Tubing or not.

[Hill Crest Maple]

My wife and I have been making syrup for only 6 years now.
We tap about 80-100 on bags every year. Only about 15-30 gallons
of syrup per year. Our land is flat and not thinned for optimal production.
We totally enjoy the time of year and making syrup for the family. Once in
a while sell a few gallons. To get the cost/ gallon to about $150.00.:lol:
We have electricity now. Do we go to vacuum?
It would be a lot easier.

[BreezyHill]

Vacuum yes...no reason to keep ahold of the bag.LOL

Even if you go with low vacuum, 16" you will be making 150% of what you were and for every inch of vac over 16" you will increase 5-7%. If you can find an old dairy pump like a Delaval 73,74,75, 76 or a surge rotary or piston pump you will be up and running with the production or purchase of a releaser.

The releaser is the unit that will separate the sap from the vacuum and keep the vacuum on the line.

there are a lot of dairy releaser styles out there if you are looking to do it cheap. I say cheap but green is the politically correct term. Recycled dairy equipment....
9981

This is a pic of my releaser...It has been changed alittle during the season after this pic. I now use the 1.5" glass tees to connect mains.

The sap is pumped out of the bottom of the jar so this is a high efficiency releaser that does not waste or consume Cubic Feet per Minute of Air (cfms). Instead the vacuum level is increased slightly as the jar empties of sap on each cycle. There is a trick to get these to work and just pm me and I will share it with you.

Cost of one of these systems will depend on your luck and patience.

Last fall I found a surge unit on a metal plate for $125 and another $75 to ship in Wisconsin. So look around and you will likely find one. Let me know and I will take a pic of it. The pumps are usually a little more but I have found them for as little as $150 for a full size surge large body. These are the Alamo series and will do as many as 5000 taps with ease.

Masport is another good unit, got one of those in now to rebuild. These pumps are usually nearly bullet proof. They are designed to run for years in a harsh environment. Dust dirt wet, sucking up hay and sawdust, and even crap. Hook them up to a sap line and a good water trap and oil them right and they will last for a long time.

The down side is the extra sap. You better be ready to boil and boil and boil some more. I would suggest tapping until you have enough to meet your sap demand.
Knew a guy that went from buckets to vacuum and had to run out and buy a storage tank for all the sap he was making. While this may sound like a great problem to have it really sucks when you have to dump sap.

If you need more pics let me know.

Good Luck!
Ben

[Drew Pond Maple]

A guzzler from the maple guys is a consideration
http://www.mapleguys.com/product/GUZZLER112.html
The year I added one, my sap volume over doubled. $600, no releaser and no maintenance.

You can get it for 120vac or 12vdc
Just putting it out there

[bowhunter]

Mike,

Did you set the guzzler up at the sugar house or out in the bush?

[unc23win]

A guzzler from the maple guys is a consideration
http://www.mapleguys.com/product/GUZZLER112.html
The year I added one, my sap volume over doubled. $600, no releaser and no maintenance.

You can get it for 120vac or 12vdc
Just putting it out there

I think they are an excellent choice to get into vacuum.

[adk1]

that is what I have been looking at, but can be had alittle cheaper if you order direct from Bosworth who makes the pump

[Drew Pond Maple]

Mike,

Did you set the guzzler up at the sugar house or out in the bush?
It's in the bush about 200 feet from shack. I ran a 14/2 extension cord from outdoor wood boiler.

[Drew Pond Maple]

that is what I have been looking at, but can be had alittle cheaper if you order direct from Bosworth who makes the pump
$3 more from bosworth. Don't know about shipping
http://www.thebosworthco.com/appprod.php?Item=731&s=0

[Big_Eddy]

My wife and I have been making syrup for only 6 years now.
We tap about 80-100 on bags every year. Only about 15-30 gallons
of syrup per year. Our land is flat and not thinned for optimal production.
We totally enjoy the time of year and making syrup for the family. Once in
a while sell a few gallons. To get the cost/ gallon to about $150.00.:lol:
We have electricity now. Do we go to vacuum?
It would be a lot easier.
Going to vacuum might drop the effort per gallon, might increase the gallons per tap, but it won't drop the cost per gallon if you and your wife are the "free" collectors.

[Hill Crest Maple]

Thanks all for your input.
Still thinking.

[BreezyHill]

Going to vacuum might drop the effort per gallon, might increase the gallons per tap, but it won't drop the cost per gallon if you and your wife are the "free" collectors.

Inorder to not get a marked increase in sap production you would need to do things horribly wrong, like have sloppy holes, leave a tap unplugged and uninstalled, forget to turn on the pump and only have gravity on the tubing.

Customer last season: Grandfather in his platinum years, this are after the golden years, uses a dozer to collect sap off the mountain. Grandson decides to help by installing tubing. There is such a difference in work load that the grandfather wants to remove the buckets that are already installed and change to tubing. I wrangled up some of our old supplies and job is accomplished. While to do this cost money there is something that is more precious than money...this is time.

Time is one of the most precious currencies there is. I for one know exactly where you are in life. Making for the family is so rewarding and the time spent with your wife is reward plus. So what I suggest is to install the tubing so that you can spend the time with your wife in other ways ;). While collecting buckets is not that hard and is a good work out I am certain she and you can find other things to do together and enjoy the time of year. A nice walk in the woods to check the vacuum lines, expand your operation to have more product for the family and to help pay for your investment. The list is endless.

On the other hand if collecting buckets or bags is your enjoyment than to heck with the other and do what brings you the most pleasure in life!

Find something you Love doing,
Find a way to make money at it,
and you will never have to work for money.

Ben

[SeanD]

I wish I could do vacuum, but all of my taps on tubing are at different locations with the most being 30 taps. What do you consider the minimum amount of taps to have on tubing to make it worth while to add the expense of vacuum?

Sean

[BreezyHill]

Well that depends on a few factors:
How mechanicly inclined are you?
Can you follow directions on a paper well?
How willing are you to drive around the country side in search of an old piece of metal and glass?

I stopped in to an old acquaintance asked if he was interested in selling the old milking equipment in the barn? He said make me an offer...I looked around the barn and saw a SS releaser and controller, over 100' of stainless tubing, elbows and clamps, there was his old vacuum pump and balance tank a couple of SS milking pails, the bulk tank filter funnel, and then in the corner on the shelf was the jewel I was looking for...a 73 Delaval vacuum pump.
I offered $325, he said let me call another guy in the milk business; and that night he said take it all and its yours.

Some of the SS milk line is now my new sap preheater...works great!
The pump I rebuilt and sold to a friend for his system.
The Big pump I will keep and be adding it to a expansion bush in a couple of years.
The releaser will be setup with that pump.
And there is enough SS to make several manifolds for 10 or more remote bushes.

So after paying my sons lunch at Stewart and snacks and drinks during the 4 hour dismantling project...$40.
I sold the vac pump for $3-400 so that covered the cost of all the cash for the rest.

If you can follow directions and the pump need rebuilding I can walk you thru that...done it several times in the last year. You just have to remember to ask every questionyou have. There are no stupid questions...just stupid answers!

This am I found for $500 another D73 that is In perfect condition al the parts to milk cows. Not a good price in my mind for what I want but for another $75 or so it could be made to do sap. You sell the milk pail, pulsator, and regulator for $250 and you have the pump and water trap for $250...npw we are talking. For another $75-100 you can build a releaser and you are in business.

So lets take the $350 and see how long it will take to pay for it.

That same year of the study there was gravity and vacuum results listed:
Taps on gravity on an average year = 9 gallons.

Taps at 16" of vacuum on an average year = 15.6 gallons more sap.

In another study published for every 1" of vac over 16" you increase production by 5-7%.

So lets say your system maintains at 24" of vacuum (hg).

You will then have the potential of producing in the .6 gallons of syrup per tap or slightly more.

The 15 gallons of sap is over a 1/3 of a gallon syrup for most producers. So for 30 taps (30*.33) you are looking at an increase of 10 gallons of syrup.

Not sure of your sales strategy so lets say you could make $35 for a gallon of syrup. IN an average year you are looking at making an additional $350 of syrup.

Wait! Now is the bad news. Average year... last season for me was in the .33 gallon per tap for the season. Sucked compared to the previous season of .47 gallons and was well off my goal of .55 gallon per tape. I changed several things to get more cfm to the bush redesigned the releaser system for better cfm transfer, installed a new dry line to get more cfm to the bush and Mother Nature had other plans...what a cruel women.

But I am in this for the long haul and I know that this season has the potential of hitting that .55 gpt.

So In my mind a person could make a vacuum system pay over the course of 3-5 years on as few as 30 taps. I am looking at the cost of recycled equipment, the cost of tubing, and the cost of adding a fossil fuel motor with a battery start system to power valves on a DIY releaser. If you could run of the grid you are quicker return. I have run gas motors in our business and am not a fan...go grid when ever possible. The recent release of no ethanol fuel and stabilizer is a good thing but I am still a throw the switch supporter.

I have a small pump that is around 60 years old. It was our only pump for a long time and we used it as recent as 2012. It will be added to remote bush some day and with the right kind of care it will last another 60 years. That pump was bought by my grandfather and milk cows for 20 years until he got a bigger pump from my dad.

Now if you have to buy a new pump and a new releaser...you are looking at 200 to 300 taps for the same 3-5 years.

If you sat down and really penciled out the numbers you could possible due a new releaser on 180 taps and stretch the time out to 4-7 years; but I like to see a quicker return time.