do I need moisture trap???

[whitetail farms]

hey guys I have an older lapierre double mechanical releaser and it has two balls on the top of the canister that float up to block the manifold where the vacuum comes in,im running a dry vane pump will the check balls work to keep my pump safe in case anything happens or do I still need a moisture trap?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I'd recommend a moisture trap.as those releaser canisters get close to full, the sap is often foamy and quite a bit of moisture will be sucked past before the float ball shuts off the vacuum. Voice of experience.

[brookledge]

Another issue is ice. When things begin to freeze up you can have a situation where sap will run through the ball on top. So it is up to you. Just another form of insurance. Im sure there are many stories of checking on vacuum pumps and seeing them blowing sap out the exaust
Keith

[wiam]

I have a single Lappierre about 10 years old. I have had times when it would somehow fill my moisture trap with sap. Not just sure why.

[highvac]

I would go with the solberg moisture trap. MES carries them. They are see thru. Also he puts a float switch in them and you tie it back to your VFD or mag starter to shut off the pump. The ball in the moisture trap is SS and machined for the orifice. Stops 99.9% of stuff if you get that far. I wouldn't run an oil pump without one of these. Matter of fact he makes you buy a solberg from him if you buy one of his Atlas pumps. He told me it is his "insurance policy."

http://www.mapleexperts.com/Solberg%20STS.pdf

[Russell Lampron]

I built my own moisture trap and yes it has failed to seal when there was a releaser malfunction. Until this season I have only used one but am installing 2 more this season. My releaser is 1500' away from my vacuum pump and when that vacuum pipe gets filled with sap it's a pain to get it out. When it freezes in the pipe there's no vacuum to the releaser. They also work as a vacuum booster so that I get a faster recovery time when my releaser dumps.

[BreezyHill]

hey guys I have an older lapierre double mechanical releaser and it has two balls on the top of the canister that float up to block the manifold where the vacuum comes in,im running a dry vane pump will the check balls work to keep my pump safe in case anything happens or do I still need a moisture trap?

Yes. A moisture trap(MT) is like insurance, a safety switch, and a backup to your pump's isolation check valve all rolled into one.

Pumps are a valuable investment and water will damage the pump. just the moisture that is carried by the tree gases is enough to destroy a pump that is not adequately protect by off season maintance and storage.

A MT is a safety switch in that it can be designed to shut down a pump in the event of a releaser failure that will allow sap to flood the vacuum pump. I have had this happen twice in the last 10 years. Both times a sap filter failed and a wood chip lodged in the releaser and sap ran to and thru the pump on one occasion. I had to shut down the pump, drain the oil, flush the reservoir, drain the water trap and clean the ball. The ball had a film from the moisture that was preventing a perfect seal that flooded the pump.

The ICV ( isolation check valve), is intended to keep all of the pumps oil from reaching the sap. I prefer brass swing checks for this purpose as they do not have a rubber seal that degrades over time. The oil from the pump protects the brass seal edges BUT you will find over time that there is most always a tiny amount of oil that will pass by the check when the pump is not running either in the off season or during season when the pump is not running. My system is sloped so that any condensation in the line from the moisture trap to the pump will drain to the trap for removal. There is always a drop or more of oil in the trap. Without the trap this oil could over time have reached the releaser.

One time in 2013 my sap collection tank had a sheen on the top. I figured some how oil from the pump had made it past the pumps moisture trap and to the releaser. I had to dump about 400 gallons of sap, was the tank, the releaser, and the vac line from the moisture trap to the releaser. This took an hour during peak flow. Very costly but had to be done.

The cost of a moisture trap is just a payment of insurance to save you from dumping a tank full of sap. Worth every penny in my mind.

If you would like a design on a MT that you can build and you can make it to automatically shut of your pump, drain the trap, and then turn on your pump...send me a pm. You can get all the parts on eBay or right in Glens Falls.

Think of a moisture trap as a smoke detector...You pray you never need to have it save you...but when maintained, it will save you big time.

Ben

[whitetail farms]

I have a homemade moisture trap that looks identical to the black 2 inch one CDL sells,but im not sure how to set it up it has two opening on the top and a brass check valve at the bottom,is the check valve supposed to be left alone to drain it and just use the two fitting at the top to connect the releaser to the pump....should there be a ball inside? I opened it up and there is nothing inside it?

[BreezyHill]

if there is no ball then you hook the pump to the side opening and the center or pilot opening that a ball would block goes to the releaser.

If there is a ball in the unit then the pump sucks so that the ball would block access of sap to the center.

In yours there is nothing to stop access to the pump and it should have a float switch to shut off the pump so that the trap could drain and then restart the pump.

Sucking from the side is better than the pilot opening as the condensation will come down the pilot tube and impact the water at the bottom and be trapped. Then the air losses velocity and is then sucked out the larger area by the pump.

When using a ball the condensation can form on the pilot tube and when it runs down to drip off it is sucked up the pilot tube and to the pump. This is a poorer design but is less expensive and has no electrical connections needed.

Some have made the pilot tube style without a pilot tube...this is worse yet as the condensation is sucked directly into the pump and the base of the trap has little or even no air movement.

When I pull apart a vac pump you can often tell: if there is a trap, and which style it is due to the amount of corrosion in the pump.

A D75 that had sever corrosion in the bottom of the oil reservoir and the bearings had rusted solid had been run without a pilot tube.

Same pump on a pilot tube inlet setup was nearly no rust on the housing and no water in the reservoir.

Water is a pumps worst enemy. Bearings cant live with it, and the pump will run hotter when there is rusting on the housing for the vanes to rub across.

I would rather see a 3" outer tube and a 1.5 or 2" pilot tube to get as much vapor trapped as possible.

Ben

[wiam]

Ben, how far down should the pilot tube go?

[whitetail farms]

Thanks Ben!!! could I just take apart the trap and put a racquet ball inside then seal everything back up? the pipe is three inches,with a barb fitting on the top and a 1 1/2 inch elbow coming of the side,then the brass check valve at the bottom,there is no electric connections anywhere on it

[BreezyHill]

Length of Pilot Tube:
I like to have at least 6" of space at the bottom of the trap for moisture in the event that the releaser has a burp, and sends some sap toward the pump. The longer the thimble tube or the outside tube is the longer the pilot tube can be. 12 " pilot to 18" pilot is usually plenty for a condensation area. If you have a releaser that burps a lot then just make a longer thimble.

The ball needs to float in sap and be able to seal off the pilot tube.

Be certain the tube can drop off the tube. A thin wall plastic ball floats great but will be sucked up the tube.

In a float switch uni one can cut the pilot tube at an angle to have a drip point for condensation to fall from. Position the point on the pilot tube toward the outlet side so that air moves around the pilot tube to exit to get as much vapor to drop in the trap as possible.