Sap Pump

[spud]

I am building a 12x16 insulated sap house with power for a new section of my woods. This section will have a new vacuum pump (maybe a Busch) to handle 2000-2500 taps. I need to buy an electric sap pump that will pump 1250 feet with about a 50 foot rise. Open to all suggestions on what pump works best for the money and what size pipe to use for pumping that distance. I need to pump 1250 feet up hill and then gravity will take it the rest of the way to my sugar house. Overall distance is 2200 feet. Thanks in advance.

Spud

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Spud,
I went to deep well submersibles. (3/4 horse) I am pumping 5000+ feet with an initial rise of about 75 feet and then a general downhill to the sugar house. Using inch and a quarter pipe. I just drop the pump in the bottom of the tank. Activated with a float switch. If it is going to freeze hard, the pump is just taken out of the tank. it self drains. For your distance and head, you may not need the submersible or the larger pipe. How fast do you need to pump? I cannot drain my pump line so it often freezes hard and I have to wait for it to thaw to pump the sap. Use stainless connectors in the pump line. If the line is plugged with ice you will blow plastic ones right apart.

[JoeJ]

Hi Spud,
I agree with Thompson's suggestion on the pump and line size. However, the Busch pump might be another thing after one horrible season with it. I bought a 5 HP Busch for the new 2,000 taps that I put in last year. I would never buy another one. In fact, if I had a spare $6,800. I would get rid of it right now and buy what I have used trouble free for 9 years in my original woods, a Sihi oil cooled liquid ring.The Busch pump puts out a lot of CFM's and 28" of vacuum, and truthfully most of the problems with the problems with the Busch were not caused by the Busch pump itself, but mechanical moisture trap failure, then releaser problems. The Busch pumps are expensive to service with a filter kit costing $154.00 and oil at $31.50 a quart and now $34.50. I have talked with others who have used the Busch pump trouble free, but my experience was not pleasant or cheap. The problems that I had with the pump caused me a lot of headaches and a lot of lost sap. I bought an electric releaser so that should fix the a large part of the problem.

Joe

[DrTimPerkins]

....truthfully most of the problems with the problems with the Busch were not caused by the Busch pump itself, but mechanical moisture trap failure, then releaser problems.

We've had a couple of Busch pumps for several years now with a good deal of success. We like them so much that we ordered two more from CDL and should be getting them any day now. One will allow us to get better vacuum to one section of our woods. The other will replace an oil-cooled liquid ring pump.

A fool-proof moisture trap system is definitely a requirement if you go with a Busch pump. We use two traps in series, a standard mechanical moisture trap first (on the woods side), followed by a Bernard Deluxe Vapor Trap closest to the pump. We've had the first trap fill due to releaser problems, but the second has never (that we know of) kicked in yet. Relatively cheap insurance for a costly pump.

As for pumping sap....I agree with what Thompson suggested. We've had a setup like that in the past. Stainless fittings are a good idea, although you're only going up 50', so the pressure shouldn't be too bad (except when the pipe freezes).

[unc23win]

Spud,
I think most people seem to have pretty good luck with a submersible pump on a float as long as the pump drains and doesn't freeze. With electric already available as you have (or even a generator) they seem to be an excellent choice.

I have section to expand to next season without electricity I am thinking it would require either pumping or a larger capacity lift of some sort. I am considering one of Lapierre's vacuum operated piston pumps. I forget the numbers off hand, but they can pump up quite a bit of elevation and quite far.

[spud]

Thanks everyone for your input. I am having Internet problems and hope hope to be back up and running soon.

Spud