tubing into 5 gal buckets

[ca2devri]

For those that do tubing into buckets on the ground, what do you do at the end of the season? I'm hoping to use it to connect various sets of taps together to 1 bucket which will save time in collecting, but each situation is a bit different. At the end of the season, what should I do? Can I leave the tubing out there like the people on vac do, or will it get dirty since it can't be rinsed? If I bring it all in, how to keep everything straight so the right lines go to the right location next year?

I have some situations where I might benefit from connecting 10-20 taps together to help with collection and end them in a barrel. If I were to do that and collect with a pump, same question about the tubing installation.

Chris

[cpmaple]

you could leave it just get yourself a small pump 12v with a battery and 5 gallons of water to flush lines at end of season something light and compact. That is what i would do if i was in you shoes. just my two cents

[325abn]

You can certainly leave it up all year and rinse it. At the end of the season I will take clean water with a touch of bleach and pump it down though my lines using my 12V transfer pump. My not be perfect but works pretty well.

[spencer11]

or gravity you can leave it up all year, i didnt wash mine and havent had issues. for running it into 5 gal buckets, are you just having short pieces of tubing to the bucket? i call those drop tubes and for those i just put in a barrel and fill it with water to wash whats left of sap out of the lines

[Limitpusher]

The short drops I just take them in, you can always find a tree they will work on next season. The longer lines, what I do is use ear tags for animals. I just go to the local tsc and buy blank ear tags, swine ones I believe, and zip tie them on. I write something like, Roberts road, johns trees, north end or whatever on them. Make sure you use the special marker on them, and freshen the marker every year before you take the system down. Also make sure you mark witch end is witch, end, or barrel end so on, so on. Works great for me, and they never touch sap so no problems there. I have some tags I have had attached to lines for 8 years, keep switching it to the next line when they get replaced but they aren't that expansive. Then I wash them, roll them up, put them in a new clean trash bag and store them in barrels that I use for sap after they are washed, and store the barrels shut in the barn. Hope this helps, Limitpusher

[SeanD]

I took everything in, gave it a rinse, then hung it to dry. I write right on the tubing with a Sharpie. It's durable enough that you'll see it next season, but if you rub it hard enough it will come off.

Sean