sap flow and vacuum

[Sugarbear]

I am just starting the process of switching from buckets to tubing and am thinking of adding vacuum down the road.Is the increase in production from vacuum from more sap per run or being able draw sap when it is not running naturally?Or is a combination of both.I was just wondering about boiling capacity. Thanks

[Thad Blaisdell]

Done correctly you can expect 2x sap throughout season.

[danno]

and the answer to your question is both. Gravity runs will be greater under high vacuum and on days when you would get little or no runs on gravity you will still get small to moderate runs on vacuum. Last year was a great example of this. 7 days with no freeze - my buckets stopped producing after day two while I was still getting a 1/4 to 1/2 gallon per tap/per day on vacuum for the whole 7 days.

[Maple/Cherry]

I agree with danno, the vac pump didn't shut for 8 days last year and we boiled every day. Other people pulled their taps.

[wdchuck]

Plan on at least double the sap. If it's above freezing, run the vacuum until flow stops. Unless it freezes, it probably wont. Last year we had two runs that each lasted eight days. Under those conditions, the flow wasnt always a flood, but it added up to a heck of a year for us.

[Brent]

Sugarbear
If you're just starting I'd like to pass on a recommendation for a vac pump that will avoid virtually all the maintenance issues of oil reclaimers etc.

Try eBay for a GAST 1023 101Q G583X. This is a dry vane pump the will pull 26" with a 3/4 Hp motor. I ran one last year on just over 600 taps and got 20-21" throughout the system. I think the last 4 digits only signify the motor that's on it so mostly look for the 1023 model. They're designed to run thousands of hours and the rebuild vane kit is not very expensive if you every run it so long you need it. And in our game we're not likely to put more than a couple hundred hours a year on it.

[Sugarbear]

Thats what got my attention last year.We barely made 1/8 gal per tap and according to my dealer a vacuum operation near me made 1/2 gal per tap.

[MASSEY JACK]

Brent, how much noise does that Gast 1023 make?

MASSEY JACK

[Brent]

You're asking the wrong guy ... I've lost half of my hearing, especially when it comes to hearing my wife.

Anyway, to try to answer, it is certainly quieter than a traditional compressor, which I assume is about the same as most dairy style vac pumps. The motor is 1800 rpm and there are about 6 vanes on the direct driven shaft, so it sets up a noise that's more a hum. I don't think you'd ever want one in the sugar shack, droning away continuously. It's quieter than the RO. It's much quieter than a generator.

Last year to keep the weather off, I put one of the oversize plastic 2 wheel wheelbarrows over it. That wasn't good for muffling the sound because it made a drum out of it. My wife says she didn't notice it from 150 feet away.

I also removed the exhaust filter/muffler to let it run a little more efficeintly.

I had a look on the GAST web site and couldn't find any noise specs. I got mine off eBay for a couple hundred dollers each.

Hope this vague answer helps

[Monster Maples]

Brent,
How many cfm's are those gast pumps. Also, what are you using for a releaser? I am going to look into one of those pumps for a back up.

[Brent]

No idea of the CFM's. I had 3 Bernard mechanical releasers on the.

You can get the specs from the Gast web site. Last year 20-21" .

This year I'll be running two of them and hoping to get up near 24-25" with and additional 50 taps on the system.