Metal T posts?

[briansickler]

I want to run a mainline 1500 ft. up across open pasture to get to my woods. Has anybody used metal T-posts to run mainline this way. Any advise welcome. Distance apart? How deep to drive them? etc.

Thanks,

Brian

[Brian Ryther]

Hi Brian,
I have done the metal t posts. I would put them 10' apart. I put them in so the "t" in below grade. I prefer locust posts. I find it much easer to set the grade with the wooden posts. Get the wire where you want it and use a staple to hold it in place. Also For open fields I like to use white mainline. It helps keep the sap cool when exposed to the sun.

[morningstarfarm]

As for driving them in...go to tractor supply and get a t post driver....worth every penny

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We use them at about 10' also. I find that the tie wire to the post doesn't like to stay put so we shot the line with a transit and used paint pens to mark the correct elevation on each post so it's easy to reset.

[markct]

I use them a fair bit but usualy more like 30 to 50ft apart depending on pitch. They work well and go thru frost pretty good. They are just for holding elevation. Cant make a corner with em, for that if no tree is available i set a section of utility pole or wood gaurd rail post with a 4x4 brace in the direction of pull.

[briansickler]

Hi Brian,
I have done the metal t posts. I would put them 10' apart. I put them in so the "t" in below grade. I prefer locust posts. I find it much easer to set the grade with the wooden posts. Get the wire where you want it and use a staple to hold it in place. Also For open fields I like to use white mainline. It helps keep the sap cool when exposed to the sun.

Hey Brian,
Why so close together? I was thinking 15 feet was close. Do they flex a lot? Wire shouldn't sag in 15'. It will be 1.5" line though. Also, where do you get white mainline? Does it keep sap cooler than the blue? Time is an issue, so I don't think locust posts would be an option for me. How far apart would you set locust posts? The t posts at Tractor Supply are studded every couple inches by the looks of the photos online. This may help with setting the grade. Thanks.

[calvertbrothers]

hi, I have used t-posts last year. On the bends u need to use two support post and tie it to the main posts due to bending the t-posts. I have also used it for main tie off witch u still need the two supports.

[BreezyHill]

We had a mainline that was supported on our High tensile fencing for several years. Retubing that bush is a project for summer 2015. The tuning ends at two gate ways that are H brace ends. These are 4x4x8 posts with 48" out of ground. The line posts are spaced at 50' and are 10" in the ground with a wire spacer that sets on the ground at 25'. The fence was taken down by a bush hogging accident that took out 2000' of wire in the blink of an eye. Tractor slide on the hillside into the fence and it took the rest of the day to cut all the wire out of the unit.

The retubing will be as a wet/dry system with the dry at 36" and the wet at 24".

[morningstarfarm]

Having just finished putting 1.5 in mains, I would go 8-10' between posts...that stuff is heavy! Especially when full...I would and did double wire the lines up and pull then as tight as you possibly can...and they still want to sag...good luck

[BreezyHill]

Having just finished putting 1.5 in mains, I would go 8-10' between posts...that stuff is heavy! Especially when full...I would and did double wire the lines up and pull then as tight as you possibly can...and they still want to sag...good luck

I thought he was talking 1"...1.5 is a totally different animal. 1.5 is the equivalent of 2.25 1 " lines for capacity. So you will need to space them much closer due to the distance to hold a gallon of sap is less than half the distance. 130 inches for 1.5" Tubing for a gallon and 293" for 1" to hold a gallon of sap.

15' is 180 inches so you are looking at at supporting about a gallon and 1/4. 25' = 300" so you are supporting slightly less than a gallon of sap at this distance.

Hope this helps.

Ben

[Brian Ryther]

Hey Brian,
Why so close together? I was thinking 15 feet was close. Do they flex a lot? Wire shouldn't sag in 15'. It will be 1.5" line though. Also, where do you get white mainline? Does it keep sap cooler than the blue? Time is an issue, so I don't think locust posts would be an option for me. How far apart would you set locust posts? The t posts at Tractor Supply are studded every couple inches by the looks of the photos online. This may help with setting the grade. Thanks.
Hi Brian,
2 options for the white or gray line. Lapierre has the white, Shaws maple in Clinton, of Fw webb has the maple gray line. The posts don't flex but the line will. Especially with the 1.5" line. Are you running a single conductor or a wet dry? That long of a run I would highly recommend a wet dry. You will have dips and sags and compromise your vacuum with a single conductor. And you will also get hot sap with air over sap in a oversized conductor. Undersize your wet line and keep it full of sap during a run.

[briansickler]

Hi Brian,
2 options for the white or gray line. Lapierre has the white, Shaws maple in Clinton, of Fw webb has the maple gray line. The posts don't flex but the line will. Especially with the 1.5" line. Are you running a single conductor or a wet dry? That long of a run I would highly recommend a wet dry. You will have dips and sags and compromise your vacuum with a single conductor. And you will also get hot sap with air over sap in a oversized conductor. Undersize your wet line and keep it full of sap during a run.

Brian,
The plan for now is to leave the vac pump and releaser up by the woods where it is. This new line would be used to pump the sap down to an easier location to pick up when tank is full. It's really wet ground....no real road to get up there. By the end of last season, my tractor was up to it's belly near the tank up there. I could use 1" or 1.25" pipe I suppose. It would just take a little longer to pump. So, the sap won't be in this line very long to warm up. I did see that Kaplan has white mainline available on their web site too. If I did decide to move the vac pump and releaser down this line could be the wet line in a wet/dry set up. Thanks.

Brian