3/16 Vaccum Check

[WhistlePig]

Hello,
I am looking for an inexpensive way to determine if I have good vacuum on 3/16 laterals. I currently have 50 3/16 gravity laterals on a steep mountainside, with a dozen more yet to come. All laterals connect to non-vacuum 3/4 gathering lines that run across the slope to a 1" mainline down the mountain.

I placed a couple of gauges at the top of laterals last year and all started out with between 20-25. About mid-way through the season, one of the gauges stopped working. In hindsight, I suspect I had lost vacuum on that line. Last year was our first year producing, with sap coming out or ears, a woefully undersized evaporator and so much to learn, optimizing vacuum was pretty low down the list. This year I want to do better.

How do I check if each lateral has good vacuum?

It would be pretty expensive to mount a gauge on every line, though the loss of a vacuum on a line for a whole season would probably pay for the gauge. I was thinking about some form of valve/quick disconnect or stubby at the top of each lateral that would let me quickly attach a gauge and get a reading. I suspect attaching the gauge would temporarily break the vacuum, forcing me to to come back later to check actual reading. I don't mind doing a rolling check, maybe attach 10 gauges, wait until vacuum returns, then detaching and moving on to next set of laterals.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Joel

[BlueberryHill]

you just need a cheap ball vale at the top of each line. Then you can screw your gauge in or however you want to attach it and then open the ball valve. no need to wait or to break your vacuum. Cheap ball valves should be able to be sourced. Check out drip irrigation supplies and hydroponic supply places. I have been meaning the find a good source for cheap but effective 3/16 ball valves but I just have not had the time yet.

[BlueberryHill]

also those cheap vacuum gauges always seem to work great at first but dont last long outdoors. so doing the ball valve trick and just carting around a gauge with you would be a good way to save money on gauges and keep them good by keeping them out of the weather.

[maple flats]

I prefer just using gauges on about 20% of the laterals at the top and a handful on the same lines at about 15-18' elevation above the main line saddle. To know how the rest are doing, just compare the flow with a line of simplar slope and # of taps that has a gauge. It is easy to compare on 3/16 where on 5/16 you can not easily compare visually.
Use the cheap gauges and get a few extra. If one fails, change it out. Those gauges ARE cheap and do fail and are not very accurate, but they still give a good idea of what is happening.

[BSD]

Use the cheap gauges and get a few extra. If one fails, change it out. Those gauges ARE cheap and do fail and are not very accurate, but they still give a good idea of what is happening.

i agree, you can buy gauges for $7ish off surplus center or bascom. then they have a 3/16->1/4NPT adapter. Tee it in like you would Tee in a drop and you're good to go. gauges are a must if you want to keep an eye on things. they absolutely do help isolate problem lines

[n8hutch]

I don't spend a whole lot of time actually checking the vac level of each 3/16 lateral , maybe a gauge or 2 here or there, you find a lot more out about what's going on with your lines bye checking the lines where they hook into the main line, if you have fairly long columns of sap with a few air bubbles now and then your line is working well, if you have a steady mixture of bubbles and sap you probably have a small leak on that line follow the lateral up until you see less bubbles and your leak is most likely at that drop, of there is no sap in the line at all you have a major leak.

I. Should clarify that I run a hybrid system, I do have vac on the main lines, it maybe harder to find leaked w/o the added pump.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be useful to have a vac gauge at the end of every lime it's just that I can walk 1000ft up the mainline and know what every lateral is doing, I would probably have to walk 2 miles to check out the ends of every lateral.

[WhistlePig]

I did a calculation a while back, that the reduced flow from loss of vacuum on any single line justified the $6-7$ expense, but I balked when I had to spend $350 as a lump. I don't really have a sense of how many lines will fail vacuum, so I might be spending $350 to find only a single line. That is cost prohibitive! I don't plan to move to mechanical vacuum for quite a while as I have so many other pressing needs. That being said, would having the entire system under vacuum at least help identify that i have a problem?

At this point, I think I am going to buy 10 or so and put them on a representative set of laterals, and study/record carefully what I find. That will also provide me with a better sense of what is visually "normal".

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

[Alex Davies]

I'm in a similar situation.

Here's my plan for this upcoming season.
I'm going to rig up a gauge that attaches to 5/16th line. I will install spout adaptors at the top tap of each run. I'll use a needle nose vice grip to pinch the top drop line before the tap, and pull the tap from the adaptor. I'll fit the 5/16th tube over the end of the tap, and release the vice grip. My thought is that the 5/16 tubing will make a good seal over the end of the spout, and because I have pinched the dropline shut with the vice grip, I shouldn't lose my vacuum in the line and will hopefully get an accurate reading of vac. Also, maybe more importantly, if the line stays in constant vac, then in theory there won't be backflow of contaminated sap into all of the other taps down the line.

If you slip 5/16 tubing over the vice grip, then it won't damage the line when you pinch it.

I'll let you know how it works for me.

:)

[mol1jb]

This if my first year using Shurflo pump for vacuum. I have around 120 taps all on 3/16 that converge at the pump into a manifold. I have a vacuum gauge at the pump. The gauge at the pump is a great tool for seeing how the entire system is going in terms of leaks. Normally my system is running between 17-20 inches of vacuum. If I at or just below 15 there is probably a small leak or 2. If I am around 10 there is a big leak. Also having my 6x 3/16 lines run all the way to the pump is a great way to identify which line has the leak by watching the flow of sap in all the lines and seeing which one has lots of air or is moving very rapidly. Then I will work my way up the leaky line till I find it.

In summary having a vacuum gauge at the pump manifold has worked great for me to identify how tight or leaky the entire system is.

[BSD]

Vacuum gauges give you an instant check on the system!

4 out of my 5 lines pegging the dial yesterday after we got tapped. line #5 was at 25... This is natural vacuum, no pumps. Spend the **** money on the gauge and the adapter and do it right.

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[SSS2017]

I have gauges on my two 3/16 lines and I also have a reading on the display from mountain maples sap sucker. I’ve been reading 20+ all day today but have been up to 24-25 the last couple hours! Love this thing!
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