3/16" gravity system-how high can you tap a tree and get good results?

[claystroup]

this was my first year sugaring and I did 20 taps. Next year I want to tap about 50. I have a section of woods with a lot of underbrush which makes buckets hard with about 12-15 very large sugar maples that were my best producers. I am thinking of using 3/16" gravity system for these trees next year. I estimate it would be about 175' to 200' from my farthest tree to my collection point. If I tapped the farthest tree at a 6' height I would estimate I would have about 10' of fall to my collection barrel approx. 175' to 200' away. Would this be sufficient fall for a 3/16" gravity system to work? How high can I tap the farthest trees and still get good sap production out of them? I could tap the farthest trees at a height of 10-12' with an extension ladder if that would help. Thanks, Clay

[Cedar Eater]

10'/200' is a 5% grade, so yes, you should get an adequate gravity flow, though not much natural vacuum. But is this 200' in a straight line or are you weaving all over the map to get to your trees? If you are weaving a lot and your grade drops below 3%, it won't work as well.

[sugarsand]

It sounds like you may be in prime situation to add a shurflo pump. At only 10 ft of drop, these pumps would make a huge increase in production. There has been a lot of discussion on the use of the 12v diaphagm pump on both sites. These pumps or equivalents can be found pretty cheap on ebay. I bought a air driven pump that operates off our air compressor in our garage, and 4 Amarine brand pumps that were run all season without a single problem, sometimes 3 to 4 days straight.

sugarsand

[n8hutch]

I would stick with regular 5/16 tubing. I have a 3/16 run of 18 taps that doesn't have much slope I would say 3-4%. And even though it is pulling 24" at the highest tap over all I don't think it's producing that well. I didn't get a single run of 1gpt off this line all year. I have Buckets on the same hedge row that produce much better. This is the second year of these results.

[steve J]

How would these surflo pumps be hooked up? If the pump was not on does that mean the sap could not run?

[sugarsand]

My 12v pumps allow the sap to pass thru, although somewhat restricted. I have a valve coming off a tee that controls a bypass line to the tank, I usually open this if the pump is shut down to give it free flow.