Vacuum Gauges on Wet/Dry

[philkasza]

I was wondering where we should put vac gauges on the manifolds going from the wet/dry to the main? Do we put the gauge on the main side of the valve for that main? Or do we put it on the wet/dry side of the valve? I guess I never mention that we now only have a valve on each main and vac gauge on the releaser so it was quite slow trying to find leaks last year so we what to put vac gauges on every main coming off the wet/dry line. If someone has pics they would help alot. Thanks

Sam

[sugaringman85]

We have our vac gauges on the main side of the manifold after the valve. Seems to work pretty well. Wish I had the money when we did the installation to put in a valve to shut off the dry line as well.

[wiam]

My gauges are on the manifold side of mainline valve. I think leak detection would be quicker if they were on mainline side.

[Homestead Maple]

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?9653-Nylon-Tee-s&p=117565#post117565

Here's a discussion on manifold set ups that may help.

[Jeff E]

I have tried it both ways, and I prefer to have the gauge on the uphill, mainline side of the valve.
When checking for leaks, I shut the valve and watch the gauge, it will hold steady if there are no leaks. If I see it drop, I open the valve and head up the line checking the laterals for air rushing thru the sap going into the saddle. Makes for quick troubleshooting.

I have a valve on each line coming into the releaser, so I start there and isolate which lines to check.

[wiam]

My gauges are on the manifold side of mainline valve. I think leak detection would be quicker if they were on mainline side.

Thinking more about this. Mainline side is better for leak detection...........but I can isolate mine from the pressure when washing as I have a valve in between wet and dry line above where mainline comes in.:confused::confused:

[sjdoyon]

We have vac gauges on our 58 one inch mainlines running into our wet/dry lines, next to our shut off valves. We document the pressure for each gauge when we walk each gauge everyday, we can check our notes to see what is the expected/normal pressure in the line. We like having the ability to isolate leak issues. We have several friends who don't have gauges or shut off valves on their mainlines and they run around the sugarbush looking for air leaks, they are not able to isolate leak locations.

[spud]

It is said that if you do not have a continuous vacuum releaser then every time your vacuum is shut off (due to sap dumping into the tank) you will have back flow. The reason the CVs were invented was to stop any type of back flow of sap going into the tap hole and shorting your season. If a person using valves at every manifold or booster tank ( helping to find vacuum leaks) shuts a valve off and then opens it back up is he not creating back flow? It would seem to me that if a person could walk their mainlines and check every loop they would be much better off. If people keep opening and closing valves are they not causing more problems for themselves? I for one cannot walk all my mainlines everyday because there is to many. It just seems to me that if people are going to use valves to help find leaks they should use CVs also.

Spud

[sjdoyon]

It is said that if you do not have a continuous vacuum releaser then every time your vacuum is shut off (due to sap dumping into the tank) you will have back flow. The reason the CVs were invented was to stop any type of back flow of sap going into the tap hole and shorting your season. If a person using valves at every manifold or booster tank ( helping to find vacuum leaks) shuts a valve off and then opens it back up is he not creating back flow? It would seem to me that if a person could walk their mainlines and check every loop they would be much better off. If people keep opening and closing valves are they not causing more problems for themselves? I for one cannot walk all my mainlines everyday because there is to many. It just seems to me that if people are going to use valves to help find leaks they should use CVs also.

Spud


Agree, we have the continuous vacuum releaser and use check valves so our pressure is constant. Walking our wet/dry lines saves us from spending the whole day walking our mainlines.

[Thad Blaisdell]

When you turn the valve off, if there is a leak, the vacuum level will drop, slowly. Telling you there is a leak, the faster the drop the more leaks. Now personally I do not wait until the gauge goes to "0". So I dont believe that doing it this way is a huge problem in the vacuum dept.