Ideas for not spilling a drop of sap?

[TroutBrookSH]

Does anyone have any ideas for funneling sap into a leg tank with a 4-5" opening? I'm usually pouring off ~5 gals sap from bucket into waist-to-chest high opening in the tank. I don't want to spill any of the precious liquid, especially when the season's not cooperating. :oops:

Greg

[mapleman3]

Be careful :wink: actually I contemplated getting a leg tank for my truck and opted out for that very reason... But now that I have a dump station on the back of my truck I can get one.

I use just a rubbermaid blue tub about a 15-20 gallon or so, at tailgait end of the bed... in it I have a 12volt bilge pump and a small car battery to the side of the tub, a switch between the bat and pump.... a 3/4 pvc pipe with a union on it goes up to the top of my cage tank and in a hole made in the top cover.... now I just dump at bed level and as I'm collecting it's pumpming up into my tank.. works great.. the kids can reach it which is a plus.

[Al]

I have a square tank with the same deal. You can go to a co-op and get a milk funnel. That may help.
Take care

[Fred Henderson]

Most everyone that uses a pickup empolyes a bilge pump. 12 volt.

[mapleman3]

heres a link to one of my pages with my dump station at the bottom of the page

http://www.desjardinsmaple.com/Desjardins%20Sugar%20House.htm

[Russell Lampron]

Jim, how many gallons per minute will the bilge pump move? I've been thinking of getting one to gather my tanks in the woods. I'm using a gas powered pump now that is a pain in the butt to prime.

Russ

[Fred Henderson]

The one that I have is a Rule Mate and it pumps 1500 gals an hour. A friend has one that will do 2000 GPH.

[mapleman3]

mine is also a 1500, bought it on Ebay last year.. graingers also carrys them

[Fred Henderson]

Any Marine sales place will have them. I got mine from Boater world.com.

[Russell Lampron]

Thanks guys, I just bought a 1500gph one on ebay for 35.00

Russ

[mapleman3]

great.. enjoy :D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Quit making syrup! 8O 8O :lol: :lol: :lol:

[ibby458]

I bought the 2000 GPH (33 gallons/minute) pump, but the rating is based on zero lift and a short, big hose. When I'm pumping up 4 feet with a 1 1/4 hose, it drops to 15 gpm. I reduced it to a 3/4" garden hose (20 feet long) to pick up out of barrells, and the performance dropped to 5 gallons/minutes. Still beats carrying buckets!

[maple flats]

on any pump the better flow is gotten by keeping the suction hose short and add more after the pump as needed. Of course bilge pumps have not suction hose and it is all push. Pumps push better than suck. If too much gpm is lost make the hoses bigger diam which reduces line loss from friction. There are fancy charts but basically remember that doubling size quadruples flow but at a loss of ease of movement.

[lew]

If you ever have the oppurtunity to acquire a pump off the back of a milk tanker, grab it. These are awesome pumps. You can suck the bottom of a tank dry without leaving a drop and you don't have to prime the pump. They are extremely expensive to buy new, but we just bought an old milk tanker for a storage tank and the pump was still attached. You need a 5 horse gas engine to turn it (our old 3 horse wouldn't quite do the job). At 1/2 speed it was putting about 75 to 100 gallons a minute on the truck. Havn't had enough time to calculate it accurately yet. Awesome pump and you get every drop.

[ibby458]

I wasn't critisizing bilge pumps, but pointing out that real world performace doesn't match the ratings.

THe original plan was to park the ATV and gathering tank next to the barrel the mini tubing systems dumped into, using the pump to suck the sap out.

WE tried it out before the season with a barrel of water next to the house.

I originally put a 1-1/4 inch sump pump hose on it, but 20 feet of that full of sap was too heavy and awkward to move around in the woods. The 3/4" I put on next is better, but slows down the pumping a lot.

[Dave Y]

Teel makes a nice little 360gph 12volt pump that you can get for 29-39dollars from Grainger. It is so small you can almost put it in your caot pocket. It is self priming and works great for transfering from the truck up into the evaporator tank. has a 3/4 garden hose fitting. Mine has saved not only sap, but my back!

[ibby458]

Northern Hydraulics (Northern tool, now) used to list a 12 volt sump pump with impressive performance stats, but it seems to have disappeared from the catalog. It was a Simmer (I Think), with a lot bigger motor than a bilge pump. Not much more money, though. I've looked everywhere and can't find it now. I think that would have been ideal.

[Sugarmaker]

Guys,
Been busy with things other than syrup and just browsing found this thread.
I also chose a bilge pump for our dumping station on the back of the pick up. It is 3000 gph and with the head of about 5 feet is probably around 2500 gph. It really works great and we are lifting the buckets only about 3 feet to dump. (Pictures on the web page)
I was considering using something like this to carry with a attached hose to roadside tanks to pump them to the tank on the truck. I get the idea here that 1-1/2 dia hose filled with sap might be heavy and or awkward to move. Also when you shut off the 12 volt pump it would drain back into the tank. Any suggestions?
Chris