leak are kicking my butt have a guzzler

[TRAILGUY]

I am new to guzzler vacuum and suck at finding leak. all the sap seamed to slow down so fixed most of the bad leaks. I have 3 shut offs so with pump only around 20 inches, pump and one main 18, pump and other main 15 then open both get 8 inches.

!. I thought check valves were in pump and pump alone goes to 20 inches. would other check valves help or is my problem just leaks?

2. How do you check saddles for leaks?

3. How do you find the micro leaks?

[pls009]

I have noticed that some of my taps have become a little loose. I suspect it is due to the thawing process. I walked my lines and gave each tap a little bit of a tap with the hammer. Some were noticeably loose but most weren't. I went from 14 back up to 21. I don't have saddles but I can see where they could be a likely source also. I like my pump but they just can't handle any leaks.

[VT_K9]

I am not sure how the sap flow is going for you. Last year when I used a guzzler I would see 20" when things were freezing up. Otherwise I would see 10-15" with one or two taps broken. I would walk the lines looking for fast moving sap. Then inspect that are more closely. Once you get a chance to find the leak the next ones will be easier.

I had one the other day. I followed the fast moving bubbles up the tsap line. I found one the new style spouts was not driven in as far as it should have been. I finished tapping it in. Then I noticed a leak aroudn the T for the drop. Same symptoms, just not as active.

Good luck,

Mike

[Amber Gold]

From what I understand, guzzlers don't pull a lot of CFM, so they have a hard time overcoming any kind of leak. Also, trees create gas when they run, so between this and leaks, the vac. pump needs to pull all this air out of the system. Just walk your lines when things are running and check the laterals for fast moving sap. If all the lines are checking out ok, then you've probably just reached the limitations of the pump.

[TRAILGUY]

starting to see the light. Lots of helpful tip got one line running 20" found two leaks. shut that line and open the other started at 4" found some loose saddles tighten then sap started to race found leaks. then cold front hit a did that make the sap do funny things . When sap starts to freeze nothing move right and when back and had 22" on pump.