Larger Bender (1800) questions

[mudr]

I acquired a bender 1800 on Ebay for $60 shipped. It is complete with the exception of the check valve on the bottom, so it is just the metal nipple if you will. I wouldn't mind getting it up and running this year, though my heart won't be broken if I don't as I will have some other limitations for hauling and processing. Still need to get a vac pump too.

I would like to operate this around 20 inches. Those of you that have this model, how much extra weight did you put on at that level? Also, I am aware of the double check-valve setup on the bottom so that sap both enters and releases from there. What is the reason against having sap come in from the washer port? To me, it would be a more efficient manner to enter from there. I assume that having sap enter from the bottom would limit vac transfer to the line, right? If you've got the side port (smaller metal nipple, not the large glass port which would be even better), why not use it?

[WESTMAPLES]

honestly for 20 hg i would double the center rod weight, i put the extra weight up above the float high limit cotter pin , and i run the small bender jars using the port on the side of the top hat to pull sap in with a check valve in the mainlinejust before it enters the bender, so when it breaks the vac to release the sap it doesn`t backflow and the very bottom port in the jar to let it out . the thing that matters the most with any bender that it is almost perfectly plumb and you wont have any cycling hangups or bouncing center rod when it goes to sealup and pull in more sap ... good luck and also small gast pumps like the 1023 model only do about 10 cfm but they will pull 26 hg on a tight system and can be bought for about $200 from ebay, ive used them with good luck , for a productive vac system on the cheap