pulling sap uphill?

[gentlemanfarmervt]

my issue is.... the low point of my bush is approx. 40' below mobile pump station (containing releaser also) so i need to get about 6-700 taps up the hill. These taps are isolated and not sure if its worth the loss of vacuum, for sap ladder, or focus on the easier taps, closer to the releaser? Any help with how to go about setting this up would be appreciated. thanks

[Thad Blaisdell]

You will not be able to pull these up with vacuum. 1" of vacuum will pull 1 foot of liquid (ish)

a tank and a pump will be the way to go

[BreezyHill]

This is very doable. This season I will be pulling 300 up a 48' grade.

The key is steps. Thad is right it is about 12" of sap rise for every inch of Mercury vacuum. It can not be done in one rise but if you have as little as 15" of vacuum it can be done...it will just take more step.

In a ladder the line of the star is called a riser. My risers handle 14 taps each on a tight system of 27-28" of vac. This season I am going to push that number to find the max I can get thru a riser.

So for 600 you will need 42 risers so 7, 6 way stars. The height of the rise should be 3-4 feet less than your vacuum level. So at 20" of vacuum at the ladder site I would plan on three steps of 14'. The slope between the ladder steps of 2% is sufficient. If you have a very tight tubing system you will need a leaker. IF your system is not tight, you have enough leak already to make the system work well. Chances are you will have enough leaks on 600 and not need a leaker to speed the sap thru the ladder system.

Personnaly, unless you have a willing and able to climb ladder in the bush work force. I would first concentrate on the taps by the releaser; as this will be less expensive to collect on a tubing system.

If you want to proceed, let me know and I will post pics of a ladder setup that is right by by sugar house.

It does take some time to set up a ladder of this size. Some of the work can be done in a warm shop or house like the star sections. Cutting the riser to the same length. I would suggest putting the elevated stars together in a shop so you can put the tubing on in a nice warm location. Use warm water in the bush to get the tubing on all the way. This way there is less tedious work in the bush.

Be sure to locate the ladders so that they are in as sunny of a location as possible to thaw. I try to keep mine out of the shadows of large trees and run black line on the ladders; as they are going to have fresh sap coming to the lines before a colored main will thaw in the am.

It is really neat to see a ladder thaw. There will be slight sap movement in and around the risers ice column and then in the blink of an eye the riser will go from frozen to flowing sap. My ladders only freeze in the bottom 1-2' where they are still all spread out. Above 3'-4' I zip tie the riser together so they are affect less by the cooling of the evening and keep draining the main lines.

The top star needs to be on top of the tee or elbow and the bottom star needs to be on the bottom of the mains. If they are switched they will not work well at all.

As with everything in life there are a few rules you must follow to have a ladder work efficiently. I feel safe in saying that a lot of the dissatisfaction in the past with ladders was that one or a few of the rules was broken.

It has been my experience that ladders with leakers will actually increase you vacuum level at the furthest taps from the ladder.

But if the loss of vacuum you are referring to is from the taps, then yes 600 taps will use vacuum; in a tight system they will need 6 cfm and in a leaky system they will need as much as 12 cfm.

Remember the question unasked is always unanswered.

Ben

[unc23win]

I agree with Thad go with a tank and pump. 600-700 taps is worth not loosing any vacuum once you get it set up its nearly worry free.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

I would run a vacuum line down there with another releaser and tank if your existing pump is big enough to handle that. Pump sap
back uphill to main tank.
Neil

[Maplewalnut]

I would run a vacuum line down there with another releaser and tank if your existing pump is big enough to handle that. Pump sap
back uphill to main tank.
Neil

Exactly what I do. My releaser and tank are 30ft below my sugarhouse about 40 yards away. I ran a vacuum line from vacuum pump in sugarrhouse to releaser at low spot. I then use gas pump to pump up from tank at low spot to sugarhouse tank. Would love to have all sap come right into sugarhouse but I dont loose any vacuum by pumping.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Hey Breezy, that ladder system is going to cost you more than it is worth. Not only in the expense of the stars and tubing, but time holy mackerel, 42 lines each ladder are you kidding me! Now most likely there will be 3-4 ladders involved, what a pile of work. Now lets talk about vacuum drop. If this even worked your vacuum would take a fatal hit. Your money lost in production would pay for everything needed to simply just go down and start a pump and be done once or twice a day.

[GeneralStark]

But it can be done.