Balance tank

[murferd]

Would there be much benefit to a balance/pressure tank added after my vacuum pump. Thinking might help keep pressure up
when releaser trips.

[DrTimPerkins]

Would there be much benefit to a balance/pressure tank added after my vacuum pump. Thinking might help keep pressure up
when releaser trips.

It might help smooth out the bumps (backflow) a little, but if it is really severe it won't help a lot. A large vacuum drop is likely an indicator that your pump is undersized or your releaser is way oversized.

[WESTMAPLES]

i use 2- 42 gal and 1- 60 gal compressor tanks as vacuum massifing tanks with my bender releasers, it truely helps to keep everything smooth and even, my vac pumps are now borderline to small since ive continued to add taps, but even when i upgrade my pumps for next season i will continue to use the tanks, my systems are relatively tight, and when the pumps shutdown the tanks will keep the vacuum pull going for 2-7 mins ( depending how much is sap coming in or not ) . so IMO its worth the effort to add one

[BreezyHill]

The purpose of the balance tank is to reduce the drastic drop of vacuum when a milker is allowed to draw free air when removed from the animal.

This is nearly the same as when a mechanical releaser dumps.

The best design would be to add the balance tank and to add a swing check valve to the line(s) entering into the releaser.

The check valve will need to close when the releaser cycles and it will open again when the releaser's vacuum level equals and surpasses that of the mainline side of the check valve.

By adding the check you will minimize the drop of vac level in the bush and not have the surges of sap that often occur without the valve.

The other option is to not have a balance tank and allow the pump to evacuate the releaser and the check valve will open when the vacuum level is exceeded in the releaser.

It will depend on your pump which way is the best way. The tighter your tubing system the longer it will take for the vac to reduce and thus the longer you have to evacuate the releaser.

A pump that is of more cfms will get the releaser back to the bushes vac level quick and open the check sooner.

The way to test this is to see how long it takes to get your releaser back to max vac level. It it is under the amount of time your bush drops to less than desired vac level during peak flow you don't need a balance tank after adding the check valve.

Please be sure to only use a swing check valve WITHOUT a spring. You want free flow of the sap with no restrictions. You can get clear pvc checks on EBAY for pretty cheap.