pulling sap uphill

[spencer11]

will a vacuum pull sap uphill in a lateral to the mainline? it would only be for about 20-25 trees(5 trees max per lateral of course) but will it do it? i am using a gast vac pump(a 1510 i think) and a bender releaser with 3/4" mainline these taps would be toward the end of my mainline near my tank with releaser.

spencer

[Greenwich Maple Man]

will a vacuum pull sap uphill in a lateral to the mainline? it would only be for about 20-25 trees(5 trees max per lateral of course) but will it do it? i am using a gast vac pump(a 1510 i think) and a bender releaser with 3/4" mainline these taps would be toward the end of my mainline near my tank with releaser.

spencer

Spencer how much is "uphill". If it is just a slight down grade it will do it but you are going to loose production and possibly vacuum (inches). You might be better off depending on how it is setup to install a simple sap ladder . Easy to build and rather cheap. Remember you will always get more sap if everything is gravity fed to begin with. Hope this might help.

[spencer11]

it would be maybe a 2% slope uphill for maybe a max of 30 feet. it would just be with the laterals though. could i still install a ladder with just all lateral tubing? thanks

spencer

[mapleack]

If you're talking about 30 taps in pretty much one spot put in a lateral mainline and then a sap ladder to get up to the mainline. If these lower laterals are spread out then use 5/16 sap ladders with two pipes for each lateral. You'll get better vacuum transfer than just pulling sap uphill in the 5/16.

[spencer11]

the taps are within about 50 feet of eatchother. does anyone have pictures of a lateral line sap ladder? i know what a regular on liike like...when using 5/16 would i just use tees instead of the star fittings that would go back into the "mainline"(being 5/16 tubing still)? and how would i setup a double lateral line? thanks for all the help guys.

spencer

[mapleack]

Spencer, here's a rough drawing of how I do a 5/16 ladder. The only thing I would change now is I've found the small polychain isn't durable enough, I'd just wrap the 5/16 around the tree, using a slide tensioner or an end hook to keep the line tight.

[oneoldsap]

Install a star on the top of your main and one on a short piece of mainline that those latterals run into . Put a star on the bottom of that line . Fill both stars with 5/16 lines and you are good to go .

[ennismaple]

it would be maybe a 2% slope uphill for maybe a max of 30 feet. it would just be with the laterals though. could i still install a ladder with just all lateral tubing? thanks

spencer

How much vertical elevation difference? 2% over 30ft horizontal means only 7" of rise. If that's the case, run the lateral as high as you comfortably can on a slight uphill gradient and the vacuum will pull it to the mainline. We have a bunch of lines like this and to me it is better than a sap ladder - but I haven't seen any proof one way or the other. We put in one line this year that goes straight up 4ft to the mainline. not ideal but you get more sap than not tapping those trees!

[spencer11]

it would only be 7" then. so it would work just running them uphill a little bit

spencer

[sapman]

I think you're better off that way than a sap ladder, too. This is how a bunch of mine were this year. I think I got better production than last year with ladders.

[spencer11]

it defentally seems like sap ladders are somewhat hard to build..just time consuming compaired to running lines uphill. thanks

spencer

[mapleack]

Someone needs to do a side by side comparison of pulling sap up hill vs a mini ladder with a vac gauge on the last tap on each. I suspect that on heavy run days there is a much bigger loss of vac on lines just pulling sap uphill. Maybe I'll get a chance to experiment next season!

[spencer11]

i can try it when i set up my lines.

spencer