cleaning tubiing

[The Sappy Steamer]

This is going to be my first year on tubing. Everything looks great and ready to go but I think I'm still in denial about cleaning after the season. I am in real rugged country,but I can get to the ends of my mainlines. The laterals are another story. I have alot of slope on my mainlines,and have only gravity down to my holding tanks. I have sort of resigned myself to the fact that I'll have to take down the laterals to wash them,but I wish I didn't have to. The best I could come up with for the mainlines was a downhill wash or rinse. Can anyone tell me if this is adequate on a 450 ft run of 3/4" line? Is there a better way? Also, is washing some of the laterals I can get to an o.k. option,or should I just take them all down?
I am sort of limited to 325 gals of water per trip because I don't have clean running water on the land.

[Jim Brown]

Sappy; Last year was my first on tubing also but was coached by my dealer. He said only flush with water. I put a small electric tranfer pump hooked to a generator on the end of the line and put the end of the hose into a 55 gallon drum of water. started the pump and went to the head end and the first tap.pulled it off till water came out and did this for every tap back towards the pump. Pump had a switch to shut it off at 30psi I flushed 1000 feet of 3/4 main in three section with 150 gallons of water.After you are finished you go to the head end take the first tap off let air in and the system will drain back. This worked for me hope it helps you
Jim

[brookledge]

Look under the tubing installation section in previous post.
For me I use my vacuum system. Pull one tap at a time and stick the spout into a small pail of calcium hypoclorite solution and then plug it after it sucks all the fluid out. With the air and liquid mixing together it works pretty good. A gallon will do about 50-60 taps.
Keith

[NH Maplemaker]

Sappy, as you can see there are lots differant ways you can wash your tubing! From the top , from the bottom or from the middle ! a small pump, a barrel of water and shut off valves in the right placse in the main line, you can make water go any were you want it to go :lol: Also as Keith said,if you have a vacum system it will pull cleaning solution the same way it pulls sap. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Maplemaker

[mountainvan]

Sappy, I am also in billy goat country. On my steep bushes I am lucky enough to have springs/ small streams at the top of my bushes and use these for a water source. I use an ortho dial sprayer, the kind you hook up to a garden hose, and first clean the tubing with bleach, the lowest setting, and then turn the dial to 0 and rinse with fresh water. If you have a bit of elevation, put valves in your mainline to create zones in the tubing, other wise when you're up top something at the bottom will pop and you lose pressure, have to walk down the hill, fix the problem, etc. Better to plan ahead and learn from others mistakes. Not as mush fun as taking a nasty sap shower in the woods, but...

[The Sappy Steamer]

Thanks alot for the cleaning tips guys.They helped me out alot. I did alot of research on the tubing installation,but got a little shaky when I started checking on the cleaning program.The things I had read didn't seem to quite apply to my program. Now I have a few more questions though. Jim, what are you using for a transfer pump? Mountainvan, I have springs as well, and was wondering about using them, but I wasn't sure about filtering the water and if it would introduce unwanted bacteria into my system. Are you treating the water,filtering it or using it "as is"? Also, can any of you explain what I am trying to accomplish with the valves? Because all the mainlines run down to the same place,isn't it adequate to just do the laterals first,then start at the top mainline and work my way downhill? I have one 450Ft mainline with lots of slope,and four others with lots of slope as well, feeding into it from the side. Am I better off letting water back-up in each one? I have a two cycle fresh water pump that I thought would be o.k. for pumping water through it downhill. Do you guys think that would work?There sure is alot to learn in the maple syrup world. I'm awfully glad there's people like yourselves willing to help us lost souls get over our hurdles. Thanks a million!
:D

[mountainvan]

Sappy, I use the water as is. I drink it when I'm up there and only thing I think about is giardia! With the valves you are releaving pressure on the lower connections. I hook up the water at the top, walk down to tank, close the bottom valve and work my way up. I let the water work its way up to each section, flush it , and then close the valve to that section. Without the valves the pressure on the bottom fitting, especially the spile on the T, blows off and the water drains out. Before I put in valves, the 1st year washing this way, I had fountains 20' high in the woods from that happening. Hope that answers your question. The pump is probably not worth it. If your down hill and it stops, back up hill. Gravity feed works well.

[The Sappy Steamer]

Mountainvan,
Thanks for spelling things out. I was wondering about the pressure being a problem,but I have very few connections. I used saddles instead of manifolds where my laterals come into the mainline,and the only connections I have are where my mainlines wye together. I didn't know the spiles would be a problem area, although it makes sense when someone gives you the answer before you learn enough to ask the question. I also wasn't sure if gravity would be o.k. or not. Just about everything I have read has been about pumping uphill with water/air combo,or pulling with vacuum. I'm pretty good at plumbing,but never did any on the side of a mountain. At least now I'll have a plan of attack :)