Spout and Health T Cleaning / Replacement

[Gallinipper]

I am curious how many of you that have several hundred spouts or more change them every year? If so, do you install them while you tap or in advance. If you are installing them in advance, do you clean the Health T before inserting them? I am concerned that if you do not clean the Health T, you would be re-infecting the new spout and not accomplishing anything. Am I correct?

[Tweegs]

Had the same concern regarding contamination.
I go out a day or two prior to actually tapping and replace the spouts.
Just let them hang.


Tapping goes faster this way.
Less stuff to carry while tapping.
Less stuff to scatter when you trip over that snow covered branch.

[maple flats]

I change them all every year, but only clean the T if it looks dirty. I also change the whole drop every 4-5 years. On my 5/16 laterals I only clean the tees that look like there is contamination evident, On my areas with 3/16 laterals I change every tee every year. I make up the drops in the off season, those for 5/16 I change the whole drop every 4th or 5th season meaning about 1/4-1/5 are new, drop, spile and tee, the rest just get the spile clipped and replaced, plus the tee gets either cleaned if a little nasty or changed if very nasty. I more often replace it rather than take the time to clean a tee, it's just so much faster and when tapping time is more important than the few cents a new tee costs. I just buy plenty of new tees to change as indicated.
On areas getting new laterals everything is new. I tent to change the laterals at 10-15 yr intervals. The mainlines are all original, some were put up for the 2004 season, others are only 10-12 yrs old, as I expanded. My mains are all 3/4" or 1". Around the sugarhouse I have no mains over 1". On my old leases I had some that were wet/dry lines, with 1.5" wet and 1.25" dry, other areas had 1" wet and 3/4" dry, each depending on the number of taps they were handling.

[Gallinipper]

Had the same concern regarding contamination.
I go out a day or two prior to actually tapping and replace the spouts.
Just let them hang.


Tapping goes faster this way.
Less stuff to carry while tapping.
Less stuff to scatter when you trip over that snow covered branch.

I had someone suggest to take a mister bottle and spray each health T with alcohol and let it evaporate and then insert the spout in the T. Their argument was that it would not be in the lines or coming in direct contact with sap, it was just sanitizing the T for spout storage so that you can install them prior to tapping without recontaminating the spout. Others thoughts on this?

[Sugarmaker]

I believe that in some states isopropal alcohol is prohibited.
I just rinse mine with water at the end of the season and may change them every 5 years. I have not see a drastic decrease in sap production using these rinsed spouts for several years. I know there are lots of studies showing improved results. Maybe I am just lazy!
Regards,
Chris

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

2-3 of us do all of the woods work for a 5400 tap operation while still working full time jobs. We are in year 2 of trying to manage it and get it where we want it after several seasons of neglect/insufficient help. And we do get help to tap because we try to wait as long as we can.
We are working towards getting drop replacement on a 4 year cycle which includes a new tee and spout. Last year, we replaced some drops and all 5400 taps because they were all mostly garbage. We did all the mainline and lateral repairs/checking first then went back through and replaced the drops/spouts prior to tapping. When it comes time to tap, everything else is done barring a tree down here or there or some moose damage. The tappers do usually carry a few pre-made drops, connectors and T'/spouts in case we missed something or there is some more damage. But for most of the day this stuff and the tubing tool stays in the backpack.
We do clean taps in the spring with a solution sucked through each tap by vacuum. It's something the owner gets from CDL.

[MISugarDaddy]

We replace all our spiles annually. As for using isopropyl alcohol, it is not approved in any of the states for cleaning sap lines. We simply flush out all our lines with water and then blow them out with air.
Gary

[Gallinipper]

We replace all our spiles annually. As for using isopropyl alcohol, it is not approved in any of the states for cleaning sap lines. We simply flush out all our lines with water and then blow them out with air.
Gary

I do understand that isopropyl alcohol is not approved for use in lines within the U.S.. The thought was to use it or 70% ethanol (used in hospitals for sanitation) to only clean the storage part for the spout located on the T so that you don't reinfect your new spout if you change them out yearly prior to tapping. Are you replacing the spouts while you tap or in advance?

[MISugarDaddy]

We have only been doing 500 taps, so we (my wife and I) have been doing them as we tap. However, based on a recent post to a thread by Dr. Perkins, we are thinking of going out the week before we plan to tap and attach the spiles to the drops to make tapping a little quicker because we have expanded our bush to 600 taps.
Gary

[Gallinipper]

We have only been doing 500 taps, so we (my wife and I) have been doing them as we tap. However, based on a recent post to a thread by Dr. Perkins, we are thinking of going out the week before we plan to tap and attach the spiles to the drops to make tapping a little quicker because we have expanded our bush to 600 taps.
Gary

Do you have the link to the recent post/thread by Dr. Perkins?

[madmapler]

Do you have the link to the recent post/thread by Dr. Perkins?
He just mentioned in a thread a while back that they go out and put their taps on the lines after the cold weather arrives and it doesn't affect sap production. I, as well as a few others have noticed that letting your drop hang in the open air after the season instead of capping it, results in less mold in the line. I try to get all my taps installed by the end of January. I just let them hang too.

[MISugarDaddy]

It was in the November 2016 Journal. Look under the Sugaring Journal's and you will find it (down toward the middle of the Forum's home page in the section Tapping Update 2016).
Gary

[Gandolf]

What does everyone think about using a food grade disinfectant (ie vodka). Would this work for the taps?

[eustis22]

It'll work on ME. Please add cranberry juice for a good cleaning.

hic

[Mean_Oscar]

Seriously, on the subject of ethanol, has anyone ever tried keeping bacterial proliferation down in RO concentrate with the aforementioned vodka? Seems like if you could save 100 gallons of 8% sugar it might be worth it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Seriously, on the subject of ethanol, has anyone ever tried keeping bacterial proliferation down in RO concentrate with the aforementioned vodka? Seems like if you could save 100 gallons of 8% sugar it might be worth it.

That would be illegal. Nothing can be added to sap or syrup and have it remain “pure maple syrup.”

[DMF]

We use Zap-Bac spouts and replace the whole drop every 3-4 years.