Shurflo

[Dale Sparrow]

Shurflo worked great for me, made more syrup than a friend that has twice as many taps but no vacuum. 20" on days that had barely any flow and 26" on days with a good run. Four of my "runs" the final trees are 20 or so feet above the pump and getting around 4" of natural vacuum on top of what the vacuum is at the pump. All 5/16 no mainline, 50 taps max per line and two lines per pump. Ran pumps with 12v 30A power supplies from ebay.

[mol1jb]

That sounds great. What model shurflo do you run?

[stoweski]

Would love to see picts of your setup if you can share. I bought a pump over the winter but didn't have the time to install it. I'm hoping to hook it up to a line with 80 taps for next season. I'm looking at using a marine battery with solar panels to keep it charged.

Thanks!

[Dale Sparrow]

I have two 4048 pumps, one 4148 and one 4248. They all seem to work the same. I also ran two jabsco vflo 5.0 pumps, they worked pretty good but were noisy and the smart start technology crapped out on both of them. Had to bypass and run power directly to pump. Vflo also didn't have as good of a vacuum, the most vac I got out of them was 24". Trying to load some pics but having a difficult time doing so.

[cedar syrups]

I used tubbing and shurflo pumps for the 1st time last year and I am a believer all 3/16 ( 2) 4048 & (1) 4008 I had 85 on level ground around my sap shack on the 4008 & it was awesome. My neighbors property we have 140 taps on 4 3/16 run with some slope and added the vac mid season and it was impressive My ? is we will adding like 200 more taps with some slope and the runs could be like 500 ft to the pumps with some slope Like 30 ft over the distance from the top trees to the pump. I,m thinking of running a 3/4 mainline to help sap flow and vacuum and use less 3/16 I would need like a 1000 ft of it to do what I think would be right any suggestions or do you think I should just go with all 3/16?. I really enjoy this web site and read all of the threads. One other ? can you draw sap up a small grade like maybe 10 ft over 100 ft. I would love to hear any suggestions thanks

[Dale Sparrow]

First photo manifold is connected to pump bypass (night time), in third photo manifold is connected to pump. loop standing up is where I put the gauge (gauge comes in at night). Gauge pictured is at the last tree on a 51 tap line. Tree is about 20' higher and a distance of 350' from the pump.

[mol1jb]

I used tubbing and shurflo pumps for the 1st time last year and I am a believer all 3/16 ( 2) 4048 & (1) 4008 I had 85 on level ground around my sap shack on the 4008 & it was awesome. My neighbors property we have 140 taps on 4 3/16 run with some slope and added the vac mid season and it was impressive My ? is we will adding like 200 more taps with some slope and the runs could be like 500 ft to the pumps with some slope Like 30 ft over the distance from the top trees to the pump. I,m thinking of running a 3/4 mainline to help sap flow and vacuum and use less 3/16 I would need like a 1000 ft of it to do what I think would be right any suggestions or do you think I should just go with all 3/16?. I really enjoy this web site and read all of the threads. One other ? can you draw sap up a small grade like maybe 10 ft over 100 ft. I would love to hear any suggestions thanks

I think that all depends on your setup. I believe if you can find the constant slope for a mainline that would be a good way to go. I was hoping to use mainline on next years setup but I have to go down the slope and then back up a bit to the sugar house. I could run main line but i would have to start it higher in the bush and would miss out on some lower trees. Because of this I am running all my 3/16 to the sugar house to collect all possible trees along the way and then tie everything into my shurflo manifold. I think there are pros and cons to each you have described.

[Dale Sparrow]

I think that all depends on your setup. I believe if you can find the constant slope for a mainline that would be a good way to go. I was hoping to use mainline on next years setup but I have to go down the slope and then back up a bit to the sugar house. I could run main line but i would have to start it higher in the bush and would miss out on some lower trees. Because of this I am running all my 3/16 to the sugar house to collect all possible trees along the way and then tie everything into my shurflo manifold. I think there are pros and cons to each you have described. I would think you would be better off putting the pump in the lowest spot and let the pump push the sap to the sugar house rather than trying to pull it. If you try to pull it you will lose vacuum. I have three pumps that dump into a tank that is in a low spot, then I have another pump that pumps from the tank to the sugar shack. The tank pump is a northstar 3.0 that pumps through 5/16 for a distance of 600' uphill about 20' to the sugar shack. Only pumps about 25 gallons an hour but uses very little power.

[cedar syrups]

Has anyone pumped sap directly out of there shurflo pump up a hill say like 200 ft with a grade of like 30 ft I.m just wondering if this an option thanks

[mol1jb]

I have heard of some using shurflo for a setup like that. One was just pushing it from the manifold up to a head tank. Another did what you suggested, but it did drop his vacuum quite a bit pushing sap that far and high. He was using the 4048 model. Describe how your sap will be getting to the pump.

[Biz]

I did that this past season. 30 gallon barrel, elevation 20-25', distance 600', 1/2" pipe, Shurflo 4008 at bottom of hill, pumped up hill to sugarhouse. It worked but slow, about 1 gpm, and the pump was straining especially when battery was low. It was a little faster when I connected a second pump at the top with both running but not double. Worked out OK since I could just start the pump as I boiled sap, then turn it off whenever. I used the same pump that is used for vacuum, just connected valves to redirect flow and to drain lines. I have a video of this setup, link in my signature, but it does not show transfer pumping. I will use the same setup next year, sure beats lugging in buckets.

Dave

[Dale Sparrow]

Going from lugging to pumping is like going from gravity to vacuum, once you do it you're some glad you did.

[stoweski]

First photo manifold is connected to pump bypass (night time), in third photo manifold is connected to pump. loop standing up is where I put the gauge (gauge comes in at night).

Thanks for sharing the pict & description! Pictures are very helpful for those who would like to do something similar but have no clue how. This is something I'll be setting up on two of my lines next year.