Tubing all done

[sugarman3]

Finally finished 1600 taps on thus morn ,been busy boiling evening,and collecting in the afternoon,cleaning front pan today with cold weather and hitting the 100 gallon mark.New Vacuum system is working great,gravity flow been slow

[adk1]

My tubing is giving me fits. The past few days I have had alot of sap just freeze in my laterals. I really ahvent had a good sap flow yet..My saddles freeze as they are in the hsadiest area. Anywyas, I was just told that all of my lats seem to be thawed out however they are still full of sap and the mainline is just slightly trickling into the tank..Now, I ahve a 14 lats and every one of them have about 50-75' of full line of sap not to mention what might be coming out of the tap..they dont seem to be draining?? I have my mainline plugged at the end.

[sugarman3]

If your lats have sap,more than likely there is a frozen spot in your laterral in a cold spot,don't worry ,my gravity is doing the same thing,it will thaw out sooner or later,patience rookie

[PerryW]

I ahve a 14 lats and every one of them have about 50-75' of full line of sap not to mention what might be coming out of the tap..they dont seem to be draining?? I have my mainline plugged at the end.

If you have a lateral full of sap......

Try slowly loosening the end tree tap of that lateral.

If you detect any natural vacuum (the sucking sound) then everything is fine.

If you do NOT detect any natural vacuum (or sap squirts out of ANY tap on the lateral), then there is blockage.

Most likely, if there is ice in the lines, the sap will not be running enough to worry too much about.

[PerryW]

You could also try another test. Before loosening any taps, cut the lateral off at the saddle and see what happens.

If sap squirts out of the lateral, then your saddle or mainline (downstream) is plugged. Try poking out the saddle connection with a wire or blowing into it to see where the problem is.

If nothing happens (or sap very slowly dribbles out) then everything is fine.

If it is mainline problem, you can repeat this test working your way downstream to determine find the blockage. (You may have a frozen sag in the mainline.)

[adk1]

Yeah, done that. Over the weekend, knowing that the lines were froze, I went around to all of my taps and pulled off the stubbies and reset them. One line in particular when I pulled the stubby off, it made a loud vac sound. Couldnt tell if it was air going into the tubing or air coming out of the tubing. But it was loud. That was at the top of the line.
Then at the bottom of the line, almost to the saddle where I knew it was frozen, I pulled off a stubby and sap came flooding out of it. so reset it quick. the majority of my saddles are frozen that is for sure. most of the lateral lines will thaw out for the most part when the sun hits them.. I guess I will just wait for the temps to come up enough to unthaw the saddle loops etc.

[PerryW]

if you head a loud sound by pulling the top lateral, it was most likely NOT vacuum. Natural Vacuum doesn't make much of a sound at all except when the tap is SLIGHTLY loosened.

When you pull the tap completely out, the natural vacuum sound is almost inaudible. By putting a wet finger over the pulled tap, you can determine for sure.

Vacumm makes Ffffffffffttt sound and Pressure makes a Pllluuoooooossh sound.

[adk1]

then it had to be back pressure in the line. the saddle was frozen up. there was about 75 feet of unfrozen sap in the line below the tap that I pulled off. but it was loud and lasted about 2 seconds

[PerryW]

then it had to be back pressure in the line. the saddle was frozen up. there was about 75 feet of unfrozen sap in the line below the tap that I pulled off. but it was loud and lasted about 2 seconds

And (when you pulled the end tree tap) the fact that no sap came squirting out probably means the end tree was not running or else sap would have squirted out.

If possible, you could think about relocating the mainline into the sunny areas or cutting some of the (non-maple) trees that are shading the saddles.

[adk1]

yup, that would be correct. and when I pulled one of the bottom taps, where all of the line in between was thawed, it squirted sap all over the place.. so, knowing that my saddle loops are frozen, for the most part, all must be that.

[PerryW]

did you try poking out the saddles with something? Or blowing air into them?

If it feels liek blowing into a plugged pipe (no air at all), the blockage is in the sadde.

If it feels like blowing into a balloon, the blocage is close by in the mainline.


If it feels like blowing up an empty air mattress, the blockage is further down the mainline.

[adk1]

no need 2, I see the sap frozen on the loop of lateral line that goes into the saddle.