solar energy

[rayi]

Not sure where to put this but here goes. Is there a solar system that will charge a marine battery that will turn a motor to run a gast 1550 vacuum pump with out spending an arm and a leg?

[western mainer]

Yes a panel to charge the battery, but it will take alot more batteries and a inverter if you have a AC motor. What you will spend on this the on grid power is a lot cheaper. How far is your power source away?
Brian

[rayi]

I'm 1/2 mile from any power

[western mainer]

Ok, look at this sight. http://www.freesunpower.com/designtools.php
I have solar and it's not cheap but I'm 1000' from my barn to have back up I ran my own line to get me off a generator. You will find you will spend $5,000.00 - 8,000.00 on this. you will need a inverter, charge controller, batteries batteries and batteries. because when there's no sun you will be down. Your best bet is a gas engine on you vacuum pump.
Brian

[madmapler]

I looked into all that last season. I'm way out in the woods also. I ended up getting a harbor freight 79cc.(2hp) gas engine and running a 1550 with that. I then used the same engine to run a gast 2065. These engines only cost $100 and sip gas. They are a good companion for these pumps. On cooler days you can actually speed them up a little past 1750 rpms and get higher hgs. without overheating the pump.

[Limitpusher]

Or you could do something like this,
http://otherpower.com/steamengine.html
I am "collecting" the stuff to do it, but am in no rush. we work off one heck of a big generator right now, but with this method, we would just have to cut more wood, we have a wood fired D&G, but it would be a lot less noise. I'm also thinking if you ran the engine through a gear box/ trany of some sort you would be able to run through some gearing, you could run a bigger alternator. but I'm not sure how much power a vac pump draws, we just need it for 3 light bulbs and the forced air fan.

[mapleack]

Put the pump where the power is and run vacuum supply line to the bush.

[maple flats]

I have 1480 watts of solar, and a 240 AH bank of 8- 6Vbatteries @ 48V. I also have a second 4840 watt solar system, grid tied only. Both systems are on the grid, net metered. (Cost about $33,000)
Solar is not going to work to run a pump unless you spend a huge amount on it. My 8x6V solar battery bank only protects one line to keep my RO from freezing in case the grid goes down. My "heat" is 3x100 watt light bulbs. If a grid outage starts using this battery bank for heat, the batteries are down to about 60% by morning if the temp. falls to zero out and the heat is controlled by a thermostat to only heat the 80 cubic foot super insulated room to 37 degrees. A battery can not be drained below 50% without permanent damage. You would need a system in the $40,000-$50,000 range (before tax credits) and a huge battery bank to run a vacuum pump. You would then need a DC pump or a pure sine wave inverter to convert the DC battery bank to AC, My 2 inverters cost $3400 and $2900 (part of the total stated). The batteries I have cost $179 ea x 8 and you would need more because the pump would not cycle on and off like my heat does. If you still want to explore solar, PM me with the specs on your vacuum pump and I will calculate how much battery bank and solar array you would need.
While solar is a neat option it costs far more than the other options. Can you run the pump at the power and run the vacuum line to the woods? The line would need to be properly sized but that can be one option. Another is to get a gas powered pump and have a larger than original gas tank. A third option is to get a generator to run it and be sure the tank will run all night for when the sap is running all night.

[BreezyHill]

Really depends on how you value your arms and legs.

Is there a source of water and elevation change. pelton wheels that will run a generator could be used to run your vacuum pump directly...or you could just run a generator to produce the power. On Ebay there are generators and pelton wheels.

the great thing about hydro is it runs 24/7...that is aslong as there is flow in the creek.

Ben

[rayi]

It's as flat as a pool table and the only water is the swamp I have to cross to get there. Looked at electricity and it's over $4,000 so is solar. I think it may be possible to run a 2 in vaccum line and have the releaser closer but I have yet to price that. I have 180 taps in the woods. Then another 40 taps near the swamp 150 yards away. The last 50 are on the other side of the swamp 200 yards away. After that is flat intil 100 yards from the shack it then rises about 30 feet. I thought about running electric that 100-200 yards so I could hook up a vaccum pump and use the releaser close enough no trips thru the swamp. I might be able to vacuum the closest 50 then extend to the middle 40 then extend into the main bush. It would be a little less than 1/2 mile

[BreezyHill]

It will be a lot cheaper to run main line(tubing) than electrical line. 1" main will get you 5 cfm of vac at 2000'. That will be good for around 500 taps on a normal system, leak wise that is. More leaks less taps. 300' on 1" is 10-12 cfm...depending on the pump size.
I was just talking to a producer that was having issue of RO pump motor running hot. I told him to check his voltage with pump off and on. One the 115 side it went to 99 with pump running, on the 230 side it went to 214. The motor was running very hot and is likely the issue of losing the pumps gasket. He changed the motor for this season thinking the motor was bad...only to find low voltage. If you run electrical line it must be sized for the draw and the length of run or you will eat motors. Much easier and cheaper to run vac lines. Check with your CDL dealer for pricing on the mains. You will likely be surprised on the pricing. Let me know if you need other distances calculated.

Ben

[BreezyHill]

If you need slope on that 300' run a 6' ladder will get you 2% slope. Let me know if you need design data on them.

Ben

[rayi]

For a ladder you need good vacuum. If I ever get things set it will be with a old milk bender/releaser for at least a few years

[BreezyHill]

Not the case. To lift 6' you only need 10" Even with a bender you can accomplish ladders of more than 12'. Every inch of vacuum will raise sap about 12" Dairy pumps can easily achieve this. Last season I needed 48 feet of lift. This was done in a three step ladder system on an old, original Delaval 73. This season that system will have an addition 60' of lift added deeper in the bush. I am rebuilding a Delaval 75 that will be plumbed into the releaser in the event that the 73 fails or more cfm is needed due to our desire to tap the entire farm again. Last season we ran 27-28" and averaged .47 g/t. My system is not conventional but it is how you get ladders to work and the best vac at the tap. 21" at the tap on the furthest end of the ladder system worked for me during peak flow. Higher when flow was slow. I could eliminate one ladder by running power 50' but it isn't worth the cost. There is no time in my day for buckets or hauling sap. It all comes to the sap house.

Ben

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

Ben, From how many taps are you lifting sap that high? Are your ladders in the wet/dry line or on the laterals?

[BreezyHill]

There are around 80 on the ladder last season. It was/is a single line. I was/am not sure how well changing to a w/d on the ladders will work due to the separation of the micro bubbles of air from the line. These are what make the ladder work so well. It really is quite simple. add a tiny amount of air to the end of the last lateral and wala.