Convince me I need a dry line? Or not?

[danno]

600 taps, no real room for expansion unless the neighbor opens up his woods - doubtful. Pump at 25" at sugarhouse. About 3000' of mailnline before I hit my first tap. Taps are on 1" mainline. Woods run anywhere from 21-23.5". The mainline does run through a cold section of woods so the thaw out is slow each day. This year I made 200 gallons on 600 taps. Can I recapture $1000 worth of mainline within a couple of seasons if I add a dry line?

[spud]

600 taps, no real room for expansion unless the neighbor opens up his woods - doubtful. Pump at 25" at sugarhouse. About 3000' of mailnline before I hit my first tap. Taps are on 1" mainline. Woods run anywhere from 21-23.5". The mainline does run through a cold section of woods so the thaw out is slow each day. This year I made 200 gallons on 600 taps. Can I recapture $1000 worth of mainline within a couple of seasons if I add a dry line?

I would go dry line for sure. I would use 1 1/4 inch dry line and strive for 5 if your not already. Although 200 gallons on 600 taps is very good you might see yourself getting 300+ with a dry line. If you sell your syrup for $40.00 per gallon you could make $4000.00 more with a dry line. Well worth the extra $1100.00 on mainline.

Spud

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We were only able to get a dry line on half of our new tubing setup this year. This is only ancedotal but when we were pulling taps there was a noticable difference --- we won't do it until we have the cash, but it is high on the list.

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

We experience several days every season, usually when temps are marginal for a run, when our 2" wetline will freeze at night and sap runs out of the airline for atleast the first couple hours the next day. Increased vacuum transfer aside, that has been plenty of proof for me.

If you go that route, your dry line is already in place. Add 3/4" pipe for your wetline. 1 1/4" over 1" is much more pipe than you need. That would easily service a woods triple your size or more. I agree with spud to keep taps per lateral at five or less.

[maple flats]

Smaller scale, but on several occasions I had sap flowing in the dry line when the wet line was frozen. In one woods the wet is 3/4 until the last 50' where another main enters at 50' before the tank, with a 1" wet all the way. I got lots of sap while the wet line thawed. In my other woods my wet is 1.25 and the dry is 1.5". This year I only had 1 time that happened there because the wet was never full with only 550 taps but as I keep adding more mains and taps on that system I'm sure it will make a difference.
If you are already connected to the existing main along it's length adding a dry won't do the same thing, because on wet/ dry systems you don't enter the wet directly but rather enter a separate main and then that goes into the wet at a manifold set up where the main enters a te about half way up, the sap drops to the wet line and the gasses rise to the dry line. On the first system I mentioned I added the wet in year 2, but I had designed it to be added later, and no laterals entered the wet line directly. I even had the manifold in place but the tee was dead headed just above the main entering. On my second one I installed the 1.25/1.5 wet/dry from the start even though I was only going to get up to 700 taps this year. I actually got only 550 on the system, but each year I will now add until I'm maxed at the bush with up to maybe 2500 taps. I have plans to add about 5-600 more for 2013, and the keep adding each year until I get the entire woods. One new line will enter the releaser directly this year, and 2 more will enter at manifolds. On another existing main I will extend the main about 120' and pick up another section I missed this year, across a 8' deep drainage. After my first season using the wet/dry I was convinced it helped, both when the wet was frozen and to better transfer vac to the top. My vac is lower than yours but I get the same vac at the releaser as I do half way out a main above the wet dry. From there on longer mains (some are 1300' long) I lost 1" at the furthest taps.
The wet /dry lines are called conductors and the mains go out from the manifolds. Maybe sometime you would like to come to look at how I am set up. My system was installed by me but it was designed by my dealer with major input from Leader.

[lew]

Considering that you have a cold section that you know is slowing your production. Bite the bullet and install the dryline and configure it as mapleflats suggests. In the long run it will pay for itself, probably not too long. Sizing of lines is also critical. Make sure you have ALL of your lines sized properly. Get a hold of Steve Childs vacuum notebook from Cornell. Tells you everything you wanted to know and more about proper line sizing. I think it is a must have for every vacuum user.