work from there.
I have never been a fan of a head tank in the sugarhouse. I far prefer an attached raised platform on the north side, or at least a side where the sun won't be a major factor and high enough to feed a sap heater in the hood on the evaporator. Certainly that can all be run using pumps, but gravity works 100% of the time and never breaks down. Pump the concentrate from the RO to the head tank, then gravity from there.
In building there's an old formula that can help, figure what size you need, then double it and in the end you will have half enough.
Good luck!

[VT_K9]

In 2018 we when from a shanty town of a sugarhouse (many smaller buildings connected) to a 28 x 60 sugarhouse. Right now we are adding a 15 1/2' addition to the garage area. We have a 28x20 evaporator room where we have a 1600 gallon raw sap tank and 1100 gallon permeate tank. Then a 14x28 area which is the kitchen and ro room. The rest is the garage area where we storage the 330 gallon diesel tank (we use diesel for the evaporator and equipment). We store a mini ex and 70hp tractor inside during the winter.

We put the addition on so we can work in the garage area over the winter without having to move a piece of equipment outside. If the evaporator area needs more space the raw sap tank can be moved outside and we would build a lean-to off the back of the sugarhouse to keep it out of the weather. Our walls are 12' tall since we were not sure about minimum stack height and not wanting to have guy wires to manage. This allowed for a 2nd floor over the RO and Kitchen area along with some other areas for storage.

Early on we talked about making the garage longer, but we all know how that story goes....could have built a 28x100 building and not had enough room.

For power we ran a 100 amp service from my house under ground. We have about 90 available amps. Last year with adding a second post we are about 80 amps for normal operations. This year we are installing a primary line underground (about 642'). We were told a 400 amp transformer was cheaper than a 200 so that is what is on order.

If you would like to see our sugarhouse let me know.

Thanks,

Mike