New maple syrup evaporator setup, need advice

I bought this 2'x4' stove and pan for $70 at auction last fall. I
have been boiling sap in a steam table pan over an open fire the
last three years and I figured this pan would be a lot better and
at worst I could scrap the stove for as much as I paid for it and
keep the big pan. It looks to me like the stove was set up to use
a 'gun' and burn kerosene or propane or something like that. I
am wondering if it would work to buy a barrel stove door, cut
the opening on the stove bigger and bolt it on so I could burn
wood in the stove. It already has a damper, so I think that would
be okay. My other question is about the firebrick. Should I leave
it in there, take it all out or take some of it out? The pan has two
divisions and the stove is set up so that the smaller compartment
is over the end away from the burner and I am not sure how to
use the two compartments. Any advice about any of this will be
much appreciated. If this stove works out I will build a proper
sugarhouse to put it in before next year.
Zach

You don't need to buy a door. Save the piece you cut out and weld hinges on it. I'd leave the brick in but your firebox will be pretty small. You syrup off in the back pan where it's cooler. Once you get a boil going by drawing off a little or adding some sap to the front the heavier syrup will flow to that end. Make sure you set it up level. If it were a big operation you would have a float valve in the front pan to keep it full.

Zack,
Cowman is right about everything he says. I"d bet that the burner in the past was a small oil burner from say a water heater. That"s the reason for the brick, to protect the metal sides from being burned out quick. If you take the brick out, what"s under the high part? Is the bottom of the firebox high back there too? Seems to be a small space for a wood fire, but I"ve only made syrup over wood a long time ago with gramps at the helm.

Usually the rear section is a preheater and the sap is transferred to the front as it boils down. The firebox is a little small, just means shorter wood and more frequent firing. If the first pic is the smokestack it needs to run wide open, or even take the damper(?) out. There is a lot of info at mapletrader dot com, altho they've changed it, not as good as it was. If the firebrick is about 4" from the bottom of the pan that is good.

If you are going to burn wood, and I would say from looking at your pictures, that would be the way to go. By having the firebrick in there it forces the fire closer to the pan bottom, thus getting a better boil. My commercial evaporator is set up much the same way, but I also fill it nearly up to the pan bottom with sand so that the fire runs closer yet to the pan. My back pan (flue pan) is what they call a raised flue pan,the botton is grossly corragated, the corrugations being about 8 incheds deep. this gives the pan bottom a lot more surface area exposed to the heat. (Irrelevant to your questions) The small pan/ compartment would be in the front, i.e., closest to the door. this will be cooler than at the back where the stack is. I think you will have fun with it!
The other thing to do is to run at least a 6 inch stack and at least 10 feet tall. This gives a much better draft, thus a hotter fire but be prepared to really put the wood to 'er. Really, really dry wood is important also and there is nothing wrong with pine. I try to use pine whenever I can and prefer it.
I dont see in the pictures but is there a draw-off valve on the small front pan so you can draw the finished syrup off? That way you won't have to be bailing it.
....Good sugaring!
Cal

That arch is much better than the pan. Don't remove the firebrick. It will give you a hotter fire. You can get a cast iron door and frame from any masonry dealer or maple dealers like Bascombs in NH among others. There are alot a 2x4 hobby evaporators out there. You will be adding finely split wood (1"x2") every few minutes. You will need to add grates if you burn wood. You probably want two doors; one above the other.

It appears that the stainless sides are hemmed but still very thick for boiling sap. SS is not a good conductor but it is the industry standard. Fabricators will use a much thinner gauge for better heat transfer. The best evaporators are made from copper but are very expensive and rare. A newby is better off with formed and welded SS. I suppose a silver pan would be the ultimate but I have never heard of one.

The small section is the syrup or finishing pan. It should have several baffles to promote a serpentine flow so that you only draw off nearly finished syrup at the end of the maze. The baffles will also stiffen the bottom so that you don't get hot spots if you run a thin syrup level. Thinner is better but very risky.

You may want to add vertical copper tubes to the sap or flue pan. They extend into the shallow flue section of the arch.

There is a very good forum that covers all aspects of maple production. You need to spend some time there. The back-yarders and professionals won't hesitate to answer your questions. Click the link.

The season may have already started in places like SC, NC, and TN. We have had some runs here in eastern MA but it is way too early to tap. The season is about a month away.
Click for Mapletrader.com

I had a pan like that about 30 yrs ago. I took an 80 gallon hot water heater laid it on it's side, cut a notch in one side about 6" front so the pan would sit down in the notch on the edges of the notch. welded a 6" blower pipe flange on the back end, and made a door for the bottom/ front. Laid concrete blocks all the way around it tight to the water heater filled the cores and the space between the heater and blocks with sand and Built a sugar house around it from an old Kasten wagon. Then I bought 2 new garbage cans to use as holding tanks. I used the cut off ends of pine logs as fuel, got them free from where I worked. Later I found I could drill a hole thru the stove pipe, run a small copper tube thru the pipe and have it run into the pan. The sap was almost boiling when it came out of the tube. Even had a light in the sugar house so I could read Louis Lamour while the sap boiled. The whole thing worked great.

You guys are getting way too complex for me. . .