Asking fo all ideas please.

[cjf12]

This year I have decided to sell sap so that i can buy an evaporator. In order to do this I have to pump sap from woods to my 2WD dump truck. I am thinking of two collection tanks in woods for dumping buckets into. Possibly using a bilge pump to ease lifting and time involved plus my boys can then help. Then pump the sap to the truck. Problems being are, truck can not get much closer than about 300-500 yards and how much can a bilge pump pump on a battery with no way to charge during pumping. Also whats the cheapest hose to get to carry it that length? I am all ears for ways to make this easy and efficient.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Maybe one dump tank at the head, then your pipe to the second tank, then pump from there. wait, is it down hill or flat?

[NH Maplemaker]

cjf12, Don't belive a bilge punp will evan start to handle a job like you are discribing! Bilge pumps are volume pumps. You need a pressure type pump. With out electic I would think you will need a gas powered pump! As far as a pipe goes ,I think that black plastic would be the cheapest way to go! JimL.

[maple flats]

Your distance is greater but this is how I pump one tank. I have a 1" pump at the tank with the suction line over the side and drops inside. I start this pump after priming with the outlet end true a 1.5" pump at the road, and it's outlet into the haul tank. after 10 minutes I shut off the 1" pump and walk the 800' to the road (with about 15' drop). At the road the sap is flowing slowly. I start the 1.5" pump and it flows pretty good. If the woods tank had more than 1 haul tank load, I just shut off the 1.5" roadside pump, close the valve on the transfer line and haul the first load. When I return, I just re connect the 1.5" pump, open the valve and pump another load. At present I can only haul 275 gal/load on the truck. On better days I also take a trailer with a 165 gal tank on it. If a freeze is possible I need to go back in to drain the 1" pump to protect it from freezing. I also at times have to wait an extra day to pump if the line left full freezes before it will thaw and I can pump.
Pump time is my issue. I plan to change my TF line to 1.5" rather than 1" which will cut my pump time considerably. Another issue is the tank in my woods. I need a welder with a portable welder on a 4x4 truck and a way to lift the woods tank. It only has a 5/8" drain outlet which is why I need to draw sap over the side. A bottom drain would fix that (someday). I think once I get a bottom drain and a properly pitched 1.5" TF line it will work much better.
My 800' in is not a route the welder could go, that will require going about 1/2m off road, across 3 fields and then into the woods along a rough woods road. At the tank the welder could only get within about 40' of the tank.This was planned for this summer, but the drought forced me to install $6500 worth of drip irrigation in my blueberries plus installation labor. There went the funds to make the change. Maybe next year. When I get a 1.5" TF line installed, I'll get another TF pump in 1.5" and pump from the woods when I have someone at the road, pump from the road when alone.

[cjf12]

I understand folks are using bilge pumps on trailers wired to truck. But they were intended for live tanks for fishing. Do they run off the battery alone when used for live tanks or are they recharged somehow? I was hoping a marine deep cell battery would get me through a collection and I would just recharge it overnight.

[cjf12]

I have to agree. I like the idea of hooking two tanks together. I believe I can have one gravity feed to the other then pump from it.

[SevenCreeksSap]

If you can get the sap from your gathering tank to your by the road tank, I would think a bilge pump would work to get it in. the truck tank. since bilge pumps are generally 12 v, you might look at wiring it directly in. I havent tried it but if you want it trailer mounted, could you use a trailer wiring kit and just plug it in? you'd only need the hot and ground though, not all 4 plug wires. maybe keep the truck running so you dont drain the battery.

Just noodling ideas here because I'm thinking of a UTV mounted tank with a bilge pump or maybe a spray tank with the built in pump.

[Tweegs]

cjf12,

A Rule 2000 GPH pump draws 8.5 amps, the 3700 GPH draws 15.5 amps.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=34089&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50632&subdeptNum=50633&classNum=50634


Your battery will have an amp hour (ah) rating.

As a general rule of thumb:

Unless you use a smart charger, you will only be able to charge to 80% of your battery’s capacity.
You do not want to discharge your battery below 50%.
So, let’s say you have a 100 ah battery charged to 80%. You don’t want to drop below 50% so your useable capacity is 30%, or 30 ah.

That 30 ah would run the larger pump for about 2 hours, the smaller about 3.5 hours before the battery would need charging.

(That’s not exactly how it works, but enough information to give a general feel for how much capacity you need/have in this situation.)

Go with a “dual purpose” battery if you can (less CCA but greater reserve).

[Potters3]

I bought a gas powered pump online last year, I think ( Northern Tool ) for around $150.00. It worked great to tranfer sap from tank to my truck. I was only pumping maybe 50' max. I always have issues with dead batteries or they die will I need them. A gallon of gas in my pump goes a long ways.

[Potters3]

I looked into it. the pump came from (water pump direct ) it is a Earthquake WP4310 and it is supposed to pump 38 gallons / minute. It is a cheap pump, but I had good luck with it the last 2 springs. Similiar pumps can go for up to $800.

[sapsucker78]

I have used a marine battery with a power inverter to run a regular 1/3 hp sump pump in the woods for the last 2 years. I have pumped 1500 gallons a day with no problems at all. Just another idea. You can buy power inverters fairly reasonable on ebay and they come in handy for other things too!