Pumping sap uphill- what kind of pjmp

[Tap&sap]

Hey everyone, i am trying to pump sap uphill from a holding tank in woods, i have approximately 1000 ft of 1 inch pvc and a fairly mild slope. I know a gas powered trash pump or water pump would work but not a fan of leaving sap in the line or tank, id like to be able to get it all out of the woods. Anyone have any suggestions. I had planned on using a pool pump but it would not cut it, the pool pump was for an above ground. Anyone ever try an inground pool pump?

[Tap&sap]

What kind of pump*

[holeinthetree]

I have a more modest pumping system that probably is too puny for your needs. But others might find this useful RE pumping.
I'm using a Honda WX10T pump, but only pumping 350Ft...but with a 60ftHead to climb. It's hooked up to drinking water grade garden hose sections fitted with quick disconnects joining each 50ft hose section. It empties a 100gallon holding tank in no time

[acafro]

1000 feet of one inch line is going to hold a ton of sap. My 250 foot run holds 10 gallons. I use a clear water pump I got from harbor freight but I put a T and a quarter turn valve on the uphill side so I drain my sap into 2, 5 gallon buckets and lug it up the hill.

I am going to make a bypass so the sap drains back into the tank. I pump daily so it shouldn't cause an issue.

But you're looking at lugging 40+ gallons every time you pump.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[VT_K9]

I pump from a 588 gallon tank 725' with 65' of rise using a Honda WH15. This is a 1 1/2" pump and I run 1 1/2" pipe on both sides of the pump. I move about 26 gallons of sap per minute.

I would recommend running some specs on the Honda website using their pump select feature. I used it and I am very happy. I tried 1", 1 1/2", and 2" pumps and line combinations. The 1 1/2" seemed to be the most efficient.

The 725' of tubing leaves me about 70 gallons of sap in the line when I am done pumping. If the temps are cold over night I will put it back in the tank. If I am boiling or it is warm then I empty the line into two 55 gallon barrels. I built a mount to hold them on the front of my tractor. It would be nice to be able to haul it out with the RZR, but I think the weight is a bit much for the terrain.

Your biggest obstacle is the 1000 feet of pipe full of sap and what to do. Look online for a chart showing how many gallons per foot of plastic pipe. You will be amazed at the difference between the pipes. Not to mention the topic of friction loss for pumping.

Mike

[jetdoc]

We use a harbor freight one inch pump and pump 50 feet head and 1200 feet using 1 1/2" line. It takes a 100 gallons to fill the line up. When we are done pumping out we drain the sap back into a 125 gallon tank that we carry on our Polaris and haul it out and load into the truck tanks.

[saphead]

If you want to have less sap coming back at you,if possible,go vertical right out of the pump and then slope down to your destination.It's not always possible as a handy tree might not be readily available and support trees along the way,but you'd be surprised how far up a tree you can throw a weighted throw line. See what the pump head is rated for and calculate in the pipe(tube) friction loss.

[Rockport]

Hi , I have used a submersible well pump for 4 yrs now and it works great ! I have 750 ft of line which is 1/2 black plastic pipe and a 100 ft vert push . The pump is 3/4hp 240 volt 2wire ,the first year used a gen, then found some wire and use now, I have the pump outside the tank on a 2" quick connect mounted inside of a 4" pvc pipe ,pics are on my gallery if you want to see. I let the sap run back into the tank after each pump cycle and then at the end of the day or run I go and get it and haul it to the sugar house,its about 12 gal. God Bless and hope you have a good year Ours is over here sadly...

[hogisland42]

I like sapheads idea of going straight up then grading it back down

[ennismaple]

Has anyone tried to push a "pig" through their sap transfer line using compressed air to get the sap out? The camp we visited on the weekend was pumping sap close to a kilometer (3280 feet) and 100 foot vertical to get to their camp from the pumping station. The pipe had lots of humps and hollows in it so I was curious how they kept it from freezing. At the end of the day they put a "pig" (one of the foam tubing cleaning sponges) into the pipe at their camp and pushed it back down to the pump house using compressed air and that completely emptied the pipe.

I'm sure that works much better pushing sap back downhill because you're not fighting the weight of the column of water - but has anyone tried to empty their transfer line by pushing a pig uphill to the camp? We want to put a 1.25" line to pump from our main bush (1900 feet) and New Bush (2900 feet) but there's no possible way to get it to drain either way to prevent freezeup so the "pig" is something we want to explore.

Thoughts or experiences?

[wmick]

:) I never tried to flush out a sap line, but I have moved some hogs.... They don't want to go forward without a bit of a fight.... in reverse,. it a brawl...:o I digress... :emb: :cool:

[maple maniac65]

I have a 700 foot run with 1 inch pipe to the sugarhouse. This is how I get sap that I haul in to the sugarhouse. I pump 40 feet up then basically straight a crossed. After pumping I switch valves around it put vac to the line through a releaser. It gets all but 5 gallons out of the line which I then drain into a 5 gallon bucket and carry over.

[Cedar Eater]

The pig idea sounds great, but how would you make sure that your compressed air is free of compressor oil? Last I heard, compressed air for scuba diving takes special certified compressors.

[Diesel Pro]

My pumping situation is quite different, but thought I'd share. I need to run at 25-30' lift but only about 120'. I use 3/4" tube and a Wayne 1HP stainless sprinkler pump that is set up for 1" . It's not a record breaker at about 7 gpm, but I already owned it. The pump is easily switched off and on, plus it has no flow checking. To prime I set it below tank fill level and to drain it I just tip it up on end. I would guess that the little Hondas have some sort of a swing type flapper valve that could be removed to allow easy drain back as well.

[TheMapleMoose]

We pump 1600' with about 40' of total vertical rise. We use a 3/4 HP 10gpm deep well submersible, it has ~100' of 1" 160psi pipe, then the rest of the way is 3/4" 100psi. We ran 3/4 due to the volume of sap compared to all 1". We get 10gpm out of the discharge, and we run around 150-175psi at the pump. Our pump line is tee-ed and we drain the sap in the line back into a 50 gallon tote on a sled and tow it back to the sugarhouse. We always drain it after we are done pumping, unless we have to pump mid-run. Then it gets drained after we have done our final pumping.