I have the exciting opportunity to build a brand new evaporator room, hopefully starting with the 2026 season. I've been boiling for the past 15 years in 12'x16' sugarhouse that is currently a 30 minute drive away so not very convenient. My operations are expanding in our new home/area and my son wants to help us expand. I already have a 12'x16' commercial kitchen space here that we will handle all the packing and has space for an RO. I'm looking to add a room onto that structure that will house just the evaporator.

I currently have a 2'x6' evaporator but I'd like to size the room for a 3'x10' evaporator that I would eventually have. I know they say build bigger, but I'm thinking of a 16'x20' room. That would give me 5' of room on one side and 8' on the draw-off side, 3' on the stack side and 7' in front. I don't plan on a lot of visitors but if we did I think I would increase the length of the room to 24' so I'd have over 10' in front.

I'm planning on having a concrete floor with trenches and metal grate drains. I've read that it's not a good idea to use schedule 40 PVC pipe as it will warp with hot water but I'm thinking the water would be cool enough in a concrete trench before hitting the pipe.

Does all that sound reasonable? I'll have some other design questions but for now, I'm trying to pin down the floor space because I'll need to put that down before I know it.