no idea about vacuum...

[morningstarfarm]

ok, I'm starting to think of putting my lower bush on vacuum...first of I'm sure a ton of questions is...how far can I run a vac line..before the releaser..I guess this would be called a dry line? then run it into the releaser and then to the taps...My bush is about 300 yards or so down from the sugar house..I don't mind having a collection tank down there..but I really don't want to mess with generators etc..Am I nuts to think about doing this?:confused:

[Thad Blaisdell]

not nuts at all.... you can run a releaser anywhere you want from the vacuum pump. But I would still have a generator and a pump down there to push the sap up the hill.... easier to collect. How many taps?

[Russell Lampron]

My releaser is 1500 feet away from my vacuum pump. I ran a 1.25" pipe from the vacuum pump to the releaser and it works good. One plus is that you can hear a vacuum leak at the releaser if there is one because you don't have the vacuum pump running right next to it.

[morningstarfarm]

only gonna have a couple hundred taps there...how big a pump would I need and how big a vacuum line?

[Haynes Forest Products]

You dont need a monster vacuum pump to get into the game. A $100.00 Gast pump off Ebay will do fine. A good tight system with a 2 CFM unit will work just fine. 3/4 black poly will get you what you need with room to grow. Its about getting in the game. My first vacuum set up would be an embarassment by todays knowledge and advances. BUT I can speak from experiance that you dont need anyone to tell you you cant do this or that. My life and paycheck didnt depend on me making ulta lite syrup without energy loss that was crystal clear produced in a sterile enviroment with all SS equipment.

I remember when I started a tree service with a dump truck I put together. I hand stacked dead knarly old elm branches slashed them down to dust and did it again all day long untill the whole dammmm tree was on the truck. My shins would be beat bloody and I was spitting wood grained buggers and I was happy for the paycheck. I spent untold hours sharpening the chain saw because I hit the metal sides to get more brush on the truck. Then I got a chipper and a helper. The little snot nosed kid told me how hard feeding it was and it sucked. YEA so did walking to the bus stop after I fired him. New shinny equipment is cool and nice but its what you learn along the way before you buy it that counts;)......ILL SHUT UP NOW

[morningstarfarm]

ok, so its sounding actually doable now....do you need a releaser? or is one easily made?

[markct]

a bender style dairy releaser works good for small amounts of taps, or a zero tank, zero tanks can be hard to come by but work well if ya find one. the bender type releasers can be bought new for about 200 plus 20 bucks of check valves and fittings

[farmall h]

Haynes I like how you "tell it like it is".;)