Natural vacuum with thinner lines.

[Revi]

I went to the Maple Mania this June and saw a talk by Tim Wilmot about making natural vacuum with thinner tubing. I ordered a bunch of widgets from McMaster Carr and we're going to try it. I guess they go almost 25 inches of vacuum using the small stuff at the Proctor Maple Research Center. Since we have some new taps to put in we are going to experiment a bit with it. At the Center they got almost twice as much sap with this technique. Dominion and Grimm have made a special thinner tubing for it, so I got some. We'll try it.

Has anyone else tried it?

[lastwoodsman]

I put up this past late spring using 5/16 ridgid a 400 foot 5/16 mainline and ran laterals of 5/16 into it and added another 50 or so trees.

Since the 1/2 inch mainline with 5/16 laterals on gravity did well this past spring I thought I would try another method. I streched the 5/16 ridgid without wire and it has been up all summer and has not sagged even in all this hot weather we had. Some of the laterals may need tightening but so far it looks the same as when I put it up. Just that many less bags to pick up.

You can see in a new photobucket folder for 1012 what it looks like.

http://s1012.photobucket.com/albums/af243/last_woodsman/2012%20goings%20on/

[GeneralStark]

Revi is talking about 3/16 tubing not 5/16 tubing. A whole different ball game.

[lastwoodsman]

Yep I was aware of it. I figure any information on gravity is good info. If you are new as I and many others it all (the replies) can be looked at and conclusions then arrived at for yourself.

[sjdoyon]

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/highvacuum.pdf

Here's the link to Tim's research paper. Very interesting, we have a 15-18% grade in most of our sugarbush so we're waiting for some more data before trying.

[Gary R]

I have 3000' of the 3/16 tubing from D&G. I also have all fittings from McMastercarr and what I needed from the maple dealer. Yesterday I limed and fertilized that sugar bush. I only plan on hooking up 50-60 taps. I'll have about 30'-40' drop on many of the taps. I'll tube it right after archery season. I look forward to seeing the results.

[Maplevermont]

How is the pricing of the tubes/fittings vs the larger converntional ones? How will you assess how much sap you get from these versus the others. Thanks!

[Gary R]

The prices are high. Tubing is $45 a 500ft. roll. I can buy 5/16 30P for that. Once I finish the installation, I will post the price per tap for material. For my small project, I will be collecting in 55 gal. drums. I have a translucent one that I will transport with. I will know how many gallons come from those 50 taps. I have an average of about 6-8 gal. of sap per tap over five years from these same trees on buckets. If I double it I will be excited.

[Revi]

That will be a cool way to check out how much you get Gary R. Do you have another comparable 30-40 tap set up? It would be cool to see if it makes as much difference as Tim got in Vermont. We are going to tube ours into the mainline. There can be no leaks in the tubing, so that's why we are doing some new taps this way. The other older tubing may have some leaks because we use gravity and it's not as important as with a vacuum system.

[Gary R]

At this point I don't want to put in any more taps:), just better ones. I know what I got with the same trees with buckets. I also have 2 seasons with my standard vacuum tubing. I got 28.5 and 23 gal. per tap (I need to improve on this). My runs will be around 800'. A bonus is the elevation drop. GPS doesn't work well. I estimated 30-40'. I went out with a lazer level and my wife. We came up with 60' of drop for the majority of taps.

Revi, how many taps are you putting in? Hopefully those of us who try it can compare notes and share with the rest.

[bnbmaplesyrup]

I have 3000' of the 3/16 tubing from D&G. I also have all fittings from McMastercarr and what I needed from the maple dealer. Yesterday I limed and fertilized that sugar bush. I only plan on hooking up 50-60 taps. I'll have about 30'-40' drop on many of the taps. I'll tube it right after archery season. I look forward to seeing the results.

I am looking for the fittings and taps for the 3/16 tubing. Do you have any info on what you are using for the 3/16 taps?

[Forrest hunters]

I'm sure this tubing is different than ice maker line but not sure how much different. Is it UV coated? I think the ice maker line has fittings available that may connect easier and be more readily available. I believe the ID is a bit smaller too. .187 to .170.

[DrTimPerkins]

I am looking for the fittings and taps for the 3/16 tubing. Do you have any info on what you are using for the 3/16 taps?

The taps are the same as usual, 5/16". There is a 5/16" to 3/16" tubing reducer used after the spout. Order is: 5/16" spout, 5/16" tubing, 5/16" to 3/16" reducing fitting, 3/16" tubing.