Tube Newb questions

[RIFoster]

Sorry if this is in a FAQ somewhere, but this is my first tubing system, and I have a few questions:

Does the tubing always smell and/or put a weird taste in the sap?
How do you keep the tubing from wanting to corkscrew around the wire (I run 12ga fence wire to support it) or is it not a problem when it does this?
Why when you tap the tree does it visibly drip sap, but when you attach it to a line you get no flow?
How do you keep those little black flies out of the bucket/tank/whatever?

At this point I've probably invested 5x the effort it would take to have just hung milk jugs on the spiles, and I'm out $150 in parts. I'm not seeing the return here.

[rayi]

Limited experience but never had a taste issue if using tubing for maple. You need to pull the tubing tight to prevent the corkscrew action becsue it does effect flow. Some times things will drip but with tubing it may stop for a short period until the pressure builds back up. The bugs get filtered out before going into the evaporator. Even a small sceen does not seem to work. hang in there you will tinker with it for a year or so and then never want to go back.

[bcarpenter]

This is my 3rd year with tubing and I am using it so i don't have to hump through the woods and collect 50 or so buckets. My woods is dense,hilly, rocky and miserable walking so I am using tubing to limit the # of collection points and hopefully end up collecting from one or two locations.

I have never had a bad smell or of taste in my syrup. Are you using maple tubing or something different?

The corkscrew effect is related to how you are pulling it off the spool. Before I attach my tubing I lay the full length out and cut it to length, leaving it long and then i twirl the end until any of the tension or corkscrewing is released.

The lack of seeing dripping is the hardest one to overcome mentally but it does run. If you set it up with enough pitch and enough taps you could even see some natural vacuum.

I don't get many many bugs until later on in the season but as Rayi says they get filtered out before the sap goes into the evaporator.

Hope that helps.

Bill C.

[RIFoster]

Thanks guys, I'm using the fancy grey tubing from Leader Evaporator. The 500' roll of hard clear stuff. It has a plasticky smell, and when I suck accumulated sap through it, it tastes funny. I always unroll the spool of tubing rather than pulling it off the end, but it always ends up wanting to coil back up.

I'm just thinking that rolling this all back up come April and then resetting it all next year = more pain than it's (so far) worth.

[BreezyHill]

Sorry if this is in a FAQ somewhere, but this is my first tubing system, and I have a few questions:

Does the tubing always smell and/or put a weird taste in the sap?
How do you keep the tubing from wanting to corkscrew around the wire (I run 12ga fence wire to support it) or is it not a problem when it does this?
Why when you tap the tree does it visibly drip sap, but when you attach it to a line you get no flow?
How do you keep those little black flies out of the bucket/tank/whatever?
At this point I've probably invested 5x the effort it would take to have just hung milk jugs on the spiles, and I'm out $150 in parts. I'm not seeing the return here.

Yes the sap can have an off taste for a little while so just let the lines flush out and then they will be fine.

Fast flow is because the tree is a closed system that you just opened a leak in. I use vacuum and the flow will come right back when the level gets up high enough to balance tree.

Cork screwing is from the memory the tubing has from it being drawn out of the machine hot. It needs to unwind of the roll to counter act the memory and and then pull tight. this will relax the twist and you get more footage when you stretch it.

Not straight can be very bad if it pools the sap in low spots.

Snow fleas...pain in the A$$. They seem to like to got to a low spot during the day and up at night.

Again I use tubing and they are just a site along the trail. Funny how they will fill in a boot track in under a minute. Wonder if our snake population is down or fewer birds???

I think that is what the nut hatches are chasing on the trees in the morning and get closer to the ground prior to noon and then I see the fleas on the snow in the after noon usually. I saw a lot last fall in the woods one day. They were so many that you could hear them on the leaves.

Remember the tubing has a ten year plus life so don't worry if you don't get all the $$$back the first season.

Chin up and hang in there...maple has a learning curve that can be pretty rough some years.

Ben

[RIFoster]

Any idea how long the sap will taste funny? I'm only running a few trees through 1 line, I'm worried that a gallon or so of sap won't be enough to clean it out.

[maple flats]

I never had an off taste from the tubing.
The spiral effect is remedied in either of 2 ways. Make a tubing spooler (something to put the coil of tubing on that allows you to pull the tubing off straight as needed, the spooler needs to spin) so you pull it out straight. Or some just put the coil on their arm, pull off 4 or 5 coils, then reverse the coil on your arm, and pull the same number of coils again, repeat until done. Reversing removes the twist left by the first 4 or 5 coils, just be careful to do the same number after reversing the coil on your arm. If you just put the coil on your are, every coil that pulls off leaves a full turn on the tubing, 20 coils and you have twisted the tubing 20 revolutions. That is what leaves the up and down spiral. If you are handling bigger tubing (1/2" and up) just unroll it or pull off 3 loops, reverse, pull 3 loops and keep repeating, OR get a spooler for bigger coils (or make one.)

[RIFoster]

Bump. Looking for some guidance on the funny plastic taste. Has anyone else experienced this? I still have to dump the sap.

[DrTimPerkins]

Bump. Looking for some guidance on the funny plastic taste. Has anyone else experienced this? I still have to dump the sap.

An odor and off-flavor (plastic) in the sap is typical with new tubing. It will not come through in the syrup. Let a little sap run through it, then collect and boil. As you boil the sap the odor and off-flavor will dissipate. You may get the same thing happen next year, but it'll be less. After a few years it will not be detectible any longer.

[RIFoster]

The flavor does indeed boil out... somehow. Thanks!

Separate issue - I'm getting almost no flow from my 5/16 line, while other trees nearby that I have on milk jugs are filling 1/2 a jug per day. Do I need to worry about vapor lock or should I look at something else?