Considering a Sap Puller System

[steve J]

I am considering investing in a Sap Puller but do not know much about how they work or rather I am set up well to handle one. When I installed my tubing three years ago everything worked well than I got hit by Irene and between lost of trees and having to rework my lines I now only get a modest amount of sap off my lines. The section I am considering has about 125 taps with two main lines that merge about 15 feet in front of holding tank. The first 3/4 main is pitched at about a 5% grade but all the verticles come down a steep hillside with a couple starting in a relatively flat area at the top before diving over the edge of the hill. The second line is the area that got reconfigured and this line runs about 150 feet and its at the end of this line that approx. 40 taps are connected via a saddle. This hillside is also rather steep. My sense is that this line is the one not creating enough natural vaccum. Is a sap sucker part of my solution?

[ejmaple]

i would recommend staying away from the dieaphram pumps not reliable at all. spend the same money and buy a hobby releaser and a used rotary vane pump and you will be much better off.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

sap sucker two weekends ago, collected at 12 250 gal, had to go back at 4 collect another 250, today 9:30 to 12, 200 gal, by 5 another 150 to 200 (400 tap)
just did a sap ladder with one it works, only about 5ft one. they are good for what you get.

[lakeview maple]

The sap guzzler I purchased works great ,no issues and really helps on those slow days .Ive had no issues since buying and would recomend for any small producer.Al

[CampHamp]

I have 120 taps and use a diaphragm pump on two mainlines. I get 23" of vacuum.

What a huge difference in haul on some days - today I got over 100gal from my tubes but the buckets stayed asleep after the warm night, here in southern NH.

I hear of ice causing problems for these types of pumps. My pump came with a screen filter, so no ice can hurt the diaphragm and I always run it dry for a few seconds when the day's done to get the sap out of it for overnight. The pump is food grade and can be run dry. I've run it all day whenever we're above freezing temps for over a week now and it's running fine. A couple times I went to shut down and it was already frozen - the pump just idling with an ice clog in the screen.

Earlier this season I used it only 2-3 hours a day because my battery would die, but I ran an extension cord to it and have my battery charger running at 2AMPs to the battery.

The incremental cost of this solution for me was close to $0 because I had the pump for moving sap up to my head tank, a battery charger and old car battery. The releasers look great but they cost over $1000 and I cannot justify that when this is working for so cheap...

CLICK HERE for short youtube video of my setup. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKMdmkhlL24)

[Bucksaw]

CampHamp, what kind of pump is that? Looks like a set up that would work great for I have.

[DrTimPerkins]

A Sap Puller (Guzzler, diaphragm pump) can help on a modest-sized system that is well maintained for leaks. However I think I would argue that if your system is not currently operating well on gravity for some reason, then a vacuum system (of any type) might help, but it would still be operating on a sub-optimal system. I would suggest you fix your tubing system so it is setup properly first, and consider a vacuum pump second.

[PerryW]

. The second line is the area that got reconfigured and this line runs about 150 feet and its at the end of this line that approx. 40 taps are connected via a saddle. This hillside is also rather steep. My sense is that this line is the one not creating enough natural vaccum. Is a sap sucker part of my solution?

I think you have something else wrong here.

(During a good sap run) If you have 40 taps on a single lateral down a steep hillside connected to a mainline saddle, the sap should be screaming down the lateral with a mix of bubbles and columns of sap. If you pull any of the taps out, there should be an easily-detectable natural vacuum. If you slightly loosen the tap, you should also hear a sucking sound. Have you verified that your saddle is not plugged?

[CampHamp]

Bucksaw - This is the pump (http://www.shurflo.com/rv-products/rv-pumps/classic-series-water-pumps/4048-high-flow-pump/default.html) I have. If you shop around, you should find it for less than $150. I got mine HERE (http://www.rvpartsoutlet.com/product_info.php?products_id=12220).

[CampHamp]

...two main lines that merge about 15 feet in front of holding tank...

I merge main mainlines with the vac on but they flow MUCH better when they flow individually into the tanks. Also, ice can flow right through a mainline into a tank, but if a column of ice hits a "Y" fitting, I find that it will clog there...

[steve J]

Thanks lots to think about sap has stopped running so will try to reconfigure some lines this afternoon with hopes if we get a run next week of them working better. Prior to Irene these lines ran awesome .