Releasers ????

[K.I. Joe]

Okay guys, one thing that I have not seen on this forum is the difference between releasers. Why would you chose a single over a double, a mechanical over electrical, Continuous vacuum. What are the pros and cons of each?

[MISugarDaddy]

According to a Leader sales rep that put on a presentation at Sugar Bush Supplies in MI yesterday, the electrical double releaser would maintain constant vacuum. However, they operated a double mechanical releaser as part of the presentation and the vacuum dropped only one pound during the cannister switch, and that was only very momentary. He admitted that you don't fully lose your vacuum, only that it temporarily drops during the switch.

[red maples]

I am no expert and I am still learning but

There are different reasons, if you don't have power obviously can't use an electric and there is price factor with good pumps which you need they are pretty pricey. But if you have a setup where they are near or at the sugarhouse you can set them up to move sap around the sugarhouse too.

Doubles are good and singles are good. It also comes down to size of operations how much money you wanna dish out.

The more continuous the vacuum you have obviously you will get more sap but at the same time if you have a good pump pulling moving enough CFM's and your set up is very good with check valves, tight system etc. then singles are just fine. your Vac. level will come back quickly after the unit dumps.

For me I would like to go to a double but for the size I need they need a little more time to work out some bugs. So I am going with a single for this year and and money is tight so the double are another $400 from the single. So I will run the sinlge and in a few years I will hopefully upgrade to a double when I know they will work good!!!

So bottom line is do some research and ask the reps they will try to up sell that's their job but see what they have to say and try to figure out whats best for you based on needs and size of your operation.

[syrup2nv]

I run a double horizontal D&G 220. Its mechanical. Works flawlessly. Its mated to a 80cfm 7.5HP D&G Flood w/cooler. Vac line from pump to releaser is 3". It ran 27" of vac all last season and never skipped a beat. It brought in 26.5 gal/tap!

Also, I believe heat is requirement for a electric releaser.

[spud]

According to a Leader sales rep that put on a presentation at Sugar Bush Supplies in MI yesterday, the electrical double releaser would maintain constant vacuum. However, they operated a double mechanical releaser as part of the presentation and the vacuum dropped only one pound during the cannister switch, and that was only very momentary. He admitted that you don't fully lose your vacuum, only that it temporarily drops during the switch.

While the canister switches from one to another you will loose a little vacuum but more importantly you will have a little back flow. It is possible a little bit of sap will go back into the tap hole causing bacteria to form. The more bacteria in the tap hole the quicker that hole will dry up. For this reason and others the check valve spout was invented. The check valve spout will prevent sap from ever entering back into the tap hole. It is said by Leader that by using this spout you could get 3-5 more gallons of sap per tap hole each year.

Spud

[K.I. Joe]

So in a mechanical releaser what is the difference between a horizontal and vertical?

[unc23win]

Pretty much just the dimensions and the location of the sap outlet.

[red maples]

With any releaser you will get back flow. so yes check valve taps work good at the tap hole and you can also put a check valve on each line coming into the manifold of the releaser as well. I did that last year because it took too long for my little vac. pump to suck out the air as it was too small for what I was doing. The vac pressure will stay more constant through out the main lines with the installation of the mainline check valves.

[maplecrest]

Over the past 25 seasons i have used them all. The first one i bought (and still use) is a benard single vert. Keep the wind off it ,it works great. Tight system no leaks will freeze at about 33degrees. When in the woods of that releaser you see the sap stop or ripple when the releaser trips. Then start again. With the double vert the stop and ripple in lines at trip is not as noticeable because cycle is faster. Depending on vac level and tight system , wind ect. Will freeze at 33 degrees. If in a heated room and tight system will go below 32 degrees. Horizontal releasers are great. The benard 215 is bullet proof. You see the stop and start in the woods when it trips. High vac makes mine pound hard when it trips. At high vac it will freeze at 34 degrees. The trip rod turns into a ice cycle and cannot go up with float and trip. Lower vac 22 inches or lower it will go to 32 degrees or lower before freezing. What happens is the 6 inch flapper acts like a big beaver tail, when it trips and reseals it splashes sap up into releaser as well as cold air forming ice in the releaser. I took the benard 215 and made it electric , no more ripples in woods does not pound and will work to 28 degrees before freezing at high vac on tight system.i currently run 4 electric releasers and one single vertical. The single vert is currently the thorn in my system. Needs to be checked twice a day. When thaws out and to trip last sap during freeze, so not big ice cube inside. The one thing i learned the hard way about the electric deep well pumps is the fine screens. So once a day as i pumped sap on truck, i would wash releasers and brush the screens on pumps.takes about 2 minutes, saves alot of problems later.if pump screen is plugged your moisture trap better work. I walked into no vac a few times. Before i washed them every day.with the electric releasers i have less stress and got more sap.

[spud]

With any releaser you will get back flow. so yes check valve taps work good at the tap hole and you can also put a check valve on each line coming into the manifold of the releaser as well. I did that last year because it took too long for my little vac. pump to suck out the air as it was too small for what I was doing. The vac pressure will stay more constant through out the main lines with the installation of the mainline check valves.

With a belly releaser or continuous vacuum releaser you will not get back flow caused by the releaser. If there is frozen sap in your lateral lines you can get back flow into the tap hole. This is caused by the pressure inside the tree. I have seen this happen in my woods. This is another reason why I am using the CV2s in my woods.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

The vac pressure will stay more constant through out the main lines with the installation of the mainline check valves.

Yes, this is true. Running the vacuum pump continuously also reduces backflow to some extent. All of those things will help to reduce sap backflow, which is quite important in keeping the taphole in a sanitary condition to maintain good sap flow. The use of Check-valve spouts however will also help to prevent backflow in case of losses of vacuum due to mainline or lateral line leaks or power loss or during freeze up of the lateral lines (as Spud notes). No releaser (whether mechanical or electric or the newer "continuous vacuum" style releasers), or vacuum management technique, or mainline check-valve can do that.

[PATheron]

I use all mechanical releasers and this is what Ive found. I try to buy the large horizontal guilles Bernard ones with the old style vacuum actuating cylinder. They seem to be very reliable. I think the verticle releasers are fine if they are heated but I wont run them where they aren't heated if its where the vacuum pump is left on all the time. What will happen is after you go to bed at night the sap will keep running and fill them half way up and freeze the floats solid to the releaser. When you get there in the morning you wont be able to get the top of the releaser off to clear it. With the horizontal one if that happens you can just turn the vac off to the releaser and take the side cover off and sweep the ice out. If you turn your pump off at night no problems that way. The other thing is with the old style white actuating cylinder if the vacuum side of the releaser that goes to the pump gets a shot of sap sometimes it gets in that cylinder and then when it gets cold the releaser will work real slow because theres ice in that cylinder. If that happens you can take it off the releaser and take it back to the house and take it apart and wipe it down inside and put a little pam cooking spray or something and good as new. You can do that to the newer ones too I think but Im not smart enough to figure out how to take the releaser apart. Anyway that's been some of my experiences. If I can heat them I always try to do that. Last year I spent quite a bit of money to run exterior twelve wire to one releaser just to run a light bulb to heat it and it was money well spent. If you turn your vac pump off at night I don't think it matters what you use. Theron