Sap Ladder on Guzzler pump

[Fireman]

I know this has been talked about before, but not in great length. Was curious what others have found. I am pulling about 24-25 inches of vacuum with a double guzzler pump. I read some say you can't put in a sap ladder, some say you can. I would like to put one or two in with about a 5 to 6 foot rise. Would a 4 star be better than a 6 star, or vice versa? The guys who have tried it in the past couple of years, did it work for you?

[lakeview maple]

https://www.facebook.com/164295847106420/videos/524214067781261/ That's a video of the sap ladder I used last season with my Guzzler pump ,it worked great. Don't mind the stupid laughing its just me watching the sap flow through my first sap ladder build.

[Fireman]

Thank you Lakeview. How high of a rise is that? I love the laugh, I do the same thing when something works! I got out and fed my bees today, I giggled in laughter every time I opened a hive and the little ladies were still alive.

[lakeview maple]

its about 3 ft I ran two ladders on that line , I ran 100 ft back into the wood line started at approximately 4ft up and sloped it down to about 16 inches . That's were I put the first ladder back at 4 ft and ran another 100 ft out to the mainline to another ladder then sloped into my tank. Its a small bush with 118 taps , I only bother with it because they run at 2.3 % every year and they run really well especially with the little guzzler. Oh yeah one more thing Fireman , I got my first hive last spring and I'm hopeful the 4 I got make it through this winter, and they make me chuckle as well.

[w128jdw]

I was to cheap to buy a double guzzler so I built one. I was wandering how long your diaphragms are lasting before you have to replace them. Mine are probably lasting 40-60 hours. I am worried I may have some tolerance issues. Thanks

[Fireman]

I have not actually figured out hours per diaphragm set. I use the 1 million stroke diaphragms. I am guessing I get 5 to 7 runs out of each set. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I think the cheaper ones are maybe 100,000 stroke life time. Of course, ice can play a role on them too. Each year I spend about $150 on the kits and extra diaphragms, and my yield pays for that several times over. I have 3 collection points in my woods due to flat ground. The taps on vacuum outperform the taps on gravity by 2.5:1. I don't look at the life per set, but rather I invest $150 for a few thousand dollar return if I sell it at bulk rate.

[rjoly]

Ok we have a single guzzler on a field that has about 250 taps. we run about 26 inches at the pump and we have a 3 ladder setup on this field. We have an area with 90 taps we wanted to get and without the ladders we would not be able to get them. They are 16 feet down from the main line. Last year we tried 1 ladder at 4 feet drop and it worked great. This year we extended this leg with 2 more ladders to get all the taps, So we have ladder 1, 4 foot drop, ladder 2, 5 foot drop and ladder 3, 7 foot drop. So far they have been working better than expected. We have 26 inches at the vacuum pump and 19 inches at the furthest point on the last leg off the ladders.

[TRAILGUY]

I was to cheap to buy a double guzzler so I built one. I was wandering how long your diaphragms are lasting before you have to replace them. Mine are probably lasting 40-60 hours. I am worried I may have some tolerance issues. Thanks

3 years and still going

[Chasefamily]

Interested in adding a sap Guzzler to about 400 taps that are almost all on 3/16 looking to install a sap ladder to get over a driveway and only have one tank. Looking for ppl with experience with doing so