3/16 tubing

[tendermason]

I am running 3/16 tubing down through the woods . What are some thoughts on running drops 15 ft or more to trees that i missed ? Thanks

[sugarsand]

You should be fine, I hope, because I did the same thing on tubing this summer.i was told to limit these long drops to no more than a couple of taps, and good drop to the line. It makes setting up tubing a lot easier and fun.

sugarsand

[pls009]

Not trying to hi-jack this thread but fearful of starting a new one regarding 3/16th tubing. My situation is that I ran a few runs of tubing the other day - I have great slope down the hill but when I get near where the tank will sit, I can't help but want to tap the maples near the bottom. If I do tap them, I will only end up with 10-20 feet of slope after my last tap and before the tank. I have read that 30 feet is needed after the last tap in order to have optimal success but has anyone had success even though they didn't have 30 feet or more slope after the last tap. Thinking that I will just tap the lower ones with bags but it got me thinking because I am trying to make things easier and sick of the climbing.

[BlueberryHill]

If you don't want to mess with bags, why not just do a separate 3/16 line for everything that is under 30'? Then you are assured to not be messing with the vac on all the higher up trees and you can still have all the lower trees on lines and not have to mess with bags. Sure the tubing cost will be a bit higher, but you can drop the 2nd line right into the same tank and you'll be good to go.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

You can tap those trees with no problem. The lowest ones will not have the same high vacuum as those further up the slope but if there is 15 or 20 ft of fall from the last tap to the tank they will have some vacuum and perform better than plain gravity taps.

[asknupp]

I have one run of 3/16 and the same situation. Three trees clumped at the bottom where the collection is. I only have about 15 foot of fall. Knowing what has been said I just put buckets on the three trees. Its hard to explain but that one run sold me on the 3/16. Just wish I had more areas to use it. We are flatlanders in this part of Ohio.

[sugarsand]

A friend of mine explained to me that even if your lower trees may only have a few feet of drop, its better than not having any.

sugarsand

[steve J]

Thompsons and Sugar are correct and I actually have 3 runs that the last few trees have less than 15 ft of drop but all the rest of the taps are well above 30ft. The vac. on those last few trees is still greater than that of 5/16th gravity so I am still ahead of the game.

[moeh1]

Just sat thru a lecture by Steve Childs last weekend. You get almost an inch of vacuum (0.88 in) per foot of drop, so even that last 15 foot drop is about 12in of vacuum. His big no-no was putting in a y fitting to run two lines together, that would kill all the vacuum as the two lines fight each other to get rid of sap. In line tees were fine, made almost no difference...

[windyacres]

Just sat thru a lecture by Steve Childs last weekend. You get almost an inch of vacuum (0.88 in) per foot of drop, so even that last 15 foot drop is about 12in of vacuum. His big no-no was putting in a y fitting to run two lines together, that would kill all the vacuum as the two lines fight each other to get rid of sap. In line tees were fine, made almost no difference... I have about 750 on 3/16. I kept 100 separate last year- they doubled the 5/16. I don,t agree with steve Child on wyes. The wye has to be done right . Before wying the 3/16 you put a balance or equalizing line between the 2 small lines. make a joiner with a loop about 9-12 inches hgiher than the incoming lines. What this does is balance equalize the vacuum so one line cant hog all the flow. to make this work even better take a line from centre of equalizer line down below the wye onto the 5/16. at times you will visually see sap running either way in the equalizer line to balance line vacuum. I have recycled my old (3 year 5/16) to take 40-50 taps to enhance vertical drop before joining mainline,or straight in tank. I have video of this if I can figure out how to send.

[pls009]

I have about 750 on 3/16. I kept 100 separate last year- they doubled the 5/16. I don,t agree with steve Child on wyes. The wye has to be done right . Before wying the 3/16 you put a balance or equalizing line between the 2 small lines. make a joiner with a loop about 9-12 inches hgiher than the incoming lines. What this does is balance equalize the vacuum so one line cant hog all the flow. to make this work even better take a line from centre of equalizer line down below the wye onto the 5/16. at times you will visually see sap running either way in the equalizer line to balance line vacuum. I have recycled my old (3 year 5/16) to take 40-50 taps to enhance vertical drop before joining mainline,or straight in tank. I have video of this if I can figure out how to send.


Thanks for the info - I would love to see the video to help me understand a little better.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Guys, here is some info on 3/16 performance so far. I have in 703 taps and friends of mine have in about 450. They still use 7/16 spouts and have better trees and usually get about as much sap as I do on 700 gravity taps. 400 of the 703 are on 3/16 and through yesterday I had gotten over 1300 gallons of sap and they have gotten 241. I started tapping last week. These guys usually do well for 5/16 gravity and get usually over quart per tap with 1.8% sugar and couple times have been over 1/3 gallon per tap.

[opiejudd]

I have a question about 3/16 tubing. Instead of running the 3/16 "straight" down the hill to the main and loosing some vacuum on the lower taps. What if you ran across the hill to get the 30 or so taps. Then turn and run the down to the main to get the drop. like this:
l------------ (3/16th running across with Drops with a slight downward slope across the hill)
l
l (3/16 running down Hill to achieve the 30+ feet of elevation change)
l
======== (main)
I don't see why it won't work. Just trying to clear my thoughts up. lol

Thanks,
Ken

[Super Sapper]

The 30 feet is in elevation drop not length of tubing run.

[opiejudd]

The 30 feet is in elevation drop not length of tubing run.

I'm not sure if this is for me or not. But Yes I get the 30 feet is in elevation change. I was asking if the way I explained would work fine for getting the elevation drop after the last tap.

[psparr]

You are correct. You actually want to maintain a slope while your picking up taps. Once you get them all then run it straight down the hill.

[opiejudd]

You are correct. You actually want to maintain a slope while your picking up taps. Once you get them all then run it straight down the hill.

Thanks I figured it would work. You just never know sometimes. I plan to have the slope down slightly. I should have been more clear on that part.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One caution with what you are planning to do is that 3/16 will sag little easier than 5/16 and I am afraid you may have sags on your slight slope which would cause you to lose your slope.

[opiejudd]

One caution with what you are planning to do is that 3/16 will sag little easier than 5/16 and I am afraid you may have sags on your slight slope which would cause you to lose your slope.

Thanks I will keep that in minds. The trees are fairly close together so the slightly sloped part will be well supported.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Then you should be fine if they are close together.