Vac gauges

[tmessier79]

Anyone have a preference or recommendation on vac gauges? I found dry gauges for $5 and oil field for $10 on eBay. Is there any reason I should stay away from dry?

[maple maniac65]

Needles do not bounce in oil filled guages. I use the dry ones myself and get along fine.

[upsmapleman]

A couple of things I have found. The really cheap dry ones may not be to accurate. I bought several some of the needles doesn't return to zero after first use. I had one that never went below 5 inches. Second I had a liquid filled one laying around that I had got with a vacuum pump and never used. I had broke a dry one in my sugar house this past year where I monitor my vacuum while boiling so I replaced it with that. I discovered something very interesting. The longer I boiled and the warmer it got the gauge would climb. As much as 5 inches. Quit boiling and it would go back to where it was running. Looks to me if you want to brag about high vacuum put a liquid filled one on your re leaser in the sun and you should see some high readings.

[Bucket Head]

F.W. Webb, part # BSHPGV-30, $3.56. Cheap enough where if one is inaccurate or gets broken you just put another one in and keep going.

[unc23win]

I got mine from directmaterial.com $3.40 for 1.5 inch $4.85 for 2.5" I like them a lot. They seem to be better quality than some I have gotten from Maple companies. There is another thread that talks about them and there is a code to save $. This was my first year installing them so far I've installed 4 out 25.

[BreezyHill]

The inner mechanical parts of filled gauges are immersed in a noncorrosive product that will make the gauges last longer for better return on investment. I have an oil filled gauge on a feed truck that is original and it is on a 1979 aluminum body. The new style are dry and they last about 4-5 years. When this case is gone we are back to oil filled only.

[MT Pockets Producer]

A couple of things I have found. The really cheap dry ones may not be to accurate. I bought several some of the needles doesn't return to zero after first use. I had one that never went below 5 inches. Second I had a liquid filled one laying around that I had got with a vacuum pump and never used. I had broke a dry one in my sugar house this past year where I monitor my vacuum while boiling so I replaced it with that. I discovered something very interesting. The longer I boiled and the warmer it got the gauge would climb. As much as 5 inches. Quit boiling and it would go back to where it was running. Looks to me if you want to brag about high vacuum put a liquid filled one on your re leaser in the sun and you should see some high readings.

The 4 liquid filled gauges we run are vented. 2 have a small pin that you pull out to equalize the pressure and two have a rubber nipple that you trim the top off of to make a small hole.