Sap sitting in laterals

[Jay]

Here is the question. On alot of my laterals I have sap sitting any where from 3 or 4 inches to 3 feet in the laterals just before it goes in to the main line and not moving (at least not enough where you can see it with your eyes) here is a little back round on my set up so maybe some one can give me a direction to go in. I am running 3 main lines 3/4", 1 main runs right in to the tank and that has about 75 taps on it with the laterals and main having plenty of slope, the laterals have between 8 and 16 taps and the laerals are all less then 75' in length. My next main line also runs in to the tank and is just like the first with more slope on the laterals also has about 75 taps on it and it has a another main running in to it toward the top with about 50 taps on that 3rd main. On all my end trees I bought the leader end rings but after getting a bunch of them up I realized that I could not get gravity all the way around the tree and did not think enough natural vacum would carry the sap around the tree unless it was all going down....which it was not, I did however like the way the rings fastened the end line to the tree so what I did was used the end rings but capped them where the drop goes on and the just in front of the ring where the lateral comes off the tree I cut in my tee's for my drops. On the main line manifolds I capped of the lines not in use with end caps or ran tubbing to attach 2 of them together. If I pull the end ring caps that gets the sap out of the lateral but I should not have to do that. Even with the sap in the laterals I do have a slow steady stream coming out of the mains into the tank. The first few time I thgought maybe it was ice but no way after yesterdays temps :? :? :? :? :? . Any ideas,thoughts or suggestions would be great :D :D :D. Thanks as usual, Jay

[brookledge]

Jay
Have you gotten any day where you got 1 gallon of sap per tap?
If so then things are ok. When the sap is not running that good it can be hard to see any flow especially with a gravity system.
Keith

[maplehound]

That is the way it is supposed to work. If you can see the lines moving very fast then you have a leak. the slower they seam to be moving the more air tight your system is and the better your production will be. On my system My laterals are all full clear back to the T's and then some sap in the drop as well. I know if you pull the end tap it will all run out but remember tubing will work like a straw. if you cap it off you can lift it straight up and no water will run out. Same with your tubing. You only get out what comes in the other end. Weather that be air (gases) or water (sap). The lines will eventually run out at the end of the run as air comes back up the lines and allows the sap to run out. Same as if yu tipped your straw to the side.
IT IS AS CLEAR AS MUD :? but it works
Ron

[maple flats]

Don't open the end. that just lets bacteria into the lines. It is beest to use the end ring as designed. The tree during flow developes pressure that pushes the sap to the main line, this pressure during peak flow runs as high as 40 psi (more than your car tires) That spot that looks like a no flow blockage is actually helping seal off bacteria from traveling up into the tap hole. By design every latteral should have a high spot to seal off the free flow of bacteria and micro organisims, this is usually at the point of entrance to the main. Use a hook type coupling to hook the line onto the support wire, then a short section of 5/16 looped to the fitting for entry to the main. If another short high spot exists it will do little harm but the line should have a slope towards the mainline to give a little natural vacumn via gravity. Unless you have a very steep slope you should not have over 5 taps/latteral but we all do, just try to design the system to reduce the high tap count lines. During a demo at the winter conf. in Jan of 2005 at Verona, NY Glen Goodrich showed that it often uses little if any extra tubing to run the extra line if you are zig zaging around. Straighten out the lines as possible and have more of them. This being said I do have a couple with up to 8 or 9 taps but most are in the 5 or 6 range.