New Mainline Question

[danno]

I'm running a new 1500 foot mainline on vacuum. I have good grade with some dips.

Question 1 - if I run the contour I will have some areas of mailine at 10-15%, some at 3%. My other option is to run at a constant pitch (preferable), but this will result in my mainline being 15 feet off the ground over some of the dips which will make the line diffcult to work on in the event of breakage or vacuum leaks. What do you think, follow the contour or keep a constant pitch?

Question 2 - i'm gonna run a dry line as well. Do you tie the dry line to the high tensile along with the wet line?

Thanks,

Dan

[maplwrks]

As long as you keep a pitch , it doesn't really matter. 3% pitch is good, 10-15% is super. Run a 2nd wire about 12-18" above your wet line to attach your dry line to.

[brookledge]

With your dry line you could run the two together for a ways before raising it up over your wet line. especially if you don't have many taps at the beginning. that would save on main line wire. Also I would recommend that you adapt up two to three times the size of your mainline where you make the connections between dry and wet lines. For example if you have 1" wet line and 1"dry line where you tie the two together make the vertical conection with 2 or 3" pipe that way the sap will stay down in the wet line. I would recommend atleast 18" between the lines
Keith

[royalmaple]

Keith-

Basically, so you don't make a single pipe sap ladder right?

Bigger pipe will allow more chance for gravity to influence the sap and less chance of sucking it up in the dry line, is that right?

[brookledge]

Yes that is correct you want to make sure that there is no chance of liquid climbing the vertical conection. That way you dry line stays dry.
Keith

[danno]

If I put both lines on the same high tensile I was planing on straping the splitter (where wet and dry connect) to a tree or post to keep the dry above the wet. I like the idea of the larger diameter pipe at the connection.

Any suggestions on whether to run the mainline on the contour or keep an elevated, even pitch?

I've never run vacuum, what's the liklihood the main will require attention for leaks? I have no laterals going into this portion of main.

[brookledge]

I have a section of mainline over my driveway 12 feet up and never had any problems it is about 300 feet before it comes back to where I can touch it. Especially if there is no conections or couplings in those valley areas I'd do it.
But as was already said even if you can maintain 3% in those areas that is ok
Keith

[ennismaple]

There's nothing wrong with 3% grade on your mainline - especially since you'll be using vacuum and a wet/dry system. The flattest section of mainline will dictate the size the mainline must be - the North American Maple Syrup Producer's Manual has a table to determine mainline size based on # of taps and minimum slope that you should reference.

I would absolutely tie the dryline to the bottom of my wet line and simply loop it up at your vacuum booster. No point in spending more $$ on steel wire than necessary!

Post some pics once you're set up.

[mapleguy]

Run the lines the least expensive way as long as there are no 'sags' where sap can lay, which will cut off vacuum. Just keep it flowing, which will happen even with a 3% slope.

[maplehound]

Keep in mind as well that the higher the main line is the harder it is to work on it and the higher you will have to tap a tree. I keep my mains as low as the natural grade will allow and still keep a steady fall to my tank.
Ron

[powerdub]

I have about 100 feet of 1 1/4" that is about 40 feet above the ground, both wet and dry. The wet line is on wire and the dry is not. It does stretch and I have to tighten it once in a while but I have not had to fix any leaks in it so far. (knock on wood) The two lines are about a foot and a half apart one over the other.