Harbor freight vacuum pump?

[500592]

Could I use this with like 150 taps http://www.harborfreight.com/air-vacuum-pump-with-r134a-and-r12-connectors-96677.html or maybe the 2.5 cfm pump

[wiam]

no

William

[500592]

How about the the 2.5 cfm one and if not why

[brookledge]

Those are for auto Air conditioners. So the question is will it work, I'd say no. The spec. section does not give much info.
Firtst of all I'd say it is not designed to run continuous. It says it reaches full vac. in about 2 minutes and the cfm rating is in pressure(psi) not in vac("Hg)
Try calling the manufactuer, but itdoesn't sound like it is designed for a maple application
Keith

[holstein]

i don't know about that pump but i have been running a gast vacuum pump piston oilless for two years it will pull 27.5 continuous for weeks without stoping and i paid 160 shipped bought it off ebay good luck

[3rdgen.maple]

I wont say no because it might but just not very well or for very long. With a 1/4 in inlet and no hg specs it cant be worth much not even the 14 bucks they are asking. Get a gast. Awesome pumps and priced right.

[wiam]

no

William

I do not see any possible way either pump will move enough air.

William

[KenWP]

That pump is just to use on a AC unit on a car inorder to load the R12 and get it ready to work. It is used for maybe 2 minutes at most once in a while.

[500592]

I do not see any possible way either pump will move enough air.

William

The small one is 2.5cfm shouldn't that be enough for 150 taps

[wiam]

The small one is 2.5cfm shouldn't that be enough for 150 taps

That 2.5cfm is free flowing air. The add for that pump says it will reach complete vacuum in 2 minutes on closed system. A pump that would be good for tubing on a completely closed system would reach highest vacuum in seconds. There is a reason we are not all using $15 pumps.

Try it. If we are all wrong tell us.

William

[500592]

How about the other ones that are a bit more expensive.

[waysidemaple]

I think the saying is you get what you pay for. Go ahead and get it...try it and if it doesn't work your only out the 15 bucks. If it works good for you.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I'm with Wayside. Dont ever not try something because we all say not to. I'm the type that believes its eaiser to let your kid put both hands on the stove window once than listen to the inlaws saying STAY AWAY FROM THE HOT STOVE BILLY. When I burned up my pump a buddy hooked up a refrideration pump to my releaser on 300 trees and we were up and running........18HGs....BUT it was a good pump and a tight system.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I got mine for FREE! :D
Go around and look for old dairy farms that have shut down and ask them if they will sell their milker vacuum pump. I bought a bulk milk tank last year and asked the farmer about the vacuum pump and he said to just take it. Cannot argue with that deal! works great. Reaches full vacuum in 20 seconds on 150 taps with tons of air leaks. It is an old surge piston style pump.

[Beweller]

Hasn't anyone noticed that this is an air driven pump? It requires 4.2 cfm of compressed air at 90 psi. I can't imagine anyone using this pump in a maple operation.

[500592]

Ya but I also mentioned the other ones they sell

[jfroe939]

For what it's worth, last winter I kinda was wondering about the same concept of a small pump (low cfm) and a handful of trees and how conceivable it was to make happen. I bought 2 small pumps that essentially mimic the infamous Gast pumps everyone mentions. It pulls something like 3.4?? cfm in free air and gets between 26.5 and 27" Hg in a perfect vacuum. No oil. made for continuous operation. Taken from defunct oxygen machines. My setup only had me use one vac on this group of trees. I had around 40 trees on vac as a start with a hobby (< 500) releaser. I paid around $75 for the pump and $600 for the releaser and used my dad's 1000W gas generator. Pump needs 475W total. After buying all this stuff, yes, I certainly would have been better off just buying more buckets for 40 trees, but I considered this a test-run in the event God dumps a bunch more trees on me someday in the future. I had never done or even seen vacuum firsthand before doing it myself and it surely was an experience. Didn't have any fancy tools for putting the tubing on the fittings. That sucked to say the least considering I did it during season when it's cold and the stuff doesn't want to slide on so hot. Can you say Bic lighter?!! And I used low tensile aluminum fencing wire instead of nice, steel high-tensile stuff you need. So between the cruddy wire stretching on me and the fittings not going on well, I'd have to say the pump itself was adequate for my few trees. Obviously I wasn't pulling much air through at high vac. Free air it gets 3.4 cfm or something and in closed vac I think it's something like 0.6-0.8? Not a great or perfect setup by any means, but good luck to anyone else trying to run vac for less than $700 , excluding tubing and fittings, that is. If anyone's has interest in getting one of these pumps, I can provide the contact. jf

[Haynes Forest Products]

Nice story jfroe939 SO WHAT HAPPEND? How did it work? Did it work?

[DrTimPerkins]

I had never done or even seen vacuum firsthand before doing it myself and it surely was an experience. Didn't have any fancy tools for putting the tubing on the fittings.

It is very hard (darn near impossible) to get a really good, vacuum-tight seal between tubing and fittings without a tubing tool.

It is generally not a good idea to use heat (distorts the tubing).

It is not a good idea to use lubricants (can split/warp/crack the tubing or allow fittings to pull back off again under tension).

Use of techniques other than those approved by the equipment dealers may well void any warranty.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Dr Perkins I use defoamer as a lubricant and I can't see any harm to the tubing and I cant get them apart. Im I alone out here doing it wrong. Now is chewing on the tubing just plain wrong:emb:

[jfroe939]

Regarding how it worked... Like I said, only 40 trees. I still got a tight seal in my opinion without a tool, but it was a huge pain getting them on in 35 degree weather by hand. Had to warm the ends of the tubing up with a lighter and yes it did warp the ends. I don't have the need for a tubing tool yet, but I would certainly recommend it because it wasn't fun. With a perfect seal the vac is capable of 26.5"+ ... I was sitting at 25". Functionally it was fine. Sags with my aluminum wire was giving me fits at first. Had to improvise with sticks and such because I couldn't get the wire real tight. Used electric fencing tensioners at the top to pull the laterals tight. Certainly cobbled together and probably looked less than a professional setup. Good enough for me and my "experiment." I would certainly recommend. I don't know if that answers the question of "did it work", but I can say I got by on about as cheap as I could without compromising the project.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr Perkins I use defoamer as a lubricant and I can't see any harm to the tubing and I cant get them apart. Im I alone out here doing it wrong. Now is chewing on the tubing just plain wrong:emb:

You should check with your tubing supplier to see what they say. We've seen some odd types of failures due to the use of lubriants (PAM spray, vegetable oil, etc). My guess is that they'd say to NOT use any lubricant on the tubing. If you use a tubing tool you do not need any lubricants.

It is fine to chew on tubing....if you're a squirrel....just watch out for rapidly flying lead coming your way. If you're not a squirrel, quit chewing on the tubing. :)

[Haynes Forest Products]

Pumps upside down:lol: So Im guessing sap ran into the releaser..............Cool then it worked. NOW what are you going to do next year besides turning your pump right side up and screwing it to a board so it doesn keep flipping on you;)

[3rdgen.maple]

I have atleast 6 of these pumps sitting on a shelf in my warehouse. Any takers? All in working used order and not sitting upside down either lol.