Releaser on cage tank

[Bricklayer]

I'm wondering if anyone has successfully mounted a releaser on a plastic cage tote.
My idea was to cut the top of the tank open about half way but leave about 3-4" around to keep structural integrity.
That should be enough for the initial spray when it dumps. And I was planning on having the releaser sit on a stand that sits on the back closed part of the tank.
Tank will be sitting in an enclosure so it won't be exposed to the elements. But not heated.
The enclosure is big enough to fit a 600g milk tank that I probley won't have untill mid summer next year. So I have to make something work for this season. We will have an other cage tote in the enclosure in case we need extra storage.
If anyone has a similar setup and has pictures it would be appreciated. Just want to make sure it will work before I cut into my cage tank.

[Dennis H.]

I have.

16939

[Bricklayer]

Exactly what I was thinking of just a bigger cut out. Thanks Dennis

[Dennis H.]

I sized the cut out for a lid that I found at a restaurant store locally here. That way in the off season I had a means to keep the inside "sort of" clean.

[Bricklayer]

Do you have any pics of your enclosure. Is yours just one cage tank?

[maple flats]

The caged tote will still have plenty of integrity. While I don't have one with a releaser on it, I cut the top out of one only leaving the curve on top, in other words, I removed the whole top out to the point where it started to curve to go down the sides. Then I removed the top cross braces. I use it to store all my old tubing drops until I can take them for recycling. I'll need to do the same to another one, when I called the recycler last summer they were not taking any because oil prices were so low they were just working with oil. As oil prices climb they expect to start recycling again.
The totes are still quite strong, however with a tote full of sap I would not remove the cross ties.
To connect 2 or 3 (or more) together, just use a 1.5" milk grade hose and connect the hoses together at the bottom, I do this to haul sap on my gooseneck trailer, I have 3 such totes, 2 tied together permanently and a 3rd that carries clean water to wash tanks, but if I have more sap to haul, I dump the water and hook that into the first 2.
For the fittings my brother turned down some male adapters on his lathe so the end with barbs is now smoothe with a very slight taper. I got the taper idea from looking at the milk tank take offs for drawing milk from a bulk tank. The hose I use is SPIRALITE 170 FOOD HANDLING HOSE from Eastern Crown Inc. in Vernon, NY. Likely many others carry that same hose too.

[Dennis H.]

Bricklayer, I am cheap. I try my best to do things on a shoestring budget if possible.
I basically made a cheap roof over the caged tank. It attaches to the pallet that the cage tank sits on.
The mainline coming into the releaser has little to no tension on it. The end tree is right behind the cage tank so that takes all the tension for the mainline. I do use a ratchet strap that hooks to the wood frame of the roof right above the inlet of the releaser and the strap then goes to the end tree. I use a few wire ties to support the short length of mainline that goes from the end tree and the releaser.
I had to do all this as I have to remove the tank at the end of the season.

16941

[Bricklayer]

Noticed the little vac manifold/booster hooked up to your releaser in the pic. Are you using that setup for constant vac while the releaser is dumping?

[WESTMAPLES]

there is a few pics in my galleries of my bender releasers mounted on top of 275 gal tote tanks fully enclosed when front door is down

[Dennis H.]

I used the vacuum booster to create constant vac to the trees. It allowed me to split off lines, one to the releaser to supply vac to the main chamber and also a line to the secondary chamber where the mainline comes in.

I redid it last season and now only have one line going into the top of the main chamber of the releaser.
I was getting to many times that sap was getting sucked up into my moisture trap and the only reason I could figure was the line that went to the secondary chamber.