trying to build a home made evaporator

[superscout73]

Im trying to build a home made evaporator. Any pictures, designs, and plans you could forward on to me would be a great help. I have some pans. Id like to use a barrel or tank for the arch. Thanks for your help. ~DAVE

[JPD]

I have built a couple of homemade pans and arches, the best and most efficient one was made with cement blocks with sand filled cores. the second one i built from and old wood fired boiler i cut the top off and extended it to fit my pans, but the fire box wasn't quite big enough for the size pans i had made. if you make it from the cement blocks it will hold alot of heat after you shut down so make sure you have enough sap. the sand filled cores keep the outside of the blocks fairly cool too. You can actually touch the side without taking your skin off, which was nice with my little girls running around.

[Gravel]

I have built a few and I think its easier to build one out of angle iron than it is to build one out of a barrel, I guess it depends how much money you want to spend. I built my last one out of old bed frames I picked up beside the road for free.