guzzler or shurflo

[wvsugarshak]

Those of you who have switch form surflo to guzzler can you tell me the reason why you switched. over the summer I need to decide on which way to go. will be for 500taps total on three different mainlines. Right now I am pulling 19-20 at the end of theses 500ft runs. I did have one surflo I will need to replace and in stead of you three pumps. thought about just going the guzzler route.

Thanks
WVsugarshak

[BlueberryHill]

I had a shurflo and I was having trouble getting it to do what others have done. Did a lot of tweaks and still could not get it to work right. Then, it burned up on me. So instead of getting another shurflo, I picked up a guzzler. The guzzler has pulled a lot of sap for me. Still not perfect, needs tweaks or something, but it is way better.

It's a lot more money too. So if you are having success with a shurflo already then you might just want to stick with it and save the money.

Right now my issue is that once I get to 20" on my vac gauge the guzzler stops pumping sap and it builds up in the mainline until I pull a tap real quick to let in a shot of air. Kind of annoying.

Seems like lots of people have a lot of different experiences with both. So what works best for you might not be the best for others. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that whatever you can get to work the best for you, haha.

[wvsugarshak]

How long a stretch will you let you guzzler run for? Also Let me know if you get the build up of sap figured out my shurflo does the same thing at times.

thanks
WVsugarshak

[rjoly]

Blueberry Hill

We had the same issue with the Guzzler pump. We would pull 24" and main line would back up and pump would stall. As soon as we let air in it would work great. I called the manufacture of the guzzler pump and talked to him and he told me that the pump check valve will not work when you get close to 24". There has to be a differential between the pump and the main line. So what we did is put a very small needle valve at the end of the main line with a vacuum gauge. Then when the vacuum came close to 24" we cracked it to maintain 22". It never stalled again.


Ray

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks Ray, I need to try that!

[Clinkis]

I run two 2088 shurflo's. One is on a 3/4 mainline with about 100 taps. There is only about 1% slope. It works amazing. Draws consistently 20"-25" of vacume. Increases my flow by at least 50%. The other is on a 25 taps all on 5/16. It works well too.

[rjoly]

What do you use for power on your Shurflo pumps? Batteries? or house power? if its batteries how long do they last on the 2088.

thanks

Ray

[Clinkis]

I use deep cycle batteries. A good deep cycle battery, fully charged, will last at least 24 hours.

[rjoly]

Thats good to know, we have a field with about 100 taps on 3/16" tubing. The top have of the field has great pitch but the bottom half does not so we wanted to get the whole field on vacuum so we get as much out of it as we can.

[BlueberryHill]

I had the guzzler "stalling out" and sap backing up in the mainline once I hit 20-21" and I took Ray's advice to introduce a small leak. I went to my last tap on the last lateral and I just used my pocket knife to put a tiny pinhole into the drop. If I listen really closely I can hear it sucking air and the sap moves along faster on this lateral but nothing crazy. Ever since I did that, I not am maxing out at 18-19" but the sap is no longer backing up. Everything is flowing great. So thanks Ray! A little less vac is not IDEAL, but heck, things are pumping now and it seems like overall I am getting more sap because of this.

[rjoly]

I will send you a picture tommorrow of the bleader i use and the way i piped it. I used a camlock fittinds so i could remove it after the season. i did the same as you by putting a small hole it works but you loose some vacuum, with a small needle valve you can really make the leak very small so you can get the max vacuum without having it stall.

glad it work for you


Ray

[rjoly]

1396313964

Here are the pictures of the bleader i use. I found them on Craigslist. I start pulling vacuum on the field and when i get to 24" i crack the valve to try and maintain 22" -23".

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks for the pics and info.

[mudr]

Very good work-around, smart thinking! But, man, for the price of a guzzler they shouldn't stall out under the vacuum they are designed to pull. Aren't they like $800? I could understand a shurflo doing that, but that is a re-purposed $60 RV water pump.

[Biz]

I had one of my pumps stall out occasionally and I believe it was because of a sag in a line feeding it. One 5/16" line had very little slope and I did not have it very tight. Not sure why but when I removed the sagging line the stalling problem went away.

Dave

[rhwells2003]

Very good work-around, smart thinking! But, man, for the price of a guzzler they shouldn't stall out under the vacuum they are designed to pull. Aren't they like $800? I could understand a shurflo doing that, but that is a re-purposed $60 RV water pump.

AND THEN have to purposively put a leak in and lower your vac to get it to work correctly? Doesn't seem to make much sense.

For $800 buy a small used releaser, and build a small gas or electric powered vac pump. That's what I did this year. Spent $1,000 and got a used releaser, and a gast 1550. I'm pulling 25-27" all the time, no leaks needed ;) and have already doubled last years shurflow sap yield, and hoping another 1-2 weeks to triple my numbers!

[rjoly]

I totally agree with you the Gast with the releaser is the way to go and I wish I could use them BUT. i have no power and no building to keep the releaser from freezing where i have my 2 fields where i use the Guzzler pumps so i run a 1000 watt generator to power the pump. I have about 230 taps at each field and i also i have Ladders at each field to get sap out of low areas. I put the bleeder valve at back side of the ladder so i am getting 2 things benefits with the bleeder, it helps the ladder work and it also keeps the pump from stalling.

Ray