Put out the pressure gauge and one tap. No sap at the spout. 10 PSI on the gauge. Sunny and mid 40s today, but with the cold ground, little melting. Similar weather forecast for the next few days. That may wake up the trees.
Started syrup building preparation. Set out the 325 gallon permeate tank, 225 collecting tank, and the 200 gallon extra storage tank. Swept the floor. Picked up angle iron that is 1 ½” wide by 48” long. The flue pan will it on this as it spans the width of back of the evaporator. Used flat iron last season, which did give support to the pan, but was warping by the end of the season due to the heat. Angle iron should be stronger.
Completed repairs to the R/O. Replaced the defuser that broke last season. It’s the part on the bottom of the pressure vessel. We’ll check it at the end of the season for wear. We also have a spare on hand now.
Also replaced the low pressure gauge on the R/O. The manufacture sent us a high pressure gauge: 0 – 600 PSI. It would have worked but, would have been hard to read because the scale wasn’t fine enough. We need to monitor for 20 – 40 PSI which wouldn’t move the dial much on the high pressure gauge. We ordered a 0 – 100 PSI gauge online. It was described as 2 ½” diameter, but was actually 2 ¼” diameter. We rigged up gaskets from 1/16” and 1/8” silicon material to hold the gauge in place. Turns out, the 2 ¼” diameter was advantageous as a 2 ½” diameter gauge would have been a real challenge to install because the slot it fits into is only slightly larger than 2 ½” which didn’t leave room to get a gauge in or out. Until this is proven in production, there is always concern the repair won’t work.