Home made releasor (Urgent)

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I made a home made releasor. and i pluged it in today and the pump wasnt powerful enough to overcome my 20" vacuum. What should i look for tomorow morning when i go to lowes?

[maple flats]

You either need to put a submersable in the sap or put a vac line out past the pump so the pump is operating in a net zero difference in vac/pressure.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I dont understand that. But i do know that you can put a deep well pump off the bottom of the tank. But i dont know how big it needs to be. My tank is a beer keg with a pipe coming out the bottom and the top in 2 places for sap input and vacuum line. And a float switch inside the keg.

[Haynes Forest Products]

You could put a check valve in the sap in line and a vacuum resevoir on the tree side of the check valve to maintain vacuum in the bush during pump downs . Then install a solenoid valve that vents the tank during pump downs. When the pump turns on the valve opens and the tank emptys. The prosess should take about 5 seconds to empty the keg and the vacuum will resume after the pump and solenoid stop. The vacuum resivoir will maintain the vacuum in the woods for that time and will eliminate back surging.

[maple flats]

About my response, I asked the question on how to pump my Zero vacuum tank without shutting off the vacuum and was told to put a vac line downstream of the pump, and back up to the tank manifold, with a valve in it. The valve is only opened to pump down. The picture he (Glen Goodrich) drew was tank, valve out end at bottom, pump, tee, (1 leg up for this vacuum line and the other to the truck haul tank). I have never tried it and with time getting so short I might not this year, but I was told that this would work. My question remains, what would keep the sap from going up the vac line and back into the tank. This is however the same thing as your releaser question, just that my releaser is a 1000 gal. tank. But, as long as the pump is in a vacuum neutral environment it does really not know it is in a vacuum, and running the down stream vacuum line will accomplish this (I was told) My notes do not tell me that I need to shut the vac valve when the pump starts pumping.

[Rhino]

The well pump on a float switch is the way to go in my opinion, We use one in a 150 gal. vac. tank....My buddy uses his in a 15 gal. s.s paint pot vessel. Ours sits in the bottom of the tank on its side....his stands upright. I don't think you can get a submersible (sump pump) that would overcome 20" of vac??? I think a well pump can overcome the vac. because it works in stages, as the pumping gets harder another stage kicks in basically.

[DrTimPerkins]

You could put a check valve in the sap in line and a vacuum resevoir on the tree side of the check valve to maintain vacuum in the bush during pump downs . Then install a solenoid valve that vents the tank during pump downs. When the pump turns on the valve opens and the tank emptys. The prosess should take about 5 seconds to empty the keg and the vacuum will resume after the pump and solenoid stop. The vacuum resivoir will maintain the vacuum in the woods for that time and will eliminate back surging.

As Haynes says, you need a check valve between your releaser and your releaser evacuation pump. This will help to keep the sap moving OUT of your releaser and reduce the amount of vacuum pressure on the pump so it can get started without cavitation. The other thing that often helps is a small (5/16") return line going from the line shortly AFTER the evacuation pump back up into the releaser. This will help equalize the pressure. Depending upon how good your evacuation pump is, you may need to also do the solenoid....but it would be best to avoid this if you can.

[markct]

so this thing with a line past the pump...does this mean if i take my gas powered transfer pump and add a 5/16 line from the vac manifold on my zero tank down to the outlet fitting i can then pump out under vac on the tank? this would be great as i hate draining down the vac every time i pump it out. so would i open the vac line valve and then start the pump and leave it open so a bit keeps recirculating back thru the little line to the manifold?

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up just getting a bigger pump at lowes this morning. And it did the trick no problem. It pumped 200 gallons today without any trouble. I am pleased