Any ideas please? Keep lines from freezing at tank end!

[Shaggy acres]

Hi folks

I moved my tank into my pole barn so as it gets warmer the tank would be out of the sun and stay cooler.
The tank is fed with just two 5/16 lines on gravity. Trouble is the lines will fill with sap and freeze when it gets cold. I am worried that they will not thaw and run on days where the temp may thaw the lines in the woods but not in the barn. They do run down hill but still some sap freezes inside of them.

I have considered running them through a larger pipe ( say 3" PVC ) and putting a small bulb or heat tape in it at the low end to keep the temp up above freezing. Maybe just ending the 5/16 at the 3" PVC and run that across the pole barn and into the tank?
I am not sure what to do!

Any ideas are greatly appreciated. I know you have already invented the wheel, no need for me to do it again!

[markct]

Thats why your tanks should be outside!

[Super Sapper]

If possible have a smaller tank outside and use a pump on a float to pump it into the tank inside. Do not use a check valve and make sure your tank outside is big enough to drain the line into without cycling the pump too often.

[markct]

Realy seems like alot of work and expense just to keep snow off your tank. Late in the season it will be getting warm in the pole barn from the sun and sap will not keep well. Best would be an open shed like just a roof on the side of the barn to put the tank under so it got shade yet still air movement

[drewlamb]

I've had great success with heated pipe tape. For years I've had a 6-8 ft section on the line that goes from my storage tank to the evaporator - the last place you want a line to suddenly freeze up. If I know I'm going to be boiling in the morning after a cold night, I plug it in the night before and it works perfectly. I sometimes have to break up a plug that forms at the outlet in the bottom of the storage tank with a propane torch and pole, but the line stays clear. Assuming you have electricity in your barn, I'd say wrapping the lines together and then wrapping pipe tape around them would be one solution.

[BreezyHill]

I would just install a y on the outside of the barn that you can plug. If the lines are frozen in the barn then unplug the y and drop it in a small tank until the lines thaw.

My collection system is in a concreted walled basement to a metal farm building. Last season was the first time I can recall having an issue with the system freezing. I just ran a hair drier on low to warm the receiver jar and the pump connection in the am when the room was to cold and at night when the sluch would come in and freeze. This only lasted the first week of the season as the deep freeze finally left last year.

I expect the same issue this season.

Heat tape will work and so would the 3" with a bulb and a couple hand fulls of insulation to seal the ends.

Good Luck!

Ben

[Paul VT]

What if the 5/16 drained into a 1/2 inch or bigger line just before it goes into the barn. Less chance for ice blockage this way.

[Shaggy acres]

Thank you for your replies.
I moved the tank indoors because when it warms up it stays cool inside the barn and I figured the sap would keep longer. I have a full time job so I cant always process the sap as quick as it is coming in and last year I had to dispose of about 350 gallons of sap that I could not process. That was a terrible thing.
This year I increased my processing capabilities so I could probably move it back outside without that same problem but now we have two plus feet of snow and I would need to build a platform to place the tank on. It would need to be about 6 to 8 feet up in the air to use gravity to feed the sugar shack. I am sick of buckets and with the enormous hill I live on a pump is really a waste when we have this thing called gravity to work with. Even the lowest tree I tap is a good 30' elevation and 200 feet above the barn and shack.

I do have power in the pole barn so I will go with the heat tape this year I think. Maybe just lay it inside a trough or PVC. Warm weather is coming soon, I hope!

I will probably move the tank back out this summer.

Thank you all again for your time! This site has been instrumental!