sap in lines...

[Brian Ledoux]

I too am having an issue with an experimental tubing set up I installed. I installed 12 pretty good size red maples on one 250 foot line. used a ladder to tap first tree at about 15 ft high. Land is completely flat. So far have gotten half gallon from the tubing, I suspect it is from the last tree on the line. I have 20 other trees on sap saks right near this line and have gotten 30 gallons from the other trees. At first we had some sags, which we then fixed, or so we thought. I basically just cut the line and got out as much slack from the line and reconnected the tubing with my hands to connect the fittings. At the end I used some wire on the last tap to pull the line as tight as I could. Probably pulled with say 20 lbs of pressure on the tbing to get it tight. The line has some slight zig zagging, not too major in my opinion. My question is how tight does a line like this need to be? there is definitelyt sap running here, I can see it in lines, but just not dripping?

[500592]

i am having the same problem

[adk1]

i am having the same problem

what is the line dumping into?

[PerryW]

My question is how tight does a line like this need to be? there is definitelyt sap running here, I can see it in lines, but just not dripping?

The line does not have to be tight to run. I've had situations where a tree has fallen on a 5/16" lateral line and the sap will run just fine even though there it a 6 foot vertical sag where it runs under the fallen tree and back uphill.

You try to eliminate sags for other reasons

1)less sap sitting in the line during warm spells

2)The line will thaw out quicker without sags.

[Brian Ledoux]

I have it dumping into a 55 gallon drum... which I recently took out to use for sap storage since nothing was going into it!

I am really stumped if it is not the tighness of the line that is an issue. Could it be the loop I have around the tree on the first tree??

I have a attached an image of what my set up looks like if this helps.

[Yellzee]

one thing you could possible check is if you have left some wood shavings in the tap holes before putting in the tap and it's gotten hung up inside the tap.

Pull a tap and see if sap starts pouring out.

[Old-Timer]

Pull that tap thats 15 ft high and see if it starts runninghttp://mapletrader.com/community/images/smilies/mad.gif

[adk1]

Hmm, and you arent gettign alot of sap that is the problem? I am curious to know if you were to remove the end trees tap and let it be a vent if the line whe nthe other trees sap is running picks up in flow? I know that they say that it will not allow for natural vac but Iwas under the impression that that really only occured when you were running into a mainline.

[TapME]

sap flow has to be enough to start the whole line moving. Mine was held up for the same reason until the sap flowed better. Woods trees sometimes need more time to thaw.
adk1, the mainline would have to be full for the sap to pull on the tap holes and create some natural vac. The vac will occur in the 5/16 line then drop in to the mainline. just my thoughts