vtwoody
02-22-2016, 09:42 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.
:)
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.
:)