Thinking about a Busch Rotary Claw pump

[maple flats]

I've been thinking about getting a Busch Rotary Claw Pump, not this year but in 1-2 more years. Someone I was talking with tonight said they have issues after setting in the off season, is this correct? He said they set up from one season to the next. True/false, any remedies, should I think something different?
The bush where I've been thinking to go with the rotary claw has 500 taps, will get about 5-600 more this year and will eventually have between 2000-2500 when maxed out. The woods tanks are at a location on the property at a spot about 800' from the road where I can collect and I must pump the sap across a friendly neighbor's property. Last year my transfer line was only 1", this year I plan to change it to the 200+' of 1.5" and then 200+' of 1.25". I'll then buy what I still need in 1.25" to complete the line. What I learned about the Busch pump is that they also have a transfer pump on them to push sap to the tank, sugarhouse or where ever. With one I could stay with the 1" and move all but 1 tank to the road and just pump from there to pick up.
Do these pumps come with issues?

[Thad Blaisdell]

contact Maplecrest. he has them and likes them.

As far as the transfer line. Why do you need to transfer faster? Is it a collection issue. The problem I see with starting out 2 inch and then 1.5 will be the volume of sap left in the pipe. If this is going uphill that will be a substantial amount of sap.

[DrTimPerkins]

I've been thinking about getting a Busch Rotary Claw Pump, not this year but in 1-2 more years. Someone I was talking with tonight said they have issues after setting in the off season, is this correct?

We have two identical Busch Rotary Claw Pumps. Like all devices, they come with some advantages and some disadvantages. For our operation I like them a lot. Advantages = No cooling water or oil required, very quiet, compact, easy maintenance (notice I didn't say NO maintenance). Disadvantages = Expensive, if you pull sap or water through them you are in deep trouble, so you better have a bulletproof moisture trap system (we use two different types of moisture traps in series). They pull a good high vacuum, but don't recover quite as fast as some other types of pumps (but are still quite capable).

Off-season maintenance is pretty simple. Just squirt the recommended lubricant into the intake and run the pump briefly before shutting down, then cap the inlet and outlet to keep moisture out. If you don't do this, it could rust and seize up since the tolerances are so close, but it doesn't take much to shut them down and prep for storage.

Typically you mate them to a VFD with a vacuum-sensor. The running amps (and motor noise) will tell you how tight your tubing system is.

Best pump we've used so far.

[maple flats]

contact Maplecrest. he has them and likes them.

As far as the transfer line. Why do you need to transfer faster? Is it a collection issue. The problem I see with starting out 2 inch and then 1.5 will be the volume of sap left in the pipe. If this is going uphill that will be a substantial amount of sap.

Thad, the issue is transfer time. If I end up using a Busch Pump with a inline transfer pump the smaller line will be fine, I'd just place my holding tanks at the road, but if I need to pump the transfer while I wait, I'll run the 1.5 and 1.25 line, the 1.5 would be nearest the road. This is actually a slight downhill transfer but I need a pump to start it. There is a 4-5' lift then it drops about 15' in elevation in the 800' to the road. I drain the line, unless I will be back for another load in an hour or 2 if warming (or freezing) will be an issue.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Good point on the larger size transfer line. We put in 1" to pump 1,400 feet up an 18 foot grade using a Goulds 3/4 hp pump with 230 volts. It takes about 45 minutes to pump an 800 gallon tank. We would like to upgrade to 1 and 1/4" or 1 and 1/2" to speed that up.

[archerybs]

Dr. Tim,

What type of moisture traps are you using with the Busch pumps?

[DrTimPerkins]

What type of moisture traps are you using with the Busch pumps?

We use two traps in series to ensure no sap makes it through to the pump (a very, very bad thing). The first (coming from the woods side) is a standard mechanical float type moisture trap. The second is the one Lapierre recommends with the Busch pump, which is called the "Bernard Moisture Trap" (page 55 of the 2012 catalog).