Line Walking Checklist

[GSCampChris]

We just upgraded to a vacuum system. We have 5 mainlines, 3 of which are up and operational. We are pull 22-24 inches at the pump, but wanted to know what things i could check to increase pressure.
So when you are walking you lines, what are you looking for?
Also- what is a good pressure to be looking for?


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[VT_K9]

Check your saddles and all joints on the mainlines first. Then start looking at you sap lines. Can you shut off and of the mainlines and what happens to your vacuum level then? When sap is flowing you can see a difference in the manner it flows.

Mike

[Dennis H.]

I walk the mainline and at each saddle fitting for a Lat I will lift up that little loop of 5/16 tubing to cause the sap to go "up hill". Watch the flow of sap. It should be slow and lazy.
If the bubbles are running like crazy like a train then there is a leak in that lat, walk it.
I will go just past the next drop line and use my hands to cause a small "up hill" section in the 5/16 and watch the sap again. If still running like crazy keep walking the lat, you have not gotten to the leak yet. If you get to a point where the sap is no longer going like crazy and is back to slowly moving then you went too far. It will be before where now and after the last spot.

Most leaks I found I can hear from a distance. It is only those very small ones that I will have to use the above mentioned method to find.

For me I like to see at least 24" of vacuum at the releaser. I am using an old surge piston vacuum so I can not get much higher than that and I wish not to kill that very nice vac pump.

[JoeJ]

If you have a valve at the start of each mainline with a vacuum gauge on the uphill side, it makes looking for leaks much simpler. It does not matter if the vac gauges are accurate or not, What you are looking for is any drop in vacuum after you close off the valve on the line. If the gauge does not drop at all after ten seconds, no leaks on that line. If it drops very slowly, probable a very small leak. Could be one small squirrel chew or maybe a bad hole drilled into brown wood. Good luck finding that. If you lose vacuum real fast, then a drop in off the spout, deer chew or a hungry squirrel.

Joe

[GSCampChris]

If you have a valve at the start of each mainline with a vacuum gauge on the uphill side, it makes looking for leaks much simpler. It does not matter if the vac gauges are accurate or not, What you are looking for is any drop in vacuum after you close off the valve on the line. If the gauge does not drop at all after ten seconds, no leaks on that line. If it drops very slowly, probable a very small leak. Could be one small squirrel chew or maybe a bad hole drilled into brown wood. Good luck finding that. If you lose vacuum real fast, then a drop in off the spout, deer chew or a hungry squirrel.

Joe

That would be helpful. Do you just put the gauge straight into the mainline or saddle it in from a piece of 5/16? I think i could do that pretty easily.


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[JoeJ]

I use a lead free IPS ball valves with a SS tee, a 1' x 1/4" reducing bushing, then vac gauge. I think that you really need the shut off valve to effectively check for even the smallest leak that will not show up otherwise. A lot of sugar makers will put in a ball valve with no gauge, and then shut off the valve then slowly crack open the valve to listen for any gush or hiss of air going back into the mainline from a leak. I can tell you from my experience, that if there is a real small leak in the line that takes 10 seconds for the gauge to drop 1" of vacuum, you will not detect that using the air method. if you use the valve and gauge method, you will see the effect of that very small leak on the gauge after 10 seconds.

Joe

[maple flats]

On each main I use a DSD SS band clamp type saddle, then add a piece of 5/16, tie that to a tree, and then I have barb x 1/4" female adapters that accept the gauge. When I put a gauge in my lateral, it's just a Tee some tubing and the gauge in the adapter. That I can dp either 5/16 tubing or 3/16 tubing, because I have barb x 1/4" FIP adapters for both 5/16 and 3/16. I got them from WVmapler. Contact him at wvmapler@suddenlink.net When I got them from WVMapler, no one else seemed to carry them, maybe others do now as well.

[wiam]

I use pvc ball valves. Drill and tap 1/4” in uphill side of valve. Screw in a gauge.

[johnallin]

That's a brilliant solution William.