Vacuum is Awesome!!!

[Gravel]

So I put up tubing this year with no intent of having vacuum, at least not this year. After the way this season has been going I decided yesterday that I had to do something so I borrowed a vacuum pump from a buddy of mine (just a refrigeration vacuum pump) and I had a small zero tank. All I have is 1/2" mainline and put up to 10-12 taps per lateral with 190 taps. I have not got enough sap to say so and it hadnt run since Sunday which was our last freeze. I hooked up the vacuum yesterday, after fixing a few leaks I got it up to about 18" at the farthest tap and got around 15 gallons of sap an hour yesterday rite up until I stopped boiling around 10 which is quite an improvement over a few drops a day without vacuum! I will never not have vacuum again and would recomend anybody that doesnt have it to rig up something it will be worth the time and money. Just wonder how much syrup I could have made if I had put the vacuum to it at the begining of the season!

[adk1]

I am seriously thinking about it. looking into sap pullers, I know that there are pro's and cons that is for sure

[Russell Lampron]

Without vacuum I would have been done last weekend. Instead I have boiled every night but 1 this week including last night. Vacuum is a wonderful thing.

[500592]

Oh adk1 all you need is a gast pump and a bender releaser that's what I have and I have less then to hundred in it and it is worth every penny.

[michiganfarmer2]

Without vacuum I would have been done last weekend. Instead I have boiled every night but 1 this week including last night. Vacuum is a wonderful thing.Yes it is. Same here. We wouldnt have half the syrup we have without vacuum

[sugarwoodacres]

Ok , so where did everyone find a cheap releaser or are you just vaccuuming whole collection tank . Any help would be great . We did tubing for first time aqnd had about a 3week season in northwest NJ.

[Russell Lampron]

Ok , so where did everyone find a cheap releaser or are you just vaccuuming whole collection tank . Any help would be great . We did tubing for first time aqnd had about a 3week season in northwest NJ.

I found a free vacuum pump and bought a brand new releaser when I first went to vacuum. Many with small systems use the Bender milk releasers. They can be found sometimes on ebay or craigslist.

[Gravel]

For now I am just putting vacuum to my tank, kind of a pain because it only holds around 35 gallons and then I have to empty it manually, next year I will have a releaser of some sort whether it is purchased or home built but I will never not have vacuum again! Before I hooked up vacuum I had made 4 gallons and that was with several different nights that it froze, since hooking it up I have made 6 1/2 gallons with no freeze, it is still going to be a very bad year but not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be!