Main line for Shurflo pumps?

[whity]

We have a grove with 125 or so taps. This season we went with a Shurflo 4048 and only getting about 10 inches of vacuum. There is about 8' of drop on 1/2" main. the length of main is about 150' Would we get better flow/vacuum if we jumped to 3/4 or 1" main?

[RIVERWINDS]

I have 150 taps on roughly 1500' of 1" mainline...no problem maintaining 23-25" vacuum throughout the season using a 4048.

If you're only getting 10", the bigger mainline won't solve your vacuum leaks.

[Robert K]

I run a 2088 on a 3/4 mainline, approx 300ft.
The bigger the line the more it acts like a reservoir for vacuum, if the taps are tight with little leaks. The low CFM of these pumps means that you must maintain leaks to a minimum in order for inches of vacuum to remain high (in the 20s)

[Dale Sparrow]

We have a grove with 125 or so taps. This season we went with a Shurflo 4048 and only getting about 10 inches of vacuum. There is about 8' of drop on 1/2" main. the length of main is about 150' Would we get better flow/vacuum if we jumped to 3/4 or 1" main? look for squirrel chews. Your sucking air somewhere.

[mountainvan]

If you have not put one on, try putting a line in from the sap tank to before the pump to keep the pump wet. Lots of info on here about that. Really helps to get the vacuum up.

[cedar syrups]

That is about what I have I,m thinking of adding a 3/4 " mainline next year on like 200 taps there is like 30 ft of natural slope coming from the top to the shurflo 4048 pump on a manifold I,m thinking of running the 3/16 tubing on several runs to the mainline using about 15 ft of slope and then adding them to the mainline for another 15 ft of drop running approx. 3oo ft to the shurflo using both the natural vacuum and the shurflos . I ran 4 runs of 3/16 this year for a total of 130 taps and it worked awesome but I,m thinking I can use a lot less 3/16 with the mainline any suggestions I,m thinking my setup would be like Wood Loaders

[Biz]

Maybe you've done this but check fittings around the pump too, especially if you use stainless fittings. The vacuum leaks on fittings around the pump are not easy to detect. I found several leaks on mine by capping off and pressurizing the fittings with a compressor, dipping in a pan of water, and looking for bubbles. Fixed them by using a good quality Teflon tape from a plumbing supply store plus a good soft-set pipe dope. The hardware store Teflon tape is good for water pipes but not for vacuum. Got a consistent 27" at my Shurflo pump on a line of 40 taps on 3/16 when sap is running.

Dave

[whity]

Thanks for the info. Looks like we will be spending some time looking for small leaks. We did put a recirce line in. That seemed to help but was hoping to get a bit better vacuum.

[RIVERWINDS]

It doesn't take much to lose a lot of vacuum with a Shurflo. I struggled this year with finding leaks so bought a CDL leak finder and found a few very small leaks, such as one leaky saddle that even the leak finder had a heck of a time registering. But it was a leak that affected the entire system.