3/16 taps

[calvertbrothers]

I have 600 3/16 taps and I was wondering if I should go to the 5/16 taps I have 1100ish taps on vac and last year my best run was 800 gallons in 10 hours. I'm still learning the vac game so i don't really know if that's good or not. When I was washing lines there was a lot of wood shavings stuck in 3/16 taps

[Maple Man 85]

Any chance you tapped with a dull bit and that's why you had so many wood shavings?

Maple Man 85

[calvertbrothers]

Any chance you tapped with a dull bit and that's why you had so many wood shavings?

Maple Man 85 No I buy new bits every year and I have a few of them

[Cody]

Are they tapping bits or auger bits?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you are using a tapping bit and tapping correctly you shouldn't have issues with wood chips/shavings in the tubing. Good tapping bit takes about 1.5 seconds to go in and out of a hard maple 2" deep and should bring shavings with it. Will be times you might leave a small piece or 2 in in but not very often.

[n8hutch]

Shavings are a bit of a problem with 3/16 tubing. Because of the vaccum created by the tubing all it takes is a small clump of Shavings to plug up the lines at a fitting.

This makes tap hole drilling even more important. Best thing to do in my opinion is to tap when the sap is running a little bit and let the sap push the Shavings out of the hole before you put the Tap in. This can be accomplished before the sap really starts running for the season.

If you can't wait because you have lots of taps or it just happens to be that you have free time on a winter day them use some kind of a stick or tool to clean your hole out if you are unsure of how well it drilled. Let's face it every hole isn't perfect.
Never blow into your taps hole.

[calvertbrothers]

Are they tapping bits or auger bits?I buy the tapping bits. I to go straight in and straight out so the hole isn't egged out

[calvertbrothers]

Shavings are a bit of a problem with 3/16 tubing. Because of the vaccum created by the tubing all it takes is a small clump of Shavings to plug up the lines at a fitting.

This makes tap hole drilling even more important. Best thing to do in my opinion is to tap when the sap is running a little bit and let the sap push the Shavings out of the hole before you put the Tap in. This can be accomplished before the sap really starts running for the season.

If you can't wait because you have lots of taps or it just happens to be that you have free time on a winter day them use some kind of a stick or tool to clean your hole out if you are unsure of how well it drilled. Let's face it every hole isn't perfect.
Never blow into your taps hole. I'm on a vacuum pump with 3/16 taps my drops are on 5/16

[pls009]

I didn't find any taps that were plugged but did find three tee's that were plugged. I only discovered them by walking the lines and seeing where the sap stopped moving. There was a piece of a wood shaving and then some sort of slime build up and then it was plugged. I guess there is never such a thing as maintenance free. Never would have noticed if I didn't walk up the steep hill because based on the where the saddle was entering the mainline, it looked perfect. Just my experience

[calvertbrothers]

I didn't find any taps that were plugged but did find three tee's that were plugged. I only discovered them by walking the lines and seeing where the sap stopped moving. There was a piece of a wood shaving and then some sort of slime build up and then it was plugged. I guess there is never such a thing as maintenance free. Never would have noticed if I didn't walk up the steep hill because based on the where the saddle was entering the mainline, it looked perfect. Just my experienceI hear ya I wake the mainlines almost every day looking for leaks. I have fox chewing my 5/16 lines. The taps I use are called STAR I believe the taps have a 22° angle down the wood chips get stuck and that point. Do you find any difference gallons of sap between 3/26 an 5/16 taps?

[GeneralStark]

I'm confused....So you are using 5/16" tubing and 3/16" spouts? I assume you are not using spouts designed for 3/16" tubing but are instead using one of the "micro" spout types?

There are so many factors that could be limiting your yields, as 800 gpt for your best run does seem low, and micro spouts could be one reason. But, it could also be related to your tubing set up, an undersized pump, or some other issue.

[calvertbrothers]

Yes they are micro taps I just think it's was low yield. I have been struggling with lack of yield. My vacuum is pretty good.

[n8hutch]

I was confused about what you had also. But I stand by my statement of Tap Hole cleanliness, it's about the only thing you have to improve/ or work at. Other wise you are looking at going with a bigger tap. I can Tell you that I didn't have any really big runs myself last year, but I did have some 400 plus gallon days on 350 taps and that was all gravity, no vaccum.