Unexpectedly running vacuum...questions.

[Fireman]

Yesterday, I unexpectedly ended up with a vacuum pump. No complaints, but have lots of questions, since I wasn't planning on going to vacuum until next year. I am attaching pictures too. I got this Dry Run Mfg. sap puller. Rated for up to 800 taps. For the layout of our sugar bush, it will be on 2 3/4" lines pulling 278 this year, and adding 150+ next year. My questions are as follows:

1. Is this what is considered a diaphragm pump? (now you see how little I know)

2. Should this still let sap flow through if it runs out of gas? (I have to rely on a friend and wife on my work days to fill gas)

3. Can I expect any push on the outlet side? For this year, I will have the end of the lines, the pump, and holding tanks on the same plane. I know I will need bigger tank capacity next year, found a tank where the sap would need to push up on the outlet side about 12".

4. I bought a vacuum gauge to put inline. I am understanding correctly, it should be on the furthest lateral, past the last tap? Or can it be in front of the last tap?

I am sure I will have more questions. Been kind of a dismal year, for the price on this, I couldn't pass it up. Heading to the woods now to get it set up, hopefully running. Figured the best way to learn is jumping in with both feet. Looking forward to an increase in production. Thanks for reading, and any help provided.1354013541

[nekmaple]

Yes you have diaphragm pump and I believe SAP should flow wen it's not running, they do have lift 12 should be fine and I have vac guages at end of lines and at pump, search guzzler pumps and you can learn a lot about them here, good pumps but any small leak and you lose vac

[Fireman]

Thank you nekmaple. I did get it out and get it running. Had 25" if vacuum at the pump, and 22-23" at the furthest tap. All I can say is WOW! I think I am going to like this vacuum bit. With the cover off, I did notice that it is a guzzler pump. I am wondering how often the diaphragm/boot needs replaced. A Leader rep told me a while back, once we get part of the woods on vacuum, we will want it all on vacuum. Would be a little hard to do, but I am excited about what I do have. Thanks again for your input.

[VT_K9]

You have a sap puller with two bowls. Look for some of my posts. You will see where we use a single bowl. Your setup will be similar, but two bowls. We run ours in a similar manner to vacuum, except you will not build CFM to run a sap ladder or pull much up hill. We would disconnect our mainline when not in operation and plug the mainline into a bypass line leading into the holding tank in the even sap did run, but we were not there to turn on the pump. We wanted to minimize icing inside the pump. Our first year we used the pump in theory with no vacuum...turn it on when above freezing and turn it off near freezing and when it was time to call it a night. Plus, we left our taps setup for gravity due to the timing we installed it (almost 1 week into the season).

The next year I replaced taps and re-ran the sap lines to match the vacuum theory...strive for 5 but no more than 7. I have a couple with 9 and several with 3. We also did our best to keep the runs under 50', with maybe 3 over. We stepped up our mainline to 1" with several 3/4" lateral mainlines (we used to have a 3/4" mainline with a couple 1/2" laterals). This helps a lot with ice build up and allow for fresh sap to flow over what little ice there is to melt it. We also stepped up the game and used wire with wire ties instead of some wire, but mostly stakes. We also ran the pump in the same theory you would use vacuum...started it at 30 degrees to get ready for the run and never shut it off until it was below 28 degrees. I would start the generator (Honda EU2000) in the morning (6-7a), refuel in the mid afternoon (4pm), and check it night (9p). If the temps on the weather app showed below 28 for more than an hour or two overnight I turned it off and used the bypass pipe. Otherwise it ran all night. OH MY the sap we got. Thankfully this was our first year with an RO...saved a lot of time and a ton of wood.

We stepped up to a full vacuum last year. With the exception of a couple inches more vacuum (27-28"), using ladders, and having room for a few leaks there is minimal difference. The ladders are allowing us to tap about 30 trees we would not have.

As far as leaks go...when we had our sap puller and there were 1-2 leaks you could see the difference I the vacuum. We ran a gauge at the puller and the end line. I found several times it was near 12" and after walking the bush I replaced 2-3 taps each time and the vacuum went back up to about 23-25". Watch your gauge and bubbles in the lines. We used to reuse fittings by cutting the tubing off the barbs..those cuts in the barbs were sources for air leaks. Most of our fittings were many years old (10 or so) when we put the puller in. We replaced all and it really helped. Now I generally just replace the fittings, but if I think I may have to reuse them I will leave a tail so I can boil the fitting and pull the line off.

Good luck. The puller is a great addition to any system. You will have more sap than ever. Keep doing the little things and your system will be awesome.

Mike

[Quabbin Hill Farms]

I have a sap puller and last year could get 10-20 " of vacuum on the system i re-routed my 3/4" mainline this fall and i noticed today that where I went around a tree the line had collapsed some would that restriction cut down on the vacuum down the line.
thanks Greg