building a stove for boiling sap??

[Fundyheather]

I just lately chopped a $100 stove, but will have to wait until next season to brick it up and try it out.  The pan is about 26" x 40."  Need to have a very good grinder, torch and 220 buzz box welder.  You kind of move the stove parts around a bit, then weld on an angle iron deck to rest your pans on.  This one turned out to have room back beside the stove pipe for a frying pan on one side and a tea kettle on the other.   

A look at mapletrader.com would be very much in your interest.

Good luck.

[thecfarm]

Pretty clever guy I see. I like that.
I am really leaning towards a 2x2 pan. Brenda has a bum knee and has a hard time walking alot. That keeps her down to only a few taps,12. I think I have the metal to make a stove. I still have to check on that.
Thank you for the mapletrader link.
I like the green grass in the back ground too.

[thecfarm]

That link is great!!!!
I like the way you turned the angle iron,keeps the pan in place. I planned on having mine flat. Thank you.

[Fundyheather]

thanks, my favourite place at mapletrader is the homemade equipment section.

That angle iron top is built so I can suddenly yank the finished pan off the stove onto a yet unbuilt rolling cart.  Probably elevate the whole thing a foot at install time so I don't have to bend over so far to load wood in it.  The upright hollow sleeves at the very back will accept 2 square tubes for a set of back legs that extend skyward to support a future hood.  The 2 internal square tubes in the firebox supply more air to the main fire with a minor secondary supply under the back of the pan.

Don't feel at all bad about anything you may come up with.  I was lately at a pro camp helping out in the middle of the night where the new pressure hose to the filter thing blew up - got a syrup shower with both the owners, followed immediately by a rubber boot syrup skating scene of enormous hilarity... at least on my part.   

[thecfarm]

That piece of metal is 4'X6'.  ;D Than I have another smaller piece that I found too. That should do it. I might go with 6 inch steel pipe than when I go through the roof I will need at least a 3 foot section of insulated pipe. I might need 2 sections because of the roof vent too. The pipe will be close to it. Looks like I will be building a stove. Trying,I said trying,to keep the price down on this adventure.
Looks like a 2x2 pan will be used.
Stove will be on cement,the floor will be wood. I will have a woodshed in the back and the feed door will be facing the back. Don't want to have to carry the wood to the front of the sugar shack. Be easier for Brenda too.
I kinda plan on grates in the stove too,with a ash pan. Does it matter,will it help,or make things worse? I only have cement blocks now and have the fire right on the ground. Seems to work well.

This was from 2 years ago,but the same thing I am using now.



 

[Fundyheather]

Nice piece of steel, and if it works I hesitate to quibble about it, but...

It's more typical to have the pan directly over the fire rather than sitting on a metal plate.  As you have it, the fire needs to first warm up the iron top plate, maybe jump some air gap (as pans tend to be un level) then warm up the pan, then evaporate cold sap  maybe against a draft.  Steel and stainless steel are good, but not wonderful heat conductors; only meaning you are going to use more than usual wood, if that matters. 

Some folks on Mapletrader rig block walls like yours the width of those stainless steel chafing pans you see at a hotel buffet and drop them right in beside each other in a row front to back. Might be cheaper than the pan you have in mind.  (Note that ordinary black iron pans were used before stainless came in.)   

Grates are important, any way to get air under the fire is good.  I see people using angle iron on bricks, old cast iron radiators are spoken well of, and an air blast from a car vacuum or little squirrel cage fan is popular. 

These folks are using a similar method to yourself, except they have a stove with the lids removed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HunocfQ9pyg&ebc=ANyPxKrzYjJR5YKG1jG2u5qyUXzMIc6SMLiEvLz7CudodGSpMTTo88aWh4rwrj73AqfJBCn7NTKeR3u9YBMvdhvte73BT13xcQ

and here is the chafing pan approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w4bxvVYgag

good luck!

[thecfarm]

There is a hole under that pan.



 

That is a piece of SS that will not be used for the stove.Yes,the stove will be open like yours. Yes,flames on the pan is good. I need to have a spigot to drain the sap off. Yes,I could do it with the buffet trays,both of us have looked at them more than once. Yes,I want to keep the cost down,but want it to be easy for her to enjoy too.
Than we have a bigger SS kettle,3-4 gallon, that we keep on the back to prewarm the sap.Just about where the fry pan is in this picture.We take from the kettle to fill the frying pan. We get some rolling boils in the kettle too.

[Corley5]

Here's my new arch.



 

[thecfarm]

Well!!! Talk about showing up at a knife fight with a gun.  ;D That does look good. 

[62oliver]

This is what I use

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=202588#top_display_media

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Hey Ray - We bought a 2x4 evaporator and stainless steel flow pan set up from a guy who makes them in NH. Came with a small warming tank as well. I can't access the gallery or I'd post a picture but if you PM me an e-mail address I can send them to you. Nice work and I think it was less than $1200 for arch, Leader pipe adapter, 2 stainless steel flow tanks, stainless steel warming tank, all plumbed up, insulation blanket and firebrick included. You can get it made cheaper if you have access to the fire brick, etc. We had 11 taps out (this was our first time making syrup) and we only have time to boil on weekends so it worked out great for us. We ended up with 2.625 gallons for the season. Wife says a sugar shack is on the to-do list for this summer!
Rich

[Bruno of NH]

DMF
Was the guy from Plainfield nh who made the arch ? Andress ?
Bruno

[patvetzal]

I had a SS pan, 30"X 48" that was made by a welder buddy. I then had a 3/4 ' hub brazed into one corner for a drain valve. The whole thing just sat on an frame made of 2" angle iron. It held about 30 gallons of sap. The spaces between the legs I filled with sheet steel from an old oil tank along with a 6" chimney at one end. The other end we just closed off with another piece of sheet steel which we lifted off to add wood.
When burning we added about 5-8 gallon of sap/hour, then once it got to a certain stage we would let the fire die and drain off 10 gallons of thin syrup to go into a propane fired finishing pot. This had a 1/2" drain valve so we could put it through the filters ..
I say I had a pan, because last Tuesday someone drove up to the barn and loaded the pan into their pickup truck, leaving me with the frame which was  frozen into the mud....

[thecfarm]

$1200 for an arch!!!    I can't do that. I'm crying the blues about spending $200-250 for just a pan. But thank you. I have all the materials kicking around here. Firebrick I can get from work at a discount,chimney too.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I have my barrel evaporator I built last year with 2 pans. Never even used it. I'd give it to you Ray if you want, but you have to come get it. Add some fire brick and some insulation and you'd be good to go.

 

[thecfarm]

Thanks for the offer. But I need a spigot on each pan. Yes,I'm fussy,but this is for the wife. She is not to stable on her feet. Even on a good day. She can trip just walking across the living room floor. I sure don't want her tipping a pan up with hot maple syrup. A spigot cost about $40 at my cost,that is a SS one.
That sure does look good!!!!

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Ray, just buy two of these from Amazon. Both would be less than $40. Drill a hole in the pans and install. You can't build something cheaper than the gas you use to get this one from me.

http://www.amazon.com/Boroux-Stainless-Steel-Spigot-Dispensers/dp/B0170M9DPS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

[Engineer]

I have my barrel evaporator I built last year with 2 pans. Never even used it. I'd give it to you Ray if you want, but you have to come get it. Add some fire brick and some insulation and you'd be good to go.

 

How would you brick up and insulate a barrel stove for syrup production?  Inquiring minds and all that, because I have an old barrel evaporator that needs a new pan, and it's never been bricked or insulated.  I haven't used it in years.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Hey Engineer,

Just google it or head of to Mapletraders.com. There are many methods that guys use to block up the back half to get the fire closer to the rear pan in a drum evaporator.

Rich