Was going to run vacuum, now may not

[alldaysit]

I'm new to tubing this year. I was going to run a shurflo pump but the delivery is taking forever (back ordered or something) so I will be starting out on gravity. Here's some notes:

I have roughly a 2-3% grade over 300 feet.

I have a 3/4" mainline (installed)

I have 5/16" laterals (not installed yet - installing soon)

I have 5/16" taps/fittings

I have 80 taps

I can limit the number of taps on each lateral line.

My question, if I only want to use gravity in the future, what would be the best idea for number of taps per lateral? Did I make some dumb mistakes in the design using a mainljne already?

Thanks,

Luke


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[doop]

Sounds like you don't have enough slope for 3/16 tubing and natural vac. You should be fine and ready for vacuum in the future. If you're thinking about adding vac in the future I would design for that. It's inevitable you will, it's an addiction.
Good luck!

[Russell Lampron]

It sounds like you are doing everything right so far. Limit the number of taps per lateral to 5 or less but if you have to put on more than 5 don't go over 10. Like Doop said set it up for vacuum like you are doing.

[BSD]

why not 3/16 with a shurflo? cheaper and no mainline to fart around with? you can do 80 trees on 3 runs of 3/16

[alldaysit]

It sounds like you are doing everything right so far. Limit the number of taps per lateral to 5 or less but if you have to put on more than 5 don't go over 10. Like Doop said set it up for vacuum like you are doing.

Thanks guys!


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[alldaysit]

why not 3/16 with a shurflo? cheaper and no mainline to fart around with? you can do 80 trees on 3 runs of 3/16

Because I already installed the mainline! I have another 80 or so trees I could mess with next year. I found this website a little late and there seems to be a huge following on 3/16". I walked into Leader the other day and they didn't want to even talk about the 3/16" lines etc with the low amount of slope I had.


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[Biz]

I've been using Shurflo vacuum pumps on 3/16" lines with up to 30 taps and they work great, even if you don't have much slope. Easy to set up, and they don't seem to mind sagging lines.

Dave

[BSD]

Because I already installed the mainline! I have another 80 or so trees I could mess with next year. I found this website a little late and there seems to be a huge following on 3/16". I walked into Leader the other day and they didn't want to even talk about the 3/16" lines etc with the low amount of slope I had.


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i'm certainly new to 3/16 myself and have never run main lines or laterals or releasers or any of that expensive crap . I run a relatively high natural vacuum setup on 3/16. generating up to 23" of vac with some runs lifting as high as 6'. in my limited experience, i think your dealer is trying to sell you over priced solutions for your simple problem. 3/16 works, extremely well, in almost all situations from what i can tell. i know of other producers who run it on 0-1% slope and generate plenty of vacuum with a simple shurflo pump. I have another friend who heard a very similar rant from his dealer and 3/16 and low slope. they just don't know about 3/16 because they have no experience with it. some people need complicated solutions for simple problems. I on the other hand want as little in the woods with potential to fail as possible.

[Cedar Eater]

Where I would expect the vacuum to help is 1) Your runs will continue when you have nights above freezing and 2) if you have reds they will typically shut down long before the sap turns buddy unless you have vacuum. So the main reason for vacuum is to get more sap from fewer trees.

[Ivyacres]

Please post pictures of your shurflo setup. I am very disappointed with my 5/16 and mainline production. The 5/16 is on 10% slope to a 3/4' mainline that is about 2% slope, 700' to my tank. I have electric to the collection point and am looking for some low cost help to suck the 5/16 or replace next year. There are about 70 taps on that line and could do another 70.
Thanks for any help!

[cedar syrups]

I,m going to run around 100 taps on natural vac this year using 3/16 on approx. 5% drop over 250 ft. I,ve also just ordered a Shurflo 4088 to put around my sap shack with approx. 75 taps on it its level ground coming from all directions and thoughts or advise I,m way up in northern wis so its time to tap I think but still to early when I look at the calendar.

[BSD]

I,m going to run around 100 taps on natural vac this year using 3/16 on approx. 5% drop over 250 ft. I,ve also just ordered a Shurflo 4088 to put around my sap shack with approx. 75 taps on it its level ground coming from all directions and thoughts or advise I,m way up in northern wis so its time to tap I think but still to early when I look at the calendar.I've yet to experiment with a shurflo as i have elevation drop to work with on my properties. but i have a friend who has a shurflo running 130-140 taps on low sloping ground with a flat run for 500' to the tank, his shurflo does great and pulls 25" of vac.

[maple flats]

I have 3/16 in one woods with great slope and based on the way sap moves in 3/16 (the sap fills the line so you see sap/air /sap/air and it moves along well) I experimented with 3 lines of 3/16 on flat ground with my vacuum pump online. While this is surely not a scientific test, the 3/16 with vacuum applied looks to do great too.. I think a diaphragm pump with 3/16 is a winner, good slope or no slope. While my pump is a piston pump running at 25" vacuum, a properly sized diaphragm pump will give you great vacuum and you'll get more sap.

[alldaysit]

I have 3/16 in one woods with great slope and based on the way sap moves in 3/16 (the sap fills the line so you see sap/air /sap/air and it moves along well) I experimented with 3 lines of 3/16 on flat ground with my vacuum pump online. While this is surely not a scientific test, the 3/16 with vacuum applied looks to do great too.. I think a diaphragm pump with 3/16 is a winner, good slope or no slope. While my pump is a piston pump running at 25" vacuum, a properly sized diaphragm pump will give you great vacuum and you'll get more sap.

Thank you maple flats. I'm going to go this route in the future!


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