Who knows Lapierre releasers?????????????????

[jtbucket]

Can't get this darn thing to run correctly, please watch this unprofessional video and give me your thoughts. If I can't get this done tonite I'm
just gonna buy a new one as I can't afford to keep fooling with this.


http://youtu.be/BtE21o5jmSc

[flooder]

it says this video is unavailable

[500592]

I got that to.

[jtbucket]

I know, youtube is taking forever to get it loaded. I just checked it's status and it says 12 minutes until download is complete. Please try again soon. I'm headed up to watch Mike Christian boil for a bit and am curious to hear all of your thoughts on this thing. P.S, this is "the wife" of the bucket.

[Brian Ryther]

Best I can tell is that you do not have enough vacuum / CFM to actuate the trip. It appears that the problem is at the pump.

[Jeremy Hanna]

try to lube float shaft with mineral oil

[jtbucket]

Brian, how much vacuum do I need to get this to work properly then? How can I tell what my pump is giving?

[jtbucket]

Even if it seems to mover freely?

[flooder]

why does it look like the lovejoy on your pump is barely turning?

[Jeremy Hanna]

so how much vacuum do you have and what have u tried to do with it

[tuckermtn]

is the pump supposed to turn that slowly? my guess is something is up with the pump. I don't know those kind of pumps, but is there a chance it isn't getting liquid- looks like air being pushed in to the cage tank.

[jtbucket]

I noticed that too, not sure why. It didn't turn that slow last year.

[jtbucket]

Eric, I think you're on to something. I don't feel like the pump is doing it's job. I don't understand the air issue either which is why I tried to show it in the video. I'm wondering
if all of the connections look like they are done right. I didn't set it up, my husband did and I'm trying to solve it.

[flooder]

it looks like your pump is slipping,and the vacuum gauge looks like it was on zero when it was running

[jtbucket]

If my pump is slipping, how would I fix this? And yes, the gauge is showing no vacuum which is really frustrating too. Does it look like all of the connections are
correct?

[flooder]

you would probably have to take it to someone who fixes pumps,the lovejoy connection should be spinning alot faster than it is

[jtbucket]

I am perplexed with that also, from the video can you tell if I have the connections correctly? I think you guys have me convinced that the issue lies with the pump.

[jtbucket]

My husband says the pump is 10 CFM.

[Dennis H.]

The lovejoy speed can be an artifact from using the video camera.
Some times when you film things that are moving/spinning because of the frame rate of the video it is capturing a pic, which will be one frame of the video and if it is timed right it may make the thing that is moving/spinning look like it is going slow or not moving at all.
Think of a strobe light, if the speed of flashing is adjustable you can make anything at any speed appear to be standing still or moving at any speed from still to full speed.
So I what I am saying is that from the video I can't tell if the pump is running the same speed as the motor.

Anyway, I see you have a vac gauge on the releaser. What does it read?

[jtbucket]

That makes perfect sense, I just went down to check the speed of the lovejoy and it is moving quickly as it always had. The vac guage reads 2, a very sad number when it comes to this sort of thing.

[Jeremy Hanna]

so what happens when u manuly trip the dumper when the float is at the bottom does the vacuum go up or is it the same

[jtbucket]

It stays the same, it's actually at 0 right now.

[Jeremy Hanna]

so on my dumpers i have valves on every mainline so that i can see if there problems at the dumper or the bush or even the pump. this has made my job so much easier to find leaks in the bush and maintain between 23"at one bush and 28" at an other. so if you can cap your lines to see if the vacuum producing vacuum or not it is a place to start your dumper looks fairly new so there shouldn't have problems

[treefinder]

you need to run at least 20 inches of vacuum. i have the same one and they need high vacuum to work. but do what others say about the shaft being clean. and it makes no sense but it works better with the more sap is going in.

[jtbucket]

So here's where we're at. We tightened some lines and set the pump on the ground, the guage started moving!! We got it up to 15 but now the releaser isn't seeming to
let go when it's full causing sap to run up into the top canister and no releasing. I really want this to work and am so appreciative of all of the replies this afternoon.

[Dill]

Ok I seem to have the only one of these releasers that works well.
Mine runs between 22 and 15inches of vac. I wish I had sap coming in like you did with no vac.
So the main tank is filling up without tripping. The float doesn't have that far a travel on this setup. And a touch of oil on the top part of the plunger works wonders. I have to use a little stick or blade of grass to fit in there. It does have to be somewhat level, the snow load on saturday caused mine to pitch backwards which caused a bunch of issues with my pump.
However, after you lube it, let it fill about halfway. Then pull up on the float knob. This will manually dump it, by sealing the upper tank. If this doesn't work than you have an issue with the float and or the rod.
Honestly the only issue I've had with mine is ice. The elbow between the upper and lower tanks has froze up solid on me a couple times.

[jtbucket]

Dill, thanks for your reply! I guess it's worth a shot to lubing the top of the plunger. I will let you know tonite how it made out. Thank you again!!

[Dennis H.]

OK, the more I thought about this thing the more it bugs me.
When the float rod is up it will/should bleed off vac in the main chamber. The flapper in side I'll seal off the upper chamber so vac can remain on mainlines.
Since I can see that the rod goes up and can hear hiss air I can assume that it is doing what it is supposed to do.
And if the main chamber is full of sap, cause it is tripped, then maybe your flapper inside is not sealing correctly keeping some vac in the main chamber all the time. Take a look at it and be sure that there isn't any rips or tears on it.
Another thing that bugs me is why is the sap surging into the upper chamber? It should be a steady stream, you can get a small surge after it dumps but then should smooth out.

I see that your hobby released is an older model. The one I picked up this season has a few differences. The flappers look just the ones on the larger releasers. There is no knob on top of the float rod and if I am seeing correctly even the shape of the float rod is a little different when it is raised up. I,ll have to look again and compare.

[mapleack]

Is there a spring on the float rod above the float? I don't have one of these hobby models but i know the issues with them were discussed on here before, and I looked at one last summer in VT that had the spring added to it, they weren't factory issue, but seem to solve the hang up problem. If there's no spring on the float call your lapierre dealer and see what size you need.

[wcproctor]

Try this pump, it works better than a big one. Mastercool 90066-A Vacuum Pump . You can get 25 -30" of vac with it.

[Monster Maples]

I agree with Dennis. Check the flap in the main canister. If that is all good I would then unscrew the top of the rod and pull the rod and float completely out of the lid and check your o rings. Your problem I think is in one of those areas. The float is working correctly, obviously. I had the same issue last week due to ice in the elbow between the main canister and the manifold not allowing the flap to close properly.

[jtbucket]

Dennis, what you are saying all makes sense and even though I don't specialize in this I too thought the inside flapper could be the culprit. I checked for cracks, debris in the way, anything. So after much deliberation, perplexidies causing multiple glasses of wine in consumption, I did this:

5584

I am SO appreciative of everyone's advice and insight. I find true compassion with our mutual passion here on the Trader!! Thanks all, and we'll be chatting again soon!

This doesn't make me a quitter does it???

[Dennis H.]

Yeap I think you found the fix!

How much do you want to sell the hobby for? Seriously let me know.

[Randy Brutkoski]

I think he already sold it.

[maplwrks]

I don't think the releaser had anything to do with the wine consumption!!! Was your neighbor helping you? I have seen the 2 of you in action before!!

[Dill]

So what is it? I don't read the Lapierre catalog enough to know.
And I'm sorry I didn't pick up on the fact you had the 1st generation hobby releaser. I'm running the 2nd generation that I bought new last year. I think its a better design.

[maplwrks]

This was a second generation releaser---he bought a 3rd generation

[Maplewalnut]

ahhh the hobby releaser strikes again....I have a problem with Lapierre still marketing the hobby releaser with such engineering flaws. This entry level unit should be idiot proof. Parden the pun. Think about the customer, usually someone with few taps, new to vacuum and tubing, in a state with little maple support. and they throw this piece of cr@P at them to buy. Price is right, not to big etc...Wrong, prepare for a season of headaches.! There I feel better

Good move jtbucket, I had the same issues you had with the hobby releaser a few years ago and to their credit Lapierre did take back the hobby in exchange for a full size releaser.

[tuckermtn]

so it looks like they put a very similar valving system to the ones that have on the full sized ones on the new 3rd gen hobby releaser? hopefully that makes them work like they should. jtbucket- let me know how the new one works- I might be game for a 3rd gen hobby.

[Dennis H.]

Am I missing soemthing here, I just got a hobby releaser right before the season began. It looks like the one that was posted that was having issues except a few minor changes.
I was told by the seller and he had it shipped directly from Lapierre when I had it order in Dec, that it was the new modified Hobby releaser. And yes I trust this seller.
The second pic of the lapierre relaser looks like the next step up rated for about 1000 trees.

Oh by the way My Hobby releaser ran faultless the entire season. I loved it, money well spent.

[jtbucket]

Dennis, it's on Longhill Maples' floor now. All in all, the difference in trading this for this new one cost me less than what I already lost in sap. Reg is AWESOME to deal with, tell him Shannon sent you.

[jtbucket]

Dennis, glad yours worked great. My husband had a honeymoon with this one too but it ended in divorce.

[jtbucket]

I will let you know, didn't run it today because I couldn't monitor it and it was too cold. Glad I didn't as when I did get home there was ice formed.

[jtbucket]

That's alright Maplewalnut, I do consider myself idiot proof but this hobby defies all laws. We did buy it because we use it for the small bush in our back yard, while the beast runs on our largest orchard. The only headaches in my future now is the weather man!

[Maplewalnut]

Dennis- Glad to here yours is doing well. Mine did also for the first 4 weeks or so...then it never ran right again.

There are fixes that can be done, I just continually wonder why the fixes arent done in the factory! Don't get me wrong I purchase lots of Lapierre but this unit just rubs me the wrong way, and I hate to see people continue to have problems with it.