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Érablière Côté et Fils is located in Roxton Pond, in the Montérégie region of Québec. This 64,000-tap sugar bush sells most of its product to the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec.

“With the sugar bush, I’m always trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology. That’s why I chose Sequoia,” says co-owner Sébastien Côté.
Sequoia’s Blue Sky energy generator is a hot-water heating unit that runs on biomass fuel (wood). A heated fluid travels through a network of underground pipes to the different buildings.

“I have my sugar shack, the garage where I keep the energy generator, my own house and my father’s house. With just one Blue Sky unit, I can heat all these buildings,” explains Sébastien Côté. Mr. Côté’s sugar shack measures is 70 feet by 120 feet and has a radiant floor system connected to the Sequoia energy generator. The biomass system is also used to produce large volumes of hot water, needed to clean and maintain the evaporator.

Meanwhile, the garage is heated with a Dragon Vert unit equipped with a powerful blower that distributes the heat generated by the biomass system. “In the winter, when I open the door to park my tractor, cold air fills the entire room. But before you know it, the ice on the tractor has melted, and the room is back up to a comfortable temperature. I love how fast the Dragon Vert works,” adds Sébastien Côté.

The sugar bush operator’s house is located about 500 feet from the Blue Sky energy generator. On top of heating the house and the hot water, the biomass system is used to heat a 27-foot swimming pool. Mr. Côté’s swimming season starts in April. The water is always at 95 °F… he refers to his pool as a “giant hot tub”!

There’s also Sébastien’s father’s house, which is about 1,500 feet away from the Blue Sky generator. The fluid has to travel almost a kilometre underground to deliver the energy produced by the generator. “Sequoia was the only company to tell me my central heating project was doable, even with one of my buildings being so far away. The pipe that carries the fluid isn’t that big; it’s actually standard dimensions. So it’s affordable, and I don’t lose any heat to the ground. There’s not even one degree difference between the energy generator and my father’s house,” he confirms.

At one time, Sébastien Côté had to chop dozens of cords of wood a year (16-inch lengths) and keep the fires burning in four different buildings. The combustion chamber on the Sequoia energy generator is designed to hold logs up to 4 feet long, which is a very big advantage for him.
“Now, I only have to deal with one fire, and it’s a lot less wood to handle,” concludes Mr. Côté.