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View Full Version : shurflo vs. sap guzzler / sucker...any differenece? Let's find out



vtwoody
02-22-2016, 10:42 AM
Like many of you hobby sugarers, I have been looking ways to increase production over gravity. I have played with gravity vacuum lines and found some success but the thought of cheap vacuum making a big difference in sap production, especially on marginal days, has been intriguing.

On this forum, Ive seen the posts from folks using various diaphragm pumps to increase production with good results so I wanted to follow suit.

One thing I've been looking for, but hadn't seen, was the results of a side-by-side comparison of a shurflo vs. sap guzzler.

Last year, I picked up a shurflo 2088, and set up a number of individual lines to come into a manifold with 5/15" quick disconnects so I could isolate individual lines and check for leaks on individual lines. Total of about 50 taps on these lines. Additionally, I have a 3/4" mainline being fed by 5/15 laterals with a total of about 100 taps. still had @ 50 taps on my gravity line.

On a good running day, I hooked up the pump, turned it on and was excited to see the sap immediately race into my tank...not realizing at first that the racing sap was an indication of vacuum leaks....after checking saddles and taps around the woods, I finally determined the issue - wobble in the drill chuck resulting in oblong tap holes...

sigh...silver lining was I now had a transfer pump to move sap from my cage tanks to my evap feed tank, something I had been doing by 5 gallon bucket. Now, I didn't have to put the beer down to re-fill feed tank, just flick a switch - vast improvement!

This summer, I picked up a used sap guzzler 500. After replacing the diaphragm (ripped), I was looking forward to seeing if this would work. That, and replacing the drill with the wobbling chuck

Long story short, I re-did all the laterals on my mainline, I replaced all the saddles, and I checked and re-tightened clamps on all joints. I installed a vacuum guage at top and bottom of mainline. I used a different drill, was careful with each hole, was careful setting each tap in hole. Yesterday, as a thin stream of sap ran into my tank from this line (100 taps, 5 taps per lateral, tight lines, continual drop in elevation to mainline), with the temps dropping from 33 F, and sap flow reducing to a tiny trickle, I hooked up the sap guzzler and threw the switch.

The guage showed vacuum steadily building up to 23" over @ 2 minutes. Sap flow into tank immediately increased. I checked the top guage and saw it at around 17". After identifying a whistling sound (leak) at a joint near the guage, I tightened the clamp and saw the vacuum there go up to 21". None of the laterals had any racing sap, leading me to believe the I had done a good job with the taps. Temps dropped and I shut off pump after about an hour, and pulled it. During the time the pump was on, sap flowed steady, unlike my experience last year. As soon as I pulled the pump, sap flow reduced to a few drips. Clearly, the pump was making a difference.

So, score 1 for the sap guzzler 500 and (more importantly, perhaps) being careful about having your system tight and being careful about straight holes and proper tap setting. It wasn't hard, like many things, just was a matter of taking the time to do it right.

In the teens today, looking forward to above freezing temps rest of week to hook up the shurflo and measure actual flow rates produced by each of the pumps to get some real data on how they match up - something I haven't seen posted here (apologies if I missed it in my search).

I'll follow up, within this post, later this week.

:)

TerryEspo
02-22-2016, 02:14 PM
Interesting.
Looking forward to any and all updates.
Keep us posted as to what you learn.

Thx for sharing.

adk1
02-22-2016, 02:30 PM
that is good. I havent been able to get anything over 15" of vac with the puller. I have 1500 feet of 3/4" mainline and over 3,000 feet of 5/16" laterals on 200 taps with good gravity

vtwoody
02-24-2016, 12:51 PM
The downside to these diaphragm pumps, over a vacuum pump with releaser, is their susceptibility to losing significant vacuum from one or a few leaks. Your system has to be REALLY tight, from taps to pump and all joints in between.

33 and rainy here in VT...dank....sap isn't flowing yet but I did hook up both pumps (separately) to start the comparison. With no sap flow (pumping dry), the guzzler got up to @ 20" of vacuum in about 2 minutes. The Shurflo 2088 was much slower in gaining vacuum. It got up to @ 9" after @ 7 minutes and, if left on longer, would probably have kept slowly climbing(I shut it off to avoid potential issues from the dry pumping).

Temps are supposed to bump up a bit in the next hour and, hopefully, sap flow with start up and I can try a "wet" pump comparison....hopefully my gloves and other things will be dried out a bit by then....yuck...

At least the lack of sap flow today has provided me with fewer distractions from getting done some last minute details - soldering a joint in sap pan drain, re-setting 2nd tank, cleaning feed tank, etc...always something to do around the sugarhouse....

stay tuned!

derekp
02-24-2016, 02:01 PM
Lookin forward to seeing the results..I'm trying to get my 2088 to work and I can't seem to get any vac to register, even 50 ' from the pump

tri-mountain maple
02-24-2016, 02:14 PM
Been using Goodrich's Sap Puller for 2 years. Have been able to get 20" consistently with flat grade, wouldn't be able to run without it

vtwoody
03-02-2016, 12:49 PM
Still looking for a good day to do the side by side test. Next week's forecast in the 50's (groan) ought to provide the opportunity. I have had two runs where gravity was providing steady drips from mainline, sap guzzler provided pencil thick steady stream. Collected 250 gallons I'm guessing I wouldn't have collected otherwise... I'm satisfied it was a good investment.

Still looking to see on the shurflo comparison....anyone else doing/done this?

BlueberryHill
03-02-2016, 12:59 PM
I started the season with a Shurflo 2088. I was not impressed. I got about 7" Max out of it. Even with a steady stream of sap being fed to it. I don't think it was helping a whole lot over just gravity. The pump ended up burning up on me after on a few small runs. I got lucky that the next day someone listed a used guzzler on here. Once I got the guzzler hooked up, I was really impressed. Vac got up to 17 real quick. I found a couple small leaks and I was over 20" after that. I have maxxed out at about 22-23 on a good run. When sap is really slow the vac goes down to 17-18. 500 feet back on my line is usually 2-3" less vac. So I probably still have a small leak or two to find. But overall I am really happy with the guzzler. Now I just need to do a little work on my lines and also I need to get mother nature to give me a good sap run!

TerryEspo
03-05-2016, 09:26 PM
Blueberry,,,,,,,Lucky find to get the Guzzler.
I think I may be wanting a Guzzler pump after this year.

Glad its working good for you.

maple flats
03-06-2016, 07:17 AM
that is good. I havent been able to get anything over 15" of vac with the puller. I have 1500 feet of 3/4" mainline and over 3,000 feet of 5/16" laterals on 200 taps with good gravity
Is that 1500' of 3/4" mainline one run? If so, that exceeds the suggested max. length for 3/4". If it is 2 or more but they all finish in a common 3/4" main, you will do much better making that part 1".
Even with a vacuum pump rather than a diaphragm pump, 1000' is the suggested max for 3/4" line.
On my system using an Alamo pump I had 1400' of 3/4 main on one section. After I was told it should be 1000' or less, I swapped out the last 500' of 3/4 for that much in 1" and I then got better sap flow. Before that, the far end of that main only got 11" with 17" at the point where the main joined my wet/dry conductors, after changing the 500' to 1" main, I got 15" at the far end (up from 11"), which was 1400' from the wet dry and 2800' from the releaser with 18" vacuum on it.
According to the vacuum guidelines, a 4" gain in vac should yield about 20% more sap.
Now, if I had a good season I could get a better pump or at least a bigger engine to turn that pump a little faster and I could do even better in the future.