High vacuum/Mechanical releaser issues

[danno]

I have a lapierre single mechanical and run 25" vac. Occasionally during the season, like today, after the releaser dumps, the vac chamber above the cover does not slide, so vac is not reintroduced to the releaser. I know keeping that chamber clean and lubed helps, but does anybody understand the technology of how that chamber slides, why this happens occasionally, and most importantly, how to keep it from happening?

There is like a 1/8" tube that connects either side of the chamber, and assume that has allot to do with how that chamber slides?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I don't know why they do it danno but I have had the same problem. I finally solved it by going to all double releasers.

[maplwrks]

I'm sure that you have watched this releaser dump many times. There is a huge splash in the main chamber when it dumps. The releaser pulls sap into this slide chamber. I tear mine down and clean the plunger and the area that the plunger slides into. I then lube it with Lapierre silicone grease, spread very thin. VERY VERY THIN!
I also put a thin coating of the grease on the plunger. If you don't have silicone grease, try spray silicone and wipe off the excess.This is the first year that I have used the grease and my releasers have not failed once.The other thing I would do is to get a copy off the releaser maintenance guide that Lapierre puts out, very good guide.

[JoeJ]

Danno,
I have 4 old Lapierre releasers and a new one I bought last season. The new realeasers now have a 1/4" tube on both the vac line and chamber line. I had the same problems you described and was thinking of changing the brand of releaser, until I got the new model. The new releaser with the 2 1/4" lines worked all season with no problems. So I went to Lapierre this past fall and ordered 4 new gray blocks that the tubes connect into so I could change to the 1/4" tube on the chamber. I installed the new blocks and the new larger lines and now all of the realeasers work perfectly. The only problem is that the little gray block comes as a unit for $157.00. ( I probably should have asked the price before ordering) It was a very expensive fix, but they work. No more lost sap with the shuttle stuck or sap in the vacuum line. Good luck.

[maplecrest]

the only way i keep my single benard releaser working at high vac is by adding a 1/2 cup of rice inside the float. that wt. pulls the float down every time. and have never missed a cycle.

[danno]

Thanks for your ideas guys. Maplecrest, let me get my head around this - it's the falling of the float which triggers the vac chamber to slide? I've heard the rice suggestion before - I'm going to build another float - what did you use to plug the float after you drilled it to add rice?

[maplecrest]

there is a white plug on top of blue float!

[danno]

No such luck on mine. My float from lapierre is simply a 6" piece of 4" PVC with 4" PVC glued on either end with a 1/2" hole drilled in the center of the caps with a piece of 1/2" PVC glued down the center where the releaser rod rides.

[Brian Ryther]

For the Lapierre singles it helps to lower the upper collar on the float rod so that the float tops out sooner. You will have shorter fill cycles but less miss fires.

[Brent]

I complained to a Bernard rep at a maple exhibition that the float would not go down properly and that even adding weights on or rice in the float, was only partly sucessful.

I told me that recently one of their suppliers had substituted a new type of plastic for the white strip on the valve slide. The piece is about 1/2" wide and 2" tall with a couple of holes drilled in it. He said that particularly on high vac systems, this new plastic saw causing the lever to get stuck and hang up the float. He said to take a utility knife and scratch a small groove inthe white plastic from the top hole upward to create a very slight air leak.

I did it and the problem went away on all 3 of our releasers. After cutting the groove I removed the little rise the blade made so it would not screw up the O-ring on the lever.

[danno]

Thanks guys - I was planning on lowering the upper collar. Although the float rises all the way up, there seems to be another 20 second delay before the sap releases causing the sap to rise pretty high in the chamber and splash into the vac manifold.

I was also able to improve my vac re-sets by tightening the spring. When you tighten that spring, seems like the lever opens and closes with more force causing the "kick" necessary to re-engage the vacuum.

Brent, my releaser is about 6 years old - I can't picture the white strip on the valve slide?