Surge BB4 on Vacuum

[moundcreekfarm]

I have a BB4 surge vacuum pump and would like to run it at my shop where I can hookup to electric. My releaser is 1200 feet away and hopefully can pull sap from 800 taps with 1500 feet of mainline upstream from releaser. Does anyone know if this will work and how big would the tubing have to be from pump to releaser?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

this pump is to small for that many taps

[WMF]

The BB4 is the big brother to the SP22. I had 1200 taps on one years ago and would easily pull over 20" if tight. Run at least 1.25" or better yet 1.5" and it will work fine.

[wdchuck]

Disagree on the size of the pump- I had an sp22 on 1000 taps, it would pull 22 at a minimum, some days 24. With that much pipe to the releaser, it'll take some time to remove all the air on startup, but should work fine if your system is tight.

[wiam]

Disagree on the size of the pump- I had an sp22 on 1000 taps, it would pull 22 at a minimum, some days 24. With that much pipe to the releaser, it'll take some time to remove all the air on startup, but should work fine if your system is tight.

I also ran an sp22 on 1000 taps. Sometimes up to 25". Started with gas at the woods. Then went to electric 1600' away. I 1.25" pipe buried. Kind of wish I had 1.5". Works ok if I keep up with leaks. If the bb4 is bigger I see no problem.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

BUT the bb4 is smaller than sp11 and is 1/2 the size of sp22

[markcasper]

BUT the bb4 is smaller than sp11 and is 1/2 the size of sp22

I think your confusing it with the bb2. The bb4 is a big pump, bigger than a sp-22 even, but not by much. My dad milked cows with a bb4 for many years. It could handle 4 buckets plus the step-saver. A sp-11 has been seen as a "bb-3", but an bb2 is a trifle smaller than the sp-11.

[markcasper]

I have a BB4 surge vacuum pump and would like to run it at my shop where I can hookup to electric. My releaser is 1200 feet away and hopefully can pull sap from 800 taps with 1500 feet of mainline upstream from releaser. Does anyone know if this will work and how big would the tubing have to be from pump to releaser?You should be AOK, just make sure you've got 1.5" all the way to the releaser. What the mainline size after the releaser, wet/dry??

[moundcreekfarm]

I have the manual for the BB4 and claims to pull 29 CFM. Sp 22 does 22CFM. Should I run a wet dry after releaser or would that be too much?

[BreezyHill]

Moundcreek, you are correct the bb4 was slightly larger than the sp22, the bb2 was replaced by the sp11. Send your email in a pm to me and I will forward the Steve Childs data sheets and calculation tables for vacuum transfer.

In short you will need to run a wet dry after the releaser and it will depend on what releaser you are running. Releasers are cfm hogs by nature. They consume cfms when they cycle. To small of a unit and you will have little to no vacuum after the releaser. Larger unit will cycle less often and allow for transfer to the taps more consistently.

On 1200' of 1" you will have 7 cfm no matter how large your vac pump is....line friction losses.

There is a bit more to this than just some simple math.

What vacuum level are you looking to run on the system? The 29 of the bb4 was at either 15 or 18". Some of the early bb4 were rated at a higher vac level. I think your book will say at 15".

On a straight main of 1" 2700 feet will only provide 5 CFM. This is good for 500 taps on a tight system...limited leaks at spouts and connections. On a system that has more leakage at spouts and connections it is less...down to 250 some people figure.

Since this is a piston pump you can only run the rpm so high; while if it were a rotary you could run nearly twice the rpm and achieve more cfms.

The use of a 1.5" mains to the releaser will get you about 15.75 cfms to the releaser....provided the pump has this to provide.

I have a bb4 and can hook up a motor and test the cfms on it to see what she will do at different vac levels. This is the unit that ran our dairy operation that ran til 1969. Installed by my dad...a surge dealer for my grand father.

Let me know the vac level you are shooting for.

Ben

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

my mistake it should work