Steam hood venting

[smitty76]

We are moving our evaporator to a new location this year and are looking for differrent hoods. This new location does not have a cupola either, so we will have to figure something out. One of the reasons we added the fan was so that when the hood doors were opened, the fan would clear the steam so that there was good visibility of the sap boiling in the pans. Our guests could get a better picture of what was really going on in there. We did not need it to get the steam out, it just did a better job of it.

Smitty

[maple flats]

That visibility likely drops the rate of evaporation. You get the best rate when you slightly raise the temp in the hood. Sucking it free of steam is not doing that, it drops the temperature in the hood.

[smitty76]

I would agree. the doors of the hood are only open for show and tell. They spend 99 percent of the time closed. in theory, if the suction of the fan actually produces slight vaccum(if any, ever so slight) it will increase the rate of evaporation. However, this fan produces very, very little vaccum and probably does not make any difference. We are happy with the rate we get and our new setup will most likely not have an exhaust fan on the steam hoods.

[Linda R]

Chris hi this is Linda from Whitehall, NY My Husband John has just installed the same RO that you have. This will be his first year using RO. He wanted me to ask what do you wash RO with? He boiled 40 gals. of syrup last year and we could have boiled more but did not have RO. If you would you can email me at LdyWalleye@aol.com or go to facebook...I am Ldywalleye there too...Thanks for information102_1033.jpg