Procedure for cleaning tubing at season wrap up.

[ttowle3]

I am pondering my process and posting this for your kind considerations:

I am using water vinegar mix sprayed into each tap but am wondering where I should start - the lowest to the highest or highest to the lowest.

So here is my steps:

1 After taking all the taps out, start at the bottom and fill each tap then go to the highest ground to top up until the line seems full.

2 At some point put a stopper in the mainline after some vinegar water has gone through or flushed out the system and allow the cleaner to enter the lines.

3 Go back to finish the lines.

?? Should I start at the bottom or the top of the mainline laterals - that is the question because if at the bottom there may be bad sap that is still trapped so maybe start at the highest line but then there may be bad sap in each of the lateral lines.

It seems to me that anyway I do the process there is a chance of bad sap.

My goal is to empty out all the bad sap and fill the lines with cleaning solution for the duration.

Thoughts?

[mellondome]

Just pull the tap and leave it be until next year. Any sap in the lines will ferment and be the same ph as the vinegar you are usingn only it wont be apple flavored. Either way you should let the first run on the ground.

If you truely want to put something in the line, use just water and dont plug the line to hold it in.

[jmayerl]

For my 3/16 with shurflo, I started at the top and worked down. Some sap runs uphill when it first gets down the drop, I assume this is because there is vac on the whole line when it's dry. FYI I use just water.

[ttowle3]

Ok but last year wherever I put the vinegar/water the spots were good where I inserted em back into the Ts but where they had popped out, they often were black and yuccky. Maybe from touching the ground or varmints sucking out the juice!

I will stick with the vinegar as I don't think the lines will ever completely dry out but I will ponder that idea of just water or air dry, for awhile. I did a lot of reading and talking to people about the pros and cons of cleaning lines and I see there is no real scientific basis for either or any option but still it is one more chance to be in the bush with my friends the maple trees.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

In the bush we help with, we use peroxide cleaner from CDL mixed with water. We pull the spouts under vac and suck a little through each tap. We start at the end of each lateral so it does the cleaning down the line. Otherwise, some of the junk from the next tap may fall into the drop below that you just cleaned. That's what we observed at least. Then we have to plug them in to keep the vac. It is my first year doing it and my thoughts are that this will help keep new drops/taps clean but it is not going to help anything that has been neglected and heavily molded.
Not to steal a thread but a related question.........does anyone have any recommendations for a backpack sprayer setup? I know CDL has them for around $100 but is there anything better out there? Something that will hold 2-3 gallons?

[mountainvan]

I got mine at lowes.

[Diesel Pro]

Agitation seems to be key for removing "chunks" of growth. Seeing all the talk about using compressed air I have to wonder about a siphon blowgun to push a cleaning solution/air through the lines?

I do not have long tubes I only have 42" lengths. This season I filled pan with water and mixed in a pound of alkaline Brewery Wash. I loaded my tubes and brought to a boil and all the chunks came out quite easily. A few needed some additional agitation.

[markcasper]

For those that advocate not doing anything, how much production are you losing because of plugged fittings? For those that "dry clean"....really? dry clean? When you pull the tap and it looks like ranch dressing exploded all over how is that cleaning?

[WestfordSugarworks]

I can't find the powerpoint which I have seen presented by Dr. Perkins, but Proctor and Cornell did some research that indicated that cleaning was not cost-effective in getting more sap (from what I remember). I think they found it was more cost effective to replace droplines or use check valves. I don't know if they have done any work regarding syrup quality vs. tubing cleaning, but in terms of yield it is not cost-effective to clean from what I understand. We are just pulling and plugging with vac on.

[markcasper]

I don't know if they have done any work regarding syrup quality vs. tubing cleaning, but in terms of yield it is not cost-effective to clean from what I understand. We are just pulling and plugging with vac on.

How many fittings are plugged up with crap just pulling and plugging? Have ran into some saddles plugged up this year which means 0 getting through if its not corrected. The fad in my neck of the woods is just shut the pump off at the end and to hell with it. Leave the taps in 365. Wonder how much production is being lost from this?

[DaveB]

For those that advocate not doing anything, how much production are you losing because of plugged fittings? For those that "dry clean"....really? dry clean? When you pull the tap and it looks like ranch dressing exploded all over how is that cleaning?

I'm not sure what you mean by "dry cleaning" and "ranch dressing" but I've followed the advice I was given 20+ years ago to pull the taps and do nothing and I have never had a problem. As other have mentioned, the Ph of the sap becomes acidic and in the next spring I replace my spouts and anything in the line is flushed out. I've never had "ranch dressing" explode any where and have never wasted time cleaning plugged fittings.