What kind of Hose for pumping?

[Brian Ledoux]

Hello,
Was wondering what kind of tubing or hose folks are using to pump sap from woods to collection tank? Or from collection tank to Sugar house?

Seems like the stuff they sell at home depot would get so stiff that it would be impossible to unroll and use on a cold day. Any reccomendations on what to use and where to buy it? Or is it simply a pain in the butt you just have to deal with?

Hoping to find something that I can use so that I can make sap collecting a one man job! Thanks! -brian

[shane hickey]

Bubble bee chemical hose only buy it new so its clean. You can get it at tsc

shane

[lastwoodsman]

RV garden type hose that is used for potable water. A garden hose is not good enough.
Woodsman

[G.Rainville]

Brian; I went to our local Tractor Supply store and bought their blue rubber coated discharge hose. This hose should come in lenghts of 25' or 50'. The ends are threaded, so one end I put a Banjo adapter the other I put needed pvc fitting and a 90 degree conduit sweep. It is flat hose so it rolls up nice.

[lastwoodsman]

You can pick these up at Menards, Tractor supply and many other places

http://www.accentshopping.com/product.asp?P_ID=150063

Woodsman

[SeanD]

I haven't bought mine, yet, but I'm going to use clear vinyl tubing from Lowe's (link below). It comes in a variety of sizes. You can buy it by the foot and they also have pre-cut lengths. It's very inexpensive and it is listed as FDA approved for food contact.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_17468-104-SVIG10_0__?productId=3131175&Ntt=vinyl+tubing&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dvinyl%2Btubing

Sean

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

This is the best stuff. Been using same hose for 8 years and still about like new and drug it thru the mud hundreds of times. The clear stuff you posted from lowes will kink and won't last. US Plastics is a great company, ship usually same or next day and shipping is cheap. You get what you pay for.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23580&catid=736&clickid=searchresults

[SeanD]

I'll be using it to run sap down hill from the hauler to storage tanks. It'll stay in place all season, so I'm not too worried about kinks. I suppose if I was wrapping it up and bringing it from place to place it would kink. Thanks for the heads up. If it does turn out to kink easily the way I'm using it, I can save it for a feed line when I eventually set up a head tank and a float and I'll get the stuff you recommend.

Sean

[Dennis H.]

If it will be in place all season why not use black water pipe?? Use 3/4 or 1". Cheap and yeah it would take a little effort but you could roll it back up at the end of the year.

If you want to move it more often look at milk hose. It is really thick walled rubber hose that they use in the dairy industry. The stuff that I use is about 3/4" ID with wall thickness of almost 1/4". Very flexiable.
Kind of pricey/foot though. I got mine at an auction along with a dump station.

BTW Look at McMaster-Carr for hose. The stuff that Brandon showed you can also get it at McMaster-Carr. I got some 3/4" stuff there that I use for sucking sap out of my tank and works great. Nice and sturdy stuff.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have 3 tanks that I can't get my tractor to one of which 300 gallons and other 2 are 150 gallons and I have 1" black plastic water line wire tied to 9 gauge wire on a slope and quick couplings on each end and I drive tractor up close to them and hook the flexible hose I posted earlier onto end next to tractor and pump on other end and pump it into the tractor. One of the lines goes straight up about 15' and then gradual slope downhill to tractor and other line goes uphill to the tractor all the way and after pumping, I drain it back downhill into a 5 gallon bucket which it nearly fills and I carry the 5 gallon bucket of sap and pump back up to the tractor. Be doing this for a number of years and it works really good.

[sapman]

I second Brandon's recommendation. Love the stuff. The company has been great to deal with, too.

[Brian Ledoux]

Tim/Brandon,
The US Plastics hose you mentioned, does it get really stiff when it is cold? Or does it roll up nice and neat?

[Haynes Forest Products]

I use the grey coregated 1 1/4" from Home Depot its like the sump pump discharge hose but thicker wall. Its lasted 12 years and coils up nice and small in the truck bed. Is it food grade I dont care because sap spends about 2 seconds in it. Now as we all know there is a differance between pumping and sucking so keep that in mind when buying your hose:lol:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Tim/Brandon,
The US Plastics hose you mentioned, does it get really stiff when it is cold? Or does it roll up nice and neat?

Brian,

Stays nice and flexible and rolls up in nice neat coil. All of my sap is in remote locations that I access with my 4x4 Kubota and I have 70 gallon tank on front of tractor in bucket and 140 gallon on carryall and I carry and 18 gallon rubbermaid tote on back of carryall behind tank and I put my Tanaka 1" pump in it and about 30' of the hose in question and it easily rolls up inside it and is so easy to handle, roll up and work with and never kinks. Best stuff for the money you can get and still going and about like new 8 years later.

[Brian Ledoux]

Thanks very much for the responses on this. I am glad there is a hose that will work! And that will be in my budget!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sorry guys, I think I lied. I got to thinking about it and here is the hose I have been using and it is about half the price.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23579&catid=736

[3rdgen.maple]

Brandon Im thinking a 10 foot section of that might just be worthy of cutting into a mainline just to be able to observe sap transfering in the pipe. Says it holds up to 28 gh's wonder if has UV protection in it.

[sapman]

That's what I got, too, Brandon. Think I worked off your link a couple years ago.

[Monster Maples]

Those ecoset 5 gallon carboys on their website look like a good bulk storage container too. That is a pretty cool site. Not too far away for me either.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Here's what it says:

Vacuum rate in/Hg. is 28 inches for all sizes. U.V. resistant.

[Monster Maples]

If going to Lowe's to get hose, I would check out the pool dept. They have the AQUA EZ vacuum hose for $19.95 for 25ft. Used to vac out pools, coil wound. That's like $0.79 a foot. 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" sizes available, although I only saw the 1 1/2" in 36 foot sections. Might be a good deal, I don't know. Home Depot probably has the same stuff, they are always more expensive than Lowe's around here though.

[sapman]

Doubtful this would be food grade at Lowe's, right?

[Jeff E]

No one mentions using sap tubing!
I use Leader 1" mainline for tranfering sap. You want it to be easy to clean, see if it is getting 'skunky' inside, etc.
This line is made for sap, so go with it!

[dgp219]

If you're going to order anything from US Plastics include, quick disconnects to the order. Last year I ordered 30' of the clear hose Brandon showed earlier in this thread, and a hand full of quick disconnects. With shipping I still saved money over going to my local maple dealer in NH. (the B word) Thanks Brandon for posting that find!

[Monster Maples]

Doubtful this would be food grade at Lowe's, right?

I don't know if it is or not. I just saw it on the website. I have never physically seen the stuff. This was the reason I said to check it out.;)