What degree of slope would I have ??

[TerryEspo]

Hello Everyone for another season.

I am going to attempt tubing with my Shurflow pump again. Last year was poor and I need to tap more trees. (Across my creek) Didn't cross the creek last year.

I am asking if anyone has a calculation formula that would figure out what slope I could achieve. Seems 3%-4% is what I should want.

Guessing that my farthest back trees landscape is 20 feet higher (at most) than my collection point, 600 ft away.

How high would I have to have my mainline at the rear in order to have my mainline approx. 4 ft off the ground at collection tank?

Hope I explained that well enough to make sense.

Thanks.

Terry

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

3% slope is 3 feet of fall in a hundred feet of run. 600 feet of run means you need 18 feet of fall. If the far back is 20 feet higher in elevation, you could run your line about 4' above the ground.

[TerryEspo]

Thanks Thompson,s:

I need to get out back and see for sure the length, just a guess at 600ft. I hope a bit less, the 20 ft elevation drop is also a rough guess. This year is the least amount of snow I can remember in a very long time. I can actually do some work without sinking 5ft into snow.

Thanks.

Terry

[BreezyHill]

Visit Google earth and use the distance calculator and it will tell you elevation also. Great tool.

Ben

[maple flats]

Try this tool http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/elevation It will give you quite accurate elevation and distance measurements if you can accurately mark the start and finish spots on the map. Remember, if your tank is 4' high you need to add 4' at the back to be even for the calculations. If you can keep the line good and tight, 2% works good, but you must keep the line tight and have no sags. If you even have 4% but with sags that is poor at best.

[steam maker]

Whats minimum if u have vaccum?

[lpakiz]

To calculate your grade in %, divide your drop (or rise) by the length. In your case, 20 divided by 600 (and move decimal point 2 places to the right) gives you 3.3222 %
This means 3.322 feet of drop per 100 feet of run. A simple way to lay this out is to change feet to inches, so yours is about 40 inches of fall every 100 feet. It's the same as 10 inches every 25 feet.
I have 1.4% and installed a support post exactly every 25 feet.
I used a water tube level, started from the sap house, and went from post to post and raised the marks 3 1/2 inches at each post. I made a little metal rod 3 1/2 inches long. A pencil stub would work too. At each post, I made a light, temporary mark at the level of the previous post, then used the 3 1/2 inch device to measure up the required distance, where I made the permanent mark. Then went back and adjusted the wire to each mark.
Now someone is going to come on here and say that this is all unnecessary, that all you need is a sight level. This person will have enough slope that a mistake of 1 inch won't matter.
I think with 3.3222%, a sight level will work fine.
In flat applications like 1.4%, every 1/4 inch is crucial, as are supports every 20-25 feet.

[BreezyHill]

Whats minimum if u have vaccum?

1% is my minimum but you will want to use blue tube to be certain you do not have any dips.

I use high tensile support wire and rapid tie to support on trees and support sticks as needed. Support sticks are least preferred due to frost action in parts of my bush due to springs. They work great across trails that freeze solid.

Where the springs are the sticks have pushed up as much as a foot so I have to have holes drilled with the tap bit to move a spout used as a line support. Holes drilled 1 inch apart work very well.

I prefer to run 2% but one line had to hit the top of a ladder or I would need another ladder and had no time to install it that season.