pickup truck tank

[mapleman3]

I bought a real nice 210 gal pickup truck style tank for this season off one of the Traders recently, fits great in the truck. I have a question for your opinions..... The drain is mabey 2.5-3 inches above the bottom on the side of the tank... it has an elbow with a notch in it that faces towards the bottom of the tank.... when your draining the tank and have a good flow going will it drain down to very little left in the tank because of the elbow? I was thinking of putting a bulkhead fitting at the bottom of the tank for a drain and not using the existing one.. but is it necessary? I like to clean/flush the tank out every night after dumping it... whats your experience with that?

[802maple]

They empty most of the sap out, but not all of it. If the back of your truck is lower it will clean most of it out.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

I know exactly..

$4.95 and i'll send you some plans ?
shipping and handling included...

[mountainvan]

On my last trip of the day with sap I climb in the back of the truck and lift the back of the tank up, when the tanks almost empty, about 6" and it pumps all but maybe a gallon of sap.

[jenigl12]

On my last trip of the day with sap I climb in the back of the truck and lift the back of the tank up, when the tanks almost empty, about 6" and it pumps all but maybe a gallon of sap.

I'll second you on that, I did that last year and plan to do it this year.

[Sugarmaker]

These tanks just are not designed to drain well. There is always some left even when raising them up.

Maple Hill , I would like to get your ideas also for my 325 gallon leg type, which is a lug to lift and dump.

If a sugarmaker would have designed them the drain would be AT the bottom!!:mad:

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[Dave Y]

The pick up tank works real well for hauling sap, but they unload alot easier w/ a small pump. I had a little12v pump I hooked up to mine last year. How ever there is always some liquid left in the bottom of the tank. Lifting them to drain is always a pain in the back. I would drain as much as possible then rinse w/water. After that I would take my wet/dry vac and suck the rest out.
I should not have that problem this year as I will be using a small dump truck to haul sap with. I can just lift the bed to drain my tank.

[maplehound]

Just today I was looking at a Ben Meadows catalog. They have a bladder type tank that fits into a pickup that fills like a large balloon and fills the whole bed. Unfortunalty thye don't say they are food grade plastic. But wouldn't that be nice.

[Bucket Head]

I agree with Chris. I have shyed away from this style tank because of the inability to fully drain them. The bulkhead fitting idea sounds interesting. I use a cage style tank which drains almost completely. I would like to get another cage tank but they are hard to find. I would get a pick-up truck style tank if I could get one to drain better. Other than manually picking it up to drain, how does everybody get all their sap out of them, or all their rinse water out after cleaning them?

Steve

[andrew martin]

I have a325 gal pick up tank, and that's what I have to do to drain it. Because our driveway to the sugar house is sloped the wrong way, I actually have to make a ramp under the front wheels of my truck - almost 8" high- in order to get my sap tank to sit level so I can get all the sap out. I then push the tank off the truck, rinse it out and flip it over to let it drain. This is the best method I've come up with so far. I like some of the caged bins, because they are sloped near the drain valve and everything comes out. It's quite funny to see my full size truck up on blocks just to get sap out.

The weather here is starting to warm up, perhaps by Saturday I will start collecting sap again.

Andrew

[Russell Lampron]

I have the same tank as mapleman3. I get most of the sap out by raising the body on the dump truck I gather with. I have to be carefull though, the tank will slide right out if I lift it too much. I have enlarged the hole in the opening at the top so that I can pump the rest of it out with a small electric submersable pump.

Russ

[Sugarmaker]

Bucket head,
Did you get the spiles?

The 210 tank I sold Dave Y wasn't bad to wrestle around but the 325 gallon is heavier plus I built a steel angle skid frame to mount and secure the tank in the truck. The frame adds some weight too but I added handles which work great for lifting the tank into the bed and tying the tank to the bed hooks. I was really surprised that the truck really doesn't rock much with a half a tank of sap while moving or stopping. The lid on my tanks is about 16 inches in dia. and I can reach into it and hose it out with hot water at the end of each day. We also gravity feed off the back of the truck to a holding tank. Fortunately we have the correct slope compared to Andrew and 98% of the sap comes out.

I got some PVC fittings and a check valve for the remote pump and will start rigging that up this week end. The tubing system is starting to come together slowly.

Regards,
Chris

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

i got one of those bilge pumps that do 750 GPH at walmart on a red tag special yesterday=$11. are they food grade? are they certified lead free? any of the inside components food safe?

[Sugarmaker]

Maple Hill,
Thats a screamin deal on the pump.
Chris

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Sugarmaker- i need to look up the exact plans in the file/but i pretty much got what you'll need to do to get the job done-I'll send you a PM in a few days after i look for them/You know this is HI-TEC so if you don't do it right=we'll i just say it might not work. (Where are those laughing faces when i need about 10 of them?)

Ok I'm on it right now-maybe in 15 minutes i'll find it ?? Gotta be able to keep the secret though so i can sell the idea=like royalmaple said one time....

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

There was 1 pump left if anyone wants it? =I'll send it to you W/the cost of postage added. $3 ??

I don't even need the first one/but hey if i do need it i have it..

[mapleman3]

I am thinking put the tank up on a pallet to raise it 4 " in the truck then a bulkhead fitting and move the valve to the bottom with an elbow then the valve, should do the trick and pretty cheap, I don't want to pump.. gravity so I can walk away from it and get the evap going every night at dump time.... sounds like a plan. thanks for all your input !!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jim,

Just make sure you get one of the heavy duty pallets to be safe or reinforce it some. 300 gallons of sap is 2500+ lbs.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Ok- here's the trick/Plans. I've Keep you waiting too long.

The elbow in the tanks is turned sideways(if you can or a kid get inside the tank this can be done while still attached or it will have to be removed) and a 2"X1 1/2 reducer is glued inside the elbow pipe- Then a piece of 1 1/2" PVC is glued into the reducer so that when the eldow is angled down towards the bottom of the tank it touches the bottom of the tank. A very small notch is cut out of the end of the 1 1/2" PVC so that your tank is now empty before you loose your suction from the elbow before it's empty.

Of course the drain end of the tank needs to be slightly lower then the opposite end so the very last of the sap will be at the elbow end.

The original elbow is at the bottom of the tank/But it's notch is cut in like 3/8" higher from the edge. Your 1 1/2" PVC will be the same length of the elbow with a much smaller notch made in it.

Idea was published in the NH Maple Producers "Gathering tank" by Don Lassonde who is the secretary. I can't seem to find my old issue with that in it but maybe russ has it? or i told sugarmaker to get a hold of Don and maybe he can post the exact pans?

[mapleman3]

Kevin that sounds like a plan !! I'm going to give that a whirl and see how it does... I would rather not make another hole in the tank, I will still put it up on a pallet just to get it above my bulk tank(which I'm dropping down a little more.... I don't like using a pump so this should work great Thanks.

And Brandon, I will get a sturdy pallet, but the tank is only 210 gal.. still alot of weight when filled though

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Send the sap disc for the filter bags when you get a chance...

[mapleman3]

Wow do I still have that? I'll dig around or fab another one.... PM your address to me again. :

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Wow- 31 Beverly St. Newport, N.H. 03773-2803