anyone having problems w taps loosening up

[69tapper]

wow i feel like i'm losing it ! about a week ago we had alot of check valve spouts that didn't seem to be set hard enough so we went through the whole bush last week and reset them all and am now finding many of them seem to be loose again? has any one else seen this?:cry:

[Homestead Maple]

I only have around 1,200 but I had three spouts off over the weekend and a couple last week. I blamed it on the fact that not all my drop lines hang straight down and the weight of the drop line tugging on the spout enough to start the spout if it wasn't snug in the first place. Others have told me and I think a few on the trader have had this happen. I've wondered if Leader could put a raised ring on the spouts and a recessed grove in the adapters so they kind of snapped together to help this problem. Probably wouldn't happen because they retooled their molds for the "newer" design of spouts and adapters for this season and might not want to redesign.

[BryanEx]

It's funny you should post this 69tapper because I was wondering myself this year. I tap with traditional 7/16" cast aluminum spiles and found myself having to go back and give a few extra taps to all but a few because they were falling out or loose. I thought perhaps I had over compensated for not wanting to split the bark or maybe it was too cold when I tapped. Interesting to see I'm not alone.

[CBOYER]

Funny,sunday i have to replace on tree 4 fallen taps when buckets were quart full of ice. i make all the run and give a little hammer to all.

[brookledge]

My expierience with them is they are more likely to losen up after a hard freeze. That is why it is good to walk the lines on a regular basis. when you have vac. it only takes one or two andit starts to show
Keith

[Homestead Maple]

I had 6 off last week and 7 more on a tour through the bush on Sat.

[heus]

Several of my 5/16 aluminum Leader spiles have loosened up this season but surprisingly they still held half full buckets until I pulled the bucket off and they fell out.

[PerryW]

That is why it is good to walk the lines on a regular basis. when you have vac.

And if you DON'T have vacuum. I found 4 taps had fallen out of the 5/16" health spout adapters. And of course a few chew holes where sap was leaking out of laterals. Oh, and a couple old tee's that were leaking.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

tree gremlins grab your assualt rifles and hit the woods. you cant miss them, tall black boots and other unidentifiable clothing:D

[ToadHill]

I have also had some stubby spouts come out of the check valve adapters. About 20 out of 1500. I suspect that in our attempt to drill the hole and install them horizontally a few were installed with a slight downward angle. A few of them were tipped down into the tree as a result of the pressure put on them by the flex in the 30P tubing. That said I am thinking that they didn't drain as well as the others and when we got a hard freeze the frozen sap expanded enough to push them apart. Anyone else experiencing this and does anyone have a better theory?

[Thalos]

Well...Im new to all this but I think Brookledge might be on to something.....is it possible that the contraction and expansion of a hard freeze/daily warm ups tends to work them loose??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Well...Im new to all this but I think Brookledge might be on to something.....is it possible that the contraction and expansion of a hard freeze/daily warm ups tends to work them loose??

This is definitely what makes them work loose. I set mine with a hammer and by end of season I can normally pull all of them out by hand fairly easily, at least the plastic health spouts.

[JuniperHillSugar]

My spiles loosened up too. Right after I removed the buckets and hooked them with my claw hammer. :lol:

[Yellzee]

I've had a heck of a time the clear smaller spiles.. every time i go out there some are leaking again.

[kiegscustoms]

I have a large crown maple outside the sugarhouse and when the bucket and spout were on the ground it was time to go check the woods. Found about 60 stubbies out of the check valves. Checked the entire bush and found something else strange. One of the clear plastic 5/16 caps on one of the fittings keeps popping off? Pulling 27" of vac I wouldn't think anything would be popping off, would figure it would get sucked together...

[Daren]

Brookeledge and VA just backed up what I heard from someone I think has walked around a bush a bit. This year is only my third on vac and this is the first time I had one or more fall out. Boy that hiss is loud, but what a mother to pick out exactly where it is comming from! Sure explained the two inches of vac the gauge was showing me I lost.

[vtmapleman]

My first year with check valve spouts. Last week I had three stub spouts come out - the check valve stayed in the tree. I blamed it on the three or four days of where the trees just wepted. I believed some ice built up and pushed the stubby out. Also, this year for the first time I had four separate laterals come off the connectors...again I believe ice build up was the reason.

[Randy Brutkoski]

I have had about 60 to 70 stubbies seperate from my check valves. And they were on there good too. I gave them another chance this year to see if last year was just bad luck. Lets just say, NEVER AGAIN.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I had a few stubbies come off cv's but I had way more of the CDL "Y" spouts push the drops off..... around 120 or so of them.

[ennismaple]

I haven't had any stubbies come completely off the CV's yet but some have come loose and needed a tunk or two to get rid of the micro leak. No more so than I used to see with regular health spiles. The Lapierre Tomahawks we are finding the same thing so it's likely just the weather that's to blame!

[DrTimPerkins]

Well...Im new to all this but I think Brookledge might be on to something.....is it possible that the contraction and expansion of a hard freeze/daily warm ups tends to work them loose??

Yes, it is freeze/thaw = frost heaving. We use a number of different types/manufacturers of spouts in our research. All of them heave. Some may do better one year, then are problems the next.

Probably the biggest factor is the person tapping. If you put them in hard enough, they tend to stay in.

We tried a version of the Clear-straight last year and spent about 75% of our woods work tapping them back in (not easy with a clear-straight spout). Very little problems with any other spouts. This year we've had very little frost heaving from any types of spouts (but we didn't do any clear-straights this year).

Haven't had any trouble with CV adapters heaving (just a couple here and there).

The CV effect is just kicking in now at our place. CVs are producing about double the amount of sap compared to other spouts the last couple of days. Difference just gets larger each additional day we collect....looks like we'll get at least another 7-10 days, maybe more.

[Homestead Maple]

There's a couple of feet of snow in my woods and we got 4" more today. With the use of CV's I hope for at least another week even though Sunday's high may reach 50 degrees. Still making a good grade of medium.