# Maple Evaporator



## JBIV

Excellent build!!!!


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## DirtySteve

Man this a really nice setup. Thanks.for sharing


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## Wild Thing

_You Da Man FSU. Nice work!_


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## Luv2hunteup

Did you get more work done on your arch and pans this weekend?


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## FSUfishin

No I didnt do too much with it. I had to finish my pre-heat pan and tack all of my drain connections so my tig welder guy could get going(2 weeks). So I fired up my old barrel arch and cooked about 45 gallons Saturday, made a rack for a 55 gallon drum on the tractor to make sap gathering easier, painted the new arch and made a small transfer pump skid to move sap from tank to tank. Working on the flue and draft blower connections now. I will post pics as it starts coming together. Here is the transfer pump skid.


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## FSUfishin

Well, it's been 3 weeks and my tig welder finally got it done. Not the prettiest but it holds water. I am finally able to put the new evaporator together. Here are some progress pictures. It Seems as though it is just in time as the weather is looking outstanding for the final sap flow. These pictures show the exhaust ducts getting mounted and insulating the interior of the arch "tunnel" with ceramic insulation and fire bricks in the burner box. Enjoy! I will continue to post as I update.


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## FSUfishin

Here are some of the copper connections tying the pans together as well as the mounted auto-fill float valve. What a fun project! Now, my wife has me building a suger shack and has already named it!!! Hahaha. This is an evolving obsession!!!! I hope you all enjoy and inspires a few to give it a try!!


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## Scottygvsu

Looking forward to seeing the results of your first boil!


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## Luv2hunteup

Scottygvsu said:


> Looking forward to seeing the results of your first boil!


Up for a drive to Cheboygan?


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## Scottygvsu

Luv2hunteup said:


> Up for a drive to Cheboygan?


Absolutely!


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## Luv2hunteup

Scottygvsu said:


> Absolutely!


Cool. Next big boil I'll get ahold of you. My guess it will be at the beginning of the week.


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## FSUfishin

As I was saying in the maple thread, I got my evaporator set up in the new sugar shack Saturday got the fire bricks placed and vented it. It is temporarily functional. Sunday, I was able to get a test burn and first boil while continuing the sugar shack build so it was a half hearted boil. 

As a re-cap, my old barrel evaporator with a 24"x30" pan was able to do roughly 45-60 gallons a day (12hr boil)depending on my diligence of wood feed. The new Evaporator was able to get through 130 gallons in 9 hours! I think with fine tuning and good wood fire I'll be able to double that. This is exactly what a working man needed when the only time we can boil is on the weekends! If you guys ever thought about upgrading I highly recommend it as now I'm able to boil as much as I'd like! Here are some pictures. Starting with my rig from last year to the new set up. I have since added the cupola for obvious reasons. Hahahaha


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## GuppyII

Very nice! Just what I was looking for. What ga stainless did you use for your pans? I have access to a bunch of 18ga but I think 20 is supposed to be standard for pans.


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## Luv2hunteup

Looks great. I'm sure you'll enjoy it for years to come.


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## FSUfishin

My pans are 20 ga, honestly I don't think going to 18 gauge would affect it much. Unless you are running commercially and daily I don't think you will see the difference. PLUS, with the 20 gauge I could not MIG weld water tight and 18 gauge would make that feasible(this is not a problem if you have a TIG). The only downside would be making a sheet metal break that could handle the 18 gauge. Trying to break the 20 gauge was a pain when it came to the flues I can't imagine trying it out of 18 gauge. A normal sheet metal break will not break a 1" flue so if you attempt to make one I could provide a few recommendations of how I would make it better than what I did.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I think I still have all of my drawings from the pan and evaporator build as well.



GuppyII said:


> Very nice! Just what I was looking for. What ga stainless did you use for your pans? I have access to a bunch of 18ga but I think 20 is supposed to be standard for pans.


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## Wild Thing

Nice job FSU. Has to be nice go boil that fast.


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## GuppyII

FSUfishin said:


> My pans are 20 ga, honestly I don't think going to 18 gauge would affect it much. Unless you are running commercially and daily I don't think you will see the difference. PLUS, with the 20 gauge I could not MIG weld water tight and 18 gauge would make that feasible(this is not a problem if you have a TIG). The only downside would be making a sheet metal break that could handle the 18 gauge. Trying to break the 20 gauge was a pain when it came to the flues I can't imagine trying it out of 18 gauge. A normal sheet metal break will not break a 1" flue so if you attempt to make one I could provide a few recommendations of how I would make it better than what I did.
> 
> If you have any questions feel free to ask. I think I still have all of my drawings from the pan and evaporator build as well.



I don't know if I'm going to drop flues yet, probably just 2 pans. I am going to build an arch like yours though, I should have the material at home to do that and weld it up. I think that will help over a 55 gallon drum setup. The pans I won't be welding up, I'll have one of our tinners do the work, we have the equipment to make about anything so that shouldn't be an issue and a couple of them are pretty good on the tig machine.


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## FSUfishin

Guppy, I would make sure you build the arch to allow for the bottom of your large pan to have flues added later(you will add one day! hahaha. It makes such a difference! If you are doing flat pans, I would definitely make them chambered. Mine are not and while boiling so far I can see how advantageous it would be. Good luck and post your progress pictures! I'd love to see them.


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