Tank Size?

[gagnon91]

What’s the storage capacity that you need per tap?

Thanks for the help!!

[Sunday Rock Maple]

It's kind of like a garage in that nobody ever built one that turned out to be too big. That being said, I've always heard that 1 gallon per tap is a good rule of thumb. We have 3,500 for about 3,000 taps, but you can get by with less if you can process faster.

[mike z]

I've heard too, 1 gal/tap. But it does depend on how quick you can process the sap. Can you keep up boiling with the sap flows? Can you boil everyday or just on weekends? How big are your buckets on the trees?

[BreezyHill]

Depends on your production method. Gravity is from 1-1.5 gallon depending on the day. For high vac you are looking at 2-2.5 depending on the day. Two years ago I hit those 2.5 days but last season it was closer to only 1.5...breezy days cut our production way back last season.

I have to agree with the never to big. 2013 I had plenty of storage but the trees decided otherwise. About 2:30 I was over flowing my may collection tank and I had already been boiling since 11 and the evap tank was full. Dusk could not come fast enough that day. I had another 500 gallon tank that I started pumping into. That day trees started running around 3 am and it was after 7 when it froze up. Odd day bu we got just over 3 gallons/tap in that time.

I can remember as a kid having to dump buckets right after church and again that evening and the next morning they were over flowing.

Good Luck and may your tanks over flow.

Ben

[markct]

It seems for woods tanks that 1 gal per tap on gravity works good and 2 gal per tap on vac. Has worked well for me for the most part. As for main storage at the sugarhouse, well few years ago got a great deal on a 1650 gal milk truck tank, didn't want one that big but it was the right price. Well let me tell you there have been days I wish I had 2 of them! Especialy when you have an RO its nice to be able to hold sap a day or two when its cold enough and get some sleep after work then boil a long day Saturday when friends and customers are around.

[ennismaple]

We aim for 1 gallon per tap in the woods plus the same in the sugar camp. I don't know a maple producer who ever complained they had too much tank storage! All it takes is one day where you can't hold everything that's running and you've wasted more sap than what the cost increase was to go with a bigger tank.

[lew]

We shoot for 2 gallons at the woods and at least 1 gallon at the sugarhouse. I have a full time job and sometimes we still end up gathering in the middle of the night on all night runs.. no tank is too big.

[VT_K9]

Last year we had a 275 gallon tote in the woods with a puller on about 300 taps. There were several days I found it running over. I recall prior to having the puller we would have about 200 gallons on about 250 taps with just gravity in a decent run. Now with a regular vaccuum system we are moving up to a 588 gallon tank in the woods for the 300 taps with the ability to expand to about 475 taps. We shall see how it works out. I think a rule of thumb to start with 1 gallon on gravity and 2 gallons on vaccuum is fair, but don't be surprised if there are days you need more storage. I have a couple 55 gallon drums inaddition to our 260 gallon sap tank at the sugar house (we have a hobby RO and pump from the 260g tank to a 140g tank and then a final time to a 100g tank which feeds the evaporator). Last year I needed those tanks as there was one time where I had to wait 2 days before I had time to boil and the extra storage came in handy.

Mike

[maple flats]

At about 2.5 gal/tap in one woods and about 1.75 gal/tap in another, I have come close to running over but never have. Back at the sugarhouse I have about 1 gal/tap storage, plus another .5 gal/tap haul tank. Before I had an RO I had to sell sap because I ran out of storage (and the ability to process fast enough) but since the RO that has been enough (so far). I even buy sap and only once had to ask a sap seller to hold a few hours before I could accept another load.

[Sugarmaker]

Note we are only using gravity tubing systems.
I use 2 gallons per tap in the woods. Always better to collect all the sap rather than it run over. We have 600 taps and 1200 gallons of storage in the bush. At the sugarhouse and truck we have 1300 gallon available. So this works fine on the 600 taps last year we added 400 taps (neighbors) and had a couple days where we almost needed more storage.
If we were on high vacuum with good trees I would go to 3 to 4 gallons storage per tap.
Regards,
Chris