Pumping up hill

[Round Mtn Mapler]

All of my maple trees are on a hill that runs away from the sugarshack. I am running tubing(200 taps) and will have @300 gallon collection tank at bottom of the hill. what is the best way to get the sap back up the hill to sugar shack?
1. Carry 5 gal buckets up the hill (600') to the sugar shack and go back for more?
2. pump the sap up the hill from collection tank to the sugar shack?

any other suggestions?

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

200 gallons in buckets would kill you.
110 volts can be transmitted 300 feet. i dont know about 220. But a pump is a must. or you can take a tractor or truck or quad over the hill and haul it up.

[Round Mtn Mapler]

ok sounds good...If im gonna try to pump it what kind of pump and what kind of hose should I use?
I have a little 2000w honda generator for power down at the bottom of the hill.
And will I actually be able to pump uphill 600 feet?

Im making a atv trail down the hill but I do not thinnk it will be passable with snow and mud in the spring. Im sure it will be easy getting down to the collection tank but driving back up the hill with @300 gallons sap will be real hard because its so steep.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

How many feet vertical are you talking. And either way i would use 1 inch main line.

[wiam]

With that amount of taps I would use 3/4" black plastic. The smaller line will leave less in the pipe when you are done pumping.

[Bruce L]

We are in somewhat of the same position,we pump verically about 20'?,and distance -wise perhaps 400' I posed this question to a rep from one of the companies,and he told me to go with 3/4",something to do with smaller diameter equals more pressure to pump and less resistance against the pump?Works for us anyway

[maple flats]

Find how much lift you need in feet. Then get a pump with more head than that. If you don't know the elevation change go to: http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/elevation and get a map of your land. Online, after you get to the map you can click on any point and get it's elevation. Wherever you have the greatest elevation change is the rise or head you must have. The head of the pump must be higher than that #. Good luck.

[Mountain Winds Farm]

We pumped close to 300 feet by 20-25 feet vertical using a sump pump on a 3/4 " line. We hooked it up to a float switch so it turned on automatically when the tank was full and shut off when tank was drained.When the pump stopped what ever was in the line drained back to the tank.

[paul]

we use a deep well pump and generator. we pump 2000' on a 1" line with about 40' lift. I took the check valve out so when pumping is done what`s left in the line runs back to the tank. works for us.

[twitch]

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200380049_200380049
check out this pump might be better then leaving your generator down in the wood its got 82 ft of head 1" ports but you could adapt it to 3/4" and i think would gain head I bought one last year works great.

[Round Mtn Mapler]

Thanks for the replies.....very helpful.

I think I am about 40' lift and about 500' distance.

I am working on the trail down to the collection tank but doubt that I will be able to get nack up the hill with snow and mud.
Either way I am researching pumps...

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I use a 2" gas pump to pump 3000+ feet with 70 feet of head. I use 1 and 1/4 pipe. The larger the pipe, the less the friction. I am trying to get the sap pumped an additional 2000 feet (currently done in 2 stages) but the pump won't quite do it. A water pump expert suggested going to 1 and 1/2 inch pipe would solve the problem.

[paul]

the bigger the pipe the more weight the pump has to push. The harder the pump has to work.

[Ridgeland Farm]

There are minimum pipe diam. for different pumps. So it all depends on what you get. If you go smaller than what they recommend you can burn the pump out. I think the distance you need to pump might be a little much for a sump pump. I use a deep well pump and a generator. I pump about 1000 feet up hill about 80 feet. You can buy the pumps for 300 or less. It is a little costly but makes life much easier!

[Elynch77]

t one of the two stroke gas pumps from northern tool but get the good one. I run 600 feet with over 80 feet of lift one one going through 3/4 inch and it move 250 gal per little weedeater tank of fuel. Let it run out and you can hear whzt it isndoing from where you boil. For me it runsout right about the time a hit a boil1!

[Elynch77]

Okay I was on a touch screen before so it was sloppy. Long story short I am doing something similar and the two stoke pumps work great. In fact I pulled it down the hill last year to water grass seed during a dry spell and it could push it up a hill off the house hose and run four sprinklers at once. I guess what I am trying to say is there maybe more than one use for some of the equipment you buy. Also 3/4 inch line will move plenty of sap and you can just put a reducer from the 1 inch out of the pump and save some money on tubing. I think I paid $250 for mine but you may be able to get a little cheaper one if you are only lifting 40 feet. I was amazed the first year I used mine I was pumping 1,200 feet of 3/4 in. line with 100 foot of lift. only saving grace was it was going over the top of a hill so it got some pull coming down the other side. Since then I moved in with the maples and am happy in the woods. One thing I will say is that it is nice to only have to drag one gas can around. I always have a saw, oil and gas so one more two stroke is no problem.

[CBOYER]

the bigger the pipe the more weight the pump has to push. The harder the pump has to work.

No... the pressure still the same (psi pounds per square inches), the bigger the pipe, the flow (fps feet per second) will reduce, and friction reduce...

[Elynch77]

CBOYER is spot on with the PSI. lift is lift but increased velocity or flow will expend more energy. As soon as you start getting into flow rates you are dealing with a cubed rout to calculate energy expenditure. After a certain amount of lift though you can only get but so much flow so a smaller line will not kill you. At 90 feet of lift or so I was getting 3 gpm out of a pump that would do 30 gpm at 10 feet of lift. Either way you should be fine but I will say I love my little pump. It weighs 8 lbs. and does a ton of work. If that goes down my entire operation stops. Come to think of it I should buy a back up.

[spud]

I'm looking to add another 1000 taps next year but will need to pump the sap up hill. The distance is 400 feet and the lift is about 25 feet. What size pump should i buy? Thanks.

Spud