Sap metering

[Brokermike]

Since I will be collecting from various areas, and with various methods I thought it would be nice to try and measure how much sap flows from my head tank into my evaporator. It would be nice to have some season totals as well as to keep track of evaporator efficiency.

What are folks using to measure sap volume?

[batsofbedlam]

I use a brass water meter that I bought online. It lets me keep track of each sugarbush.

[Farmboy]

I would not put anything between your head tank and your evaporator. Too much can go wrong. I would put the meter on a line going into your feed tank. Use water meter. you should be able to buy one from any AG supply store.

[OneLegJohn]

I use a 1" water meter to measure everything that is pumped up to the sugarhouse. It tells me what I have to start with before I concentrate. As far as evaporation rate, I measured my evaporator head tank so I know the volume in cubic inches then divide by time to get your evap rate. A simple google search can give you cubic inches to gallon conversion. I thought about a flowmeter between the head tank and evaporator before discussing it on mapletrader. I took advisement that it is not good to potentially restrict flow to your float box because it increases risk of scorching pans.

[lpakiz]

If you do the volume calculation, 231 cubic inches is a gallon...

[jmayerl]

Where can you get a more inexpensive inline meter? I would be looking for about a 1" inlet

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Should be able to find used water meters on ebay. That is what I have and I have a quick coupling on both sides of it in event it would get some ice in it, I could pull it out of line in about 5 seconds and bypass it. I have it in the line pumping up to the head tank, so I get a good fast flow so it gets and accurate reading. It is in a vertical position, so the water drains itself back out of line so there is no chance of any water laying in it to freeze.

[danno]

I have mine between the head tank and evap to determine how much sap I boil and what my gph evaporation rate is. Never had any problem with a meter falfunction preventing sap from feeding into the evap. Not sure how accurate it is as it's flowing just under 100 gph and think it may need higher flow rate for accuracy, or at least that's what I've heard here. It seems to be accurate and certainly let's me compare one hour to the next.

Someone on here recommended I ask for one at my local municpal water authority. I did and they just pulled one off the shelf and gave it to me.

Now, with the RO, boiling fast is not so much of a concern:)

[Snow Hill Farm]

I also got one from the local water department, they are going to all digital so they had no problem giving an old one away. I would like to put it between my raw sap tank and RO (first year with RO) and I'm wondering if that will be a problem. The meter is 1" and the RO is a 600 gph CDL (new) with a 1.5" inlet. I don't think the flow would be restricted enough to matter but would appreciate other opinions/advice.....

[Snow Hill Farm]

I'm getting real close to testing the RO and went ahead and installed the 1" water meter with unions (in case it's a problem) in the 1.5" feed line to the RO. Anyone else have this set up and does it work o.k.?

[Amber Gold]

Below is what I'm considering using for a water meter to keep track of sap brought to the SH. I'm looking at the 1" WM50 model because of cost (~$140), but would prefer a 1.5" WM100 model to get the higher flow rate, but it costs $323. Any other suggestions for alternative sources?

Thanks

http://www.assuredautomation.com/WM/index.php?p=buy