First time running tube

[Ryan August]

Hey, just looking for some basic how to. I have read many different threads here and on the net and think I have some idea or maybe atleast think I do. Plan to run gravity only. Looks like I can run 15-20 taps per line down into a barrel. I have slope in some sections and may need to make a slope in another section. Can I run more taps to each line or do I need to runn less. Also, not planning a main line. I have 40-50 taps on buckets and plan to add that many this year and hope to do it on tube. Also, do I need to buy a "fitting tool" that I see being sold or is that just for the mainline. Some of the drop tubes I did in the past I did with some hot water or a small torch to warm the plastic. Thanks for the guidance.

[Shawn]

That's how we started and now have 219 taps on gravity feed. I guess with me after trial and error it was to make sure you have the slope and after I got doing it was able to eye the slope for the line. It has worked very well and runs very well. About the tool I started without one and when it gets cold its a pain to connect drops etc, I borrowed a two handed tool from a buddy and it makes the job so much faster and easy, So I bit the bullet and bought a two handed tool and love it, saves time and less swearing!! Some have made their own one or two handed tool . Good luck you are starting and doing just as I did and we as of now also do not have a mainline. Gives the grand kids time with poppa collecting with the others that help us.:cool:

[MISugarDaddy]

I think your plans for the number of taps on a gravity line sound good. That is what we use and it seems to work well. I don't think I would put anymore than 20 taps on that size of line though. As for the tubing tool, I couldn't agree with Shawn more, a tubing tool is a "must" unless you want to be swearing a whole bunch out in the woods. Up until this year we were using the old hot water in a thermos approach, but we finally broke down and purchased a two-handed tubing tool and my wife is still thanking me. It works great for putting your drops together as well as when you are putting the drops into the main lines in the woods. In fact, my wife liked it so much that she agreed to putting all of our new drops together a couple of days ago!!! How much better can you get than that?

Good luck with your plans and hope everything works out for you.

[maple flats]

Your plan sounds OK, but to get a better idea we need to know what the slopes are (in ' drop/100'). If the ones on gravity have enough slope you can even run more, but if the slope is too little you need less on each line. If you don't have a sight level, try using a small torpedo level or any level. Then start at the bottom, hold the level against a tree and have a helper sight where it meets the ground, go to that point , measure to the height you started and record (repeat as needed). Then add the sums and calculate the overall distance. From that get a ft/hundred (% slope). Give us that and we can help you better. If you have a sight level it only takes 1 person.

[Ryan August]

OK, forgot to mention, have another area I was looking at that is relatively flat, has a slow moving stream thru it so cant be too much of a pitch, was thinking about making artificial slope (starting high on a tree and finishing low on the last tree) from 8-10 taps from the left and right side and having them meet together prior to dumping into a barrel. I was thinking this could help with a natural gravity, maybe? I did the math on the other slope area. The math tells me I have 23-24 feet of drop which works out to a 15-16% grade. Thanks again for any advice.

[Ryan August]

Looks like an earlier post did not go up. I measured using a compase like device. It gave me a angle of 9 degrees from tap height on the first tree to where I would place a barrel. This was over 140+ feet. I have a width of max 60 but most taps are closer than that. I will try the previous mentioned technique for getting a percent grade this weekend. Gotta get back to work for now, thanks

[delivron]

Listen to the second hour of the Glen Goodrich taping seminar.

http://www.northwayllc.com/goodrich/goodrich2.mp3

If you can locate the 3/16" tubing and modify some fittings you might have an interesting experiment that should be successful.

[Ryan August]

OK, I am getting somewhere. One thing trying to figure out. Do I need to run all the taps in line, like tap one to tap 20 or can I, for example, run taps 1 thur 5 together and blend them into a line that is coming from taps 6-10 and blend this line of 10 taps with taps 11-15 and so on. Still planning on gravity fed. Now that I have been researching this, I am going to go deeper into the lot and not as wide and end up with more taps from larger trees in addition to a greater drop. Thanks for input

[unc23win]

Yes sir that's the way to do it. You might want to jump up to larger diameter mainline to make the longer run and then branch the short ones into it.