All Season tubing-Does It Darken?

[Bruce L]

We currently wash and take down all of our tubing at the end of the season,so we tend to miss a run or two setting up in the spring as we have to wait for warmer weather to stretch.There are a couple of runs that are short and not in the way of anything,so they stay up,but with the pollution,acid rain,etc,there is like a black powder? on the tubing that comes off in your hands,but consequently you cannot see what is going on with sap flows,vacuum leaks etc.We would like to expand our taps by as much as 100% for another season(not this one),but will not have time to stretch ,put up and tear down from other bushes.Any recommendations on year around tubing,and does your tubing stay clear(this is the outside I am talking about)
Thanks,Bruce

[markct]

i think that is likely something staining it from the trees or other plant etc in the area, i know some of my tanks get a funky stuff on the outside in the offseason depending where they sit, and in a few places my tubing too but not so bad ya cant see thru it usualy, but the rest of the 4 seasons looks like new after 4 years now for some of it

[ennismaple]

Bruce,

I've had a little bit of that in places but nothing so bad you couldn't see sap flowing in the tubing. Is there a tree or shrub in the area that has a lot of pollen or sap that may be causing it? Prickly ash can have a lot of pollen.

[Bruce L]

HI Marty,don't think there is,but will take a better look when we head down to the bush again(stayed indoors today changing drop lines with the cv adapters)Incidentally,what all season tubing do you have,recommend?

[ennismaple]

We have about 10% CDL, 10% D&G and 80% Lapierre. The CDL semi-rigid is stiffer than the others. The D&G and Lapierre are very similar but we're using only Lapierre for anything new that we buy - which will be only when we add more taps because we've finally managed to get all the old purple and green PVC tubing replaced with light blue PE Lapierre semi-rigid.

You switching everything over to CV's this year? We didn't have time to do it all.

[DrTimPerkins]

We currently wash and take down all of our tubing at the end of the season,so we tend to miss a run or two setting up in the spring as we have to wait for warmer weather to stretch.There are a couple of runs that are short and not in the way of anything,so they stay up,but with the pollution,acid rain,etc,there is like a black powder?

Two-three years ago I think there were heavy populations of Lecanium scale. This caused a lot of sap dripping from maple trees in the summer. Molds grow well on this. It caused a lot of black powery mold to appear on anything in the woods. Maybe that's what you're seeing.

[Seguin Sugarbush]

We have used IPL,Lapierre and Lamb and they all show that dust or film on the outside but wipes off well.As for installation,we prefer IPL as it will take more stretch than Lapierre.Lamb stays up well but is harder to see trhough for leak detection.We have not had a chance to work with the rest of them yet.

[Bruce L]

Hi Marty,hoping to change 500 over to the cv adapters for this year.If we can get into the sugarhouse after this snow i will take down the rolls of tubing i have done and grab some more to do on cold evenings.
Bruce