When is it worth going vacuum?

[Starting Small]

At what point (how many taps) do people make the jump to vacuum? Also how much does it cost to get set up with a smaller type vacuum system, (everything included)?

[spencer11]

im going with a vac next year with 100ish taps. i tink it is worth the investment for my setup. i have about 200 trees on 10 acres that are bunched in one spot(where the vac is gonna be) and the others scattered. in my mid if depends how many taps your looking to put on vac, how loang and how many mainlines you will need.(i need 3-3/4" mains), for e adding a vac would cost about $3-400. its worth it in my mind for me.

spencer

[Starting Small]

that is more reasonable than I thought. I was thinking thousands. I was thinking 100-200 taps. Does that include a releaser also?

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Yes. You always need a releasor of some sort. A dairy releaser and vacuum pump is a good way to go.

[Russell Lampron]

My first vacuum set up had about 200 taps. I was lucky and had a dairy vacuum pump given to me. The releaser was the most expensive part. At the time I paid a little over $600 for a Bernard single. I just sold it for $500 so it held it's value. The additional sap that I got paid for the addition of the vacuum in less than 1 season. I would have tubed the woods for gravity anyway so I didn't include that in the cost for adding vacuum.

[maple flats]

If you are thinking new pump and everything, look in the Leader catalog. They have a chart for payback times, but very few start new. Find an old dairy pump, a used releaser (or a vacuum tank) and the cost to get started with the advantages of vacuum drop fairly low in comparison. Since dairy pumps are designed to run at 15", most can't handle much higher. I run mine at 18" on one and 20" on another. After a year or 2 on this I'll get a maple vacuum and get more vacuum.

[spencer11]

im going with what rossell's sugar camp said. getting a dairy releaser and someone is giving me a gas 1500 series vac pump. so that saves me about $100 there. so thats why i dont plan on spending a ton. if you buy everything new it would be in the thousands.

spencer