can i make a vaccum system to gravity? HELP!

[D&D Maple]

this is my deal! I knew a farmer who had a sugaring operation on his farm. so i talked to him about it and he said me and my buddy could take over the sugarbush! there were some people that ran the bush last year but i guess that they have moved on! Basicly the sugarbush has the best of the best in it. all brand new everything, including the lates and greatist check valves they even left the "vacuum booster". but this sugarbush has about 3000 taps on it running into about 3000 gallons of ss bulk tanks. Me and my buddy are 16 and we dont have alot of money but we got a arch 4x10. we want to make this work but the funds are making it hard! I was wonduring if its possible to make this a gravity fed system for ths year? Because i know we can make enough money this year to buy the vaccum and realser and everything else. i mean last year i did 200 on gravity with a 2x6 but this year is totally diffrent! But we have the effort to make this work! Any suggestions?
thanks
D&D Maple!

[Thad Blaisdell]

my suggestion..... borrow the money and buy a vacuum pump and releaser.
3000 trees on vacuum done right will make 1500 gallons of syrup. That is $45,000. That will more than pay back the loan.

[upsmapleman]

It should work. You are young and the learning curve of vacuum and running a larger evaporator all in the same year is something to consider.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

my suggestion..... borrow the money and buy a vacuum pump and releaser.
3000 trees on vacuum done right will make 1500 gallons of syrup. That is $45,000. That will more than pay back the loan.



I agree with Thad 100%. You will get back your investment very quickly with a setup like this.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The learning curve is very quick when it comes to vacuum. Its like going from riding a pedal bike to a mini bike. I think the bigger task is walking the lines and keeping the lines repaired from wind, fallen branches,critters, the forgotten tap and equipment failure.......................OH YEA that all happens with a gravity system:) The gain in production will be worth it.

[Maple Hobo]

Wow that is pretty amazing, that they invested in all that work/equipment and didn't come back this year?

You need to make sure the lines all run downhill first... will the system run under gravity?
Some people tend to cheat a little knowing that vacuum will pull up hill in some places.

A well installed system should run under gravity, it just runs MORE under vacuum.

Be careful! Get a legal contract that states what is and is not yours on the property.
Get in righting how long you can use the proprty and what the payment or lease agreement is with the owner of the property.

I would dig into the back story on why the last guys didn't come back? I'd hate to invest in the camp and find out the property owner has decided to run the camp next yerar... after 3 differnt groups came in and basically built the system for them.

Something in the story doesn't add up very well. Make sure you cover your "asset."

[Maple Hobo]

PS: On a remote sugar grove site... Are you thinking an electric (220 AC) vacuum or a gas powered vacuum unit?

The vacuum controller is very important.. don't skip on that. it will keep you from ruining the pump when the lines freeze up in the evenings.

Who is going to turn the pump off and on? Is the collection point close to where you live? If not, you'll want to invest in a thermostate controller to turn the pump off and on. If the pump isn't on you'll be shorting yourself on sugar water. If you leave it on the whole time your waisting fuel or electricity.

Might need to look at an automatic pump cutoff float for the holding tank(s) too incase they overfill?

If you can't keep an eye on the system, things will go wrong and you can't catch them.

[D&D Maple]

thanks and the owner is a family friend about 80 and the reason they didnt come back is due to them buying a piece of land and now they have a sugar house and they just have lines running to it

[wiam]

thanks and the owner is a family friend about 80 and the reason they didnt come back is due to them buying a piece of land and now they have a sugar house and they just have lines running to it

Then sign a lease and do what you can. You will get a lot of sap without vac and about twice as much with.