Sealed buckets?

[3fires]

If I snap the lid closed tight on my 5 gallon buckets, to keep the ants out, they don't breathe, I have tight fitting tubing going in through the lid. When I go back a day or two later the lids are swelled right up from the pressure.

Will the sap flow under that kind of pressure? The air can't escape, so I'm assuming the sap can't enter once it reaches a certain point.

[3fires]

Does anyone have an answer for this? :confused:

Thanks!

[Fred Henderson]

Pull the rubber "O" ring seal out of the pail lid and discard it.

[cjmiller272]

I have similar setup, 8of mine had airtight barb fittings on the bucket lids, 2 just had a hole the size of tubing drilled with tube slipped in. I had to drill a very small breather hole in the lids with the barbed fittings, the pressure prevented the sap from flowing in. some my taps were pushing what was in the tube back toward tree and leaked at the tap. The non airtight ones seem to do better than paying for the $2 barb fittings.

[happy thoughts]

I've been thinking about this since I first read your post yesterday and was hoping for an answer because I'd like to try a bucket system like yours next year. My guess would be that if there's enough pressure to bulge the lids then you're going to see some decrease in sap flow because sap flow depends on the pressure outside the tree being less than that inside the tree. But again that's just my guess.

Do you need to snap the lids on so tightly or would just loosely placing the lid over the bucket work as well? The lids for the pails I've been collecting seem to fit pretty snug when placed loosly so that insects, etc would not gain easy entry. Air would still be able to get out.

If they must be placed tightly then you might want to consider some sort of vent. If you still want to keep it insect proof then a wine making airlock should work or even more simply, a short piece of tubing with a ballon placed over the end. The last could be inserted into the upper side of the bucket, not the top, so there is less chance of rainwater getting in.

[ca2devri]

Maybe you can make a vent hole in the side of the pail near the top and cover it with screen?

Not quite sure how you'd fix it to the pail though... silicone might work? You could make very small holes, even just punched with a nail that would keep at least the biggest bugs out and would likely be enough to relieve pressure.

Chris

[3fires]

Ok, now you guys got me thinking. Lots of good ideas, thanks. I thinki'll try a few different ones.

It does need to be sealed because the tiniest hole will let them tiny red ants in, and they get in by the hundreds.

I suppose I could poke another hole and stuff it with cotton, or maybe heat up a piece of screen and melt it to the hole. My buckets ran good the other day, but I did notice the bulging buckets had less sap.

I want to come up with something before next year as i'd like to keep the buckets sealed, those ants are something else and every tree seems to have them. I figured on a few, but when I filter them out and end up with a 1/4 cup of tiny red ants per bucket, something's got to give.

Maybe i could stuff a piece of tubing with cotton and fit it in the hole. That way rain won't run in, the cotton will stay drier, and the ants will be kept at bay. :)

[DIMariner]

Glad I don't live in Michigan with those ants!

I am not sure if my method would keep the ants out, but it did solve my venting problem. I simply don't snap down the tabs on about 1/4 of the circumference of the bucket lid. The rest of the lid is snapped down tight. I think the pressure creates a seal around the entire rim, but is not so tight that pressure can't be released. Like I said, we don't have ants, but I also didn't see any flies or other bugs in the sap this year.

[BryanEx]

If your lids have a series of tabs around the perimeter what you can do is just lock in one tab on each side and leave the rest loose (one hit with a 3 lb hammer on each side). This is enough of a seal to keep the lid secure and stop sap from splashing out when carried but they will leak if tipped on their side. It also makes it much easier to get the lids off because you only have to undo a single tab on one side.