length of mainline

[islandviewpeter]

I'm laying out some 1" mainline and am wondering if there is an upper limit as to how long that mainline could be? 1000'? 2000'? I know there is a limit to how many taps it will handle. I'm aiming for 2-3% slope on the line and only using gravity.

[maple flats]

For gravity a 1" pipe will be good to over 3000', maybe even 4000' as long as you don't exceed the number of taps but you need to be careful not to have sags that can pool and freeze. When you get freezing, just one well shaded sag and interrupt sap flow for the whole line until the air temperature has time to melt the ice. In those cases, often some taps begin flow but then just stall because of the ice in the main.

[islandviewpeter]

Ok Thanks. I would probably exceed the tap number before I got to 4000'. Looking at one run of 500' and one of 1000' both of which could be extended to add more in the future. Or I might just do one run of 1500' for this year. Or .......

[VT_K9]

I forget exactly how long our 1" mainlines, but it is near 900 feet with several 1" and 3/4 " lateral mainlines. We are about to extend the mainline about 300 feet. Previously we had a sap puller and this year we will be adding vaccuum.

As mentioned above, don't excede the number of tap and eliminate the sags.

Mike