Guys, help me get my tubing clean!!

[bison1973]

Does anyone have any ideas for me to get my tubing clean? I've had it up for a couple years but have never really cleaned it properly. Here's my situation. I have no accses to running water or electricity in my woods. I also have no generator for air an compressor. I have 3 seperate 3/4" mainlines(two are 400' and one is 200') with moderate slope.

I have a sap transfer pump. Could something be done with this by either pumping water in the mainlines from the top or the bottom of the mains.

Would pumping it uphill to fill the lines work? Or pumping in from the top and capping the bottom to fill the system work?

I know there are disscusions on here but I like to see some ideas for my situation.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

[HanginAround]

A lot of people pump up from the bottom. My uncle does... he has 12,000 taps on about 15-18 mainlines, the farthest is several thousand feet. He uses a gas powered transfer pump. I never participated in the cleaning, but I think they shut of all the mainlines except the one they are doing, pump up the line with bleach water, and walk up the hill pulling taps and plugging them. I can't be sure of the details though.

[Pete33Vt]

The method that Hangin is talking about should work good for what you want to do. As long as you can get your water supply close enough to the bottom of your main line. Just plug off each section and clean one area at a time.We installed valves into our mainline so we can shut off each section and work just one section at a time. It has worked great for us.

[maple flats]

From the bottom is better IF you can get flow at the top. Best with air for agitation, even if a 12 volt emergency type compressor, the air makes the difference. I ilke food grade peroxide but anything listed elsewhere on here or even plain water is better than nothing. Be careful now, waite for the first warm day or you may freeze solid in the tubing. Once you are set up the cleaning only takes a short while and I use my sap pump but with air.

[Russell Lampron]

I fill my 325 gallon gathering tank with water and use my gas powered transfer pump to push water up the mainlines to clean them. Some of my mainlines are 1000 feet long. I only use water and like you I have no air supply. After the pump is set up and running I go to the tap that is furthest away and work my way down the hill pulling taps letting it flow until just water is coming out then plug it and move on. This may not be as effective as mixing in compressed air but it is better than nothing.

Russ

[mountainvan]

I use my honda 1" pump to clean most of my tubing. I fill an ortho dial sprayer full of bleach, set it to the lowest setting, hook it up between the pump and lines, and work my way up the hill pulling spiles and flushing the lines. I usually close a valve at the bottom and move to another bush, letting the bleach water set in the tubing for awhile. Then I come back and flush the tubing with fresh water, starting at the top and working my way down to the truck. Let it drain and dry for a couple days, go back and plug the spiles, and I'm ready for next year. I take at least twice as long to clean tubing as I do to tap the trees.

[802maple]

Do you by chance have a water supply above your sugarworks. I had a brook above ours and I went to it with a half inch line. I let the water go from the brook to a small tank and then I continued to the pipeline system. This tank alowwed for any silt to settle out in the bottom. I would plug off the bottom and let it fill up. in mine I had a huge drop in elevation so it created more pressure than any pump I ever hooked to it, and for some reason it would not blow any lines apart like a pump would. My only thought was that there was vibration in the water from the pump. I would use clorox in the water after I was done washing I would unhook the end spout on each line and let them rinse for weeks as I had a endless supply of water and it wasn't costing me anything to run a pump