vacuum/sap surging

[tcross]

what would cause my sap to surge into my releaser! yesterday there was a steady stream that was coming in and every minute or so there would be a wave of sap that would gush in? the wave of sap would be the entire diameter of my 1" main and fill the releaser 1/2 full then back to the normal steady stream? I thought I may have had a sag in the line, so I checked the entire thing for slope... it appeared to have good slope, however the last 20 feet or so is fairly flat? is that just the way it works when things are running well?

[maplwrks]

You have a sag in the line

[Jeff E]

The transition from the sloped area to the flatter section can act as a sag would, because the sap flow slows down in the flatter area. That would cause the line to fill up and create the surge.
I would try and average out the slope, make it as uniform as possible. If you are still filling up the 1" line now and again, add a dry line over the top so you get good vac behind the sap 'slug' filling up the line. As I understand it, without a dry line you would want to keep your lines sized so they only fill up 1/2 way.

[WESTMAPLES]

probly a sag or flatter spot in the main line. i have the same problem with a section my sugarbush since i added another 75 or so taps, it fills the ML and surges in over and over. this summer i plan to upgrade both lines for a wet/dry system. it worth the time for better production from what ive heard,read and been told. tcross sounds like things thing aren`t going to bad up your way?? i did not break any records this year, but it wasn`t a complete washout either. good luck

[tcross]

westmaples... yeah, things are going really well up this way! I got a gallon per tap yesterday on my vacuum line and about 1/4 gallon per tap on my buckets! still waiting for those dam* buckets to wake up I guess! today is looking to have similar production as yesterday... I'd guess a little bit more! it's running good enough that I have to take some time off to boil... certainly no problem with that! just hope it keeps on going! Thanks for the good luck wish!~