How do you heat your releaser enclosures?

[yards1520]

Do most of you build a little enclosure for your releaser out in the woods? I do not have electricity available to me and am wondering what would be the best/cheapest way to heat the enclosure around the releaser to keep it from freezing solid at night?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

mine has a top and sides to keep it dry but no heat, when it freezes i shut it off and drain it

[spud]

Once my releaser would start to freeze up I would shut the pump off and drain it. I would then turn the pump back on in the early morning before the lines thawed out. I often wondered if shutting the pump off was a good idea but I could see no other way of fixing the problem. I am planning on heating the area where my releaser is for next season. Although if my lines are froze up out in the woods does it really matter if the pump stays off during cold nights? I know some sugar makers say their pump stays on all season. I know others have their pumps on a thermostat switch where it shuts down when the temp goes down to a set temp.

Spud

[ennismaple]

We have 4 mechanical releasers in our woods (2 doubles, 2 singles) and none are in a heated enclosure. You may have to pull some ice out of them in the morning after a hard freeze but its manageable. I suppose a small box would help keep them warm enough to avoid this. Properly insulated, a 100W bulb may be enough to keep a small box from freezing overnight.

[Dennis H.]

You wil have to watch though if you enclose them without some sort of heat in there. The enclosure can keep it colder longer when if it were in a more open covered area.

I plan on at least covering it with a roof maybe a side or two to keep the wind from hitting it directly.

[PATheron]

I dont know what kind of releaser you have but this is how I do it. We have two with small enclosers with light bulbs in them. This works real good. All the releasers should have a roof over them and this is why.. If it snows or rains the moisture will get on the slider and that part of the releaser and when it operates it will suck the moisture up into the vacuum pump side of the releaser and into the actuating vacuum cylinder of the releaser and then it will never work right whenever it freezes. There will be water in the cylinder and youll have to take it apart and get the water out. I use only horizontal releasers if they are not heated becouse when the sap freezes in them at night you can go out and turn the vac off in the morning at the releaser and scoop the ice out the side easy. The verticle ones will sometimes freeze the float in and then its hard to pull the lid off. We check every releaser, heated or not, every morning. Hope this helps. Theron

[Marc Duclos]

Once my releaser would start to freeze up I would shut the pump off and drain it. I would then turn the pump back on in the early morning before the lines thawed out. I often wondered if shutting the pump off was a good idea but I could see no other way of fixing the problem. I am planning on heating the area where my releaser is for next season. Although if my lines are froze up out in the woods does it really matter if the pump stays off during cold nights? I know some sugar makers say their pump stays on all season. I know others have their pumps on a thermostat switch where it shuts down when the temp goes down to a set temp.

Spud Ah Marc from Deerfield NH, just when I had my plan all layed out in my mind the question I never ask come to the form. The wet freezes up and the pump ? to keep it on or to shut it off. Could the wet dry systyem be half on and half off derwing a hard freeze. I ask about this back in march when it was said that pumps were on 24/7. So what is happening hear with the vaccum when the pumps are left on humm?

[Amber Gold]

I currently don't heat or cover my releasers. Covering would be nice, but I never seem to get around to it come maple season. I am religious about going to the releaser every morning, taking it apart, and cleaning everything out of it. Last season was the first year I did this every morning, and I had no issues with the releaser. If I get a new woods, I'll likely put the releaser in a small enclosure (likely mounted on the sap tank) and heat it with propane heater, or electricity if it's available.

[GeneralStark]

Is it really necessary to heat and keep from freezing a mechanical releaser. It surely is nice, but without electricity, I think it would be tough to heat a small enclosure. Perhaps you could use a small gas camping lantern, or a small propane heater if you wanted but that wouldn't be cheap in the long term. I just bought a gallon of white gas for a camping stove and it was almost $20!

I have a small enclosure over my sap tank that the mechanical releaser sits in and I have used a 100 watt bulb some nights when it was borderline freezing but the sap was still running. This worked well, but we also have an indoor releaser in a heated space that still freezes as ice comes down the lines and blocks the wet line. Generally, we shut off the vacuum pump when it freezes, and start it back up when the lines thaw.

I am outgrowing my single chamber mechanical releaser and contemplating an electric releaser, in which case I will insulate and heat the enclosure over the tank with a 100 watt bulb. If it freezes for several days I will probably just drain the pump and not heat the space. I'm not sold on the electric releaser though, but it does seem like a better option in some ways. Especially maintaining high vac more trouble free, but the power does sometimes go out here.