sap transfer across cow pasture

[Vtmbz]

Its too cold to do anything but plan for next year! I want to transfer 150 gpd sap across 600 ft of pasture, meaning i have to take up the line every season.the climb to the sugarhouse is about 20 ft. I was hoping to use a 5/16" line permanently attached to a wire and then roll it up for storage, this is too awkward a roll of pipe to run 1/2". will a shurflo 4008 accomplish this task? the friction loss calculations are over my head.

[mudr]

I think it would take a very long time with a 5/16 and a shurflo. For instance, I pump uphill 20 ft (same as yours), through 500 ft of line (roughly the same), but use a 1 inch line with a Honda WX10, which is rated at 32 gpm before elevation and friction losses. With those losses, it takes me about 12 min to pump 150 gallons. A shurflo is about 3.0 gpm, so before losses it would take 50 mins. Once you add on the distance and elevation you are talking something on the order of many hours to pump out.

[BAP]

Is there cows in the pasture during sugaring time? If so, you will have problems with them pulling the line down. We had one like that coming down off a hill that had the maples and ran across the pasture to the road. We ended up putting line up in the air 7-8 feet using ladders in order to keep it from being damaged.

[Vtmbz]

thats good real world info, which is what i was looking for.

[wmick]

I plugged your data into a couple different Online calculators, using 1 gpm and came up with the same result both times...
I'm not a plumber, but this doesn't look good to me.


Pressure Loss (psi): 111.309 Head Loss (ft): 257.124

[Vtmbz]

no, the cows come and go. i agree, they like to taste everything. the other problem is driving the tractor around the lines. it has to be taken up every year and be easy to do, as i spread manure in the late fall across this hillside, and cant have a line in the way. im wondering if anyone out there has moved sap in so small a line via pump, and their experience in doing so.

[BreezyHill]

We have a 7 acre sugar bush that is 2800' from the sugar house by mainline. In our case we are fortunate enough that we can get a 1.5% slope from the sugar house to the sugar bush by crossing our road at 14' and then we slope to the fence along the road, take a 90 turn at a gate opening to a field... then follow the fence line of the field and cow pasture for another 500'. Here we had a gate and made perpendicular to the fence line to cross to get onto a fence line that ran a long the contour of a hill pasture and a flat area of the pasture. When I was in my teens this fence was taken out due to the honey suckle and rose bushes over ran the pasture and we could not mow them off with the fence at the bottom of the hill. I know have a boom mower and plan to put the fence back in and get those 400-500 taps back into production.

In another spot we ran across a field for about 2000' of main line. That was laid on the ground and had 2-3% slope and cleared nicely. It was rolled up every spring onto an old chopper reel that my dad modified to go onto the 3 pt hitch of a tractor. We no longer tape that bush. but if I were to do it again I would mount a hydraulic motor to spin the reel rather than to roll it by hand as the tractor drove over the line.

One could easily use a section of culvert pipe to make the drum and plywood painted for the end plates. A 1.25" metal pipe would work for the axle and pieces of agle iron could be welded or bolted to the pipe for the spokes out to the culvert pipe. I have a section of 36" pipe if you want to make the drum.

You could also use 3/4" ply wood to make the end plates and attach them to a hub and axle off an old trailer or buy the at TSC. Even the rear axle of a mini van could be cut to make the ends and then welded to a frame to attack to a tractor.

Let your mind run with this build. You can get the hydraulic motor on ebay.

Let me know if you would like a quick sketch of a lay out. If you have a tractor with a detach bucket this could be pretty simple to set on the front and use quick couples and run a set of hoses out the bucket arm to power the motor.

Good Luck!

Ben

[Diesel Pro]

At 150 gpd is there a way that you can do it mechanically ie: sap buggy, truck or trailer? I cary nearly that in the bed of my Ranger (2 x 65 gallon leg tanks stuffed)

[Vtmbz]

currently im moving it by internal combustion, but pumping is a lot more efficient. as it stands now, i think ill get a real pump, pump up to a high spot, and gravity it back to the sugarhouse via a smaller line that i can take up in the spring. i wanted to hear that a small pump would move sap however slowly over a long distance, but im not hearing that. the difference between w va and northern vt is a permanent snowcover much of the season....:emb:

[Cody]

We pump 750' across a field and river from a 1100 to a 500 gallon tank with a 1hp. submersible well pump and generator.Pumps about 27- 30 gallons a minute.it's pretty much flat.Have a three way tee on top of line with an open end when done pumping open valve on tee all most all sap siphons out.