Wire vacuum lines up or lay on ground?

[yards1520]

I have a 2" vacuum line connecting two releasers in the woods. Does it matter if that line has any slope to it. Can it just lay right on the ground? There wont be any sap going through it so it doesnt seem to me like it would need to be put up on wire. Anything I am missing here?

[Thad Blaisdell]

always need some pitch...... condensation may come into play, also if there is an accident and sap gets sucked in you will have a way to get it out.

[Amber Gold]

Put constant pitch on them from releaser to pump, and hang it like you do mainline. I made the mistake of not doing this and paid the price for this with frozen vac. line. I had sags (pooled sap/condensation), laid it on the ground (caused it to freeze sooner). At some point, your moisture trap will fail and you'll suck sap up the vac. line, regardless, you'll get condensation in the line that will settle in the sags and freeze. If you do need to have a low point, consider a way to drain the line periodically.

[wiam]

I will agree with the other comments and add even if you bury vac line it would still be better to not have any low spots. Mine does and I think it bothers vacuum transfer.

[maple flats]

Any low spot will hamper vac transfer. A low equal to the diameter of the pipe causes loss of vacuum transfer, and without support you will likely have several dips. Either run the vac line by the wireless method or use support wire. Wireless works good unless you have to cross flat areas and can't maintain slope.

[GeneralStark]

If this is a dedicated vac line, you could get away with using non potable PVC glue pipe to offset the price of the wire. It will also be stiffer than roll pipe and may be easier to minimize sags.

[yards1520]

Yeah it is a dedicated Vac line. The reason I was wanting to lay it on the ground is because the two inch line is coming from the releaser at the bottom of the woods and then to a reverse slope releaser at the other end so the 2" line needs to be 16' up in the air.... It was a big pain, but I took all your advise and strung the 2" line up on wire yesterday. Man, thats heavy line! Hope it stays up there! Do you guys normally just use 9 gauge wire for 2" line?

[Mark]

I put all my 2" on 1/4 cable. On the end posts I use the strap winches that are used on semi trailers.