Main line questions.

[Kevinco]

I have a cabin on 5 acres. I had 30buckets and 30 on 5/16 line last year. My property is split in the middle by a very steep gully. 100-200 feet wide. I bought some mainline in hopes of crossing the gully to my new 8x10 sugar shack I built out of pallets. Do you plug the top of the main or keep it open? Is 12 guage wire strong enough to cross 200 feet? I purchased 3/16 for laterals into the main.

[tcross]

you want to plug the top. I put a ball valve in mine. some just plug it. if the 12 gauge wire is high tensile, it'll do the trick. it needs to be **** tight not to sag.

[Haynes Forest Products]

You can live with a slight sag as long as the discharge side is lower that the top. Plus a sag is different than a bag. You don't want sap to sit in the bag.

[bmbmkr]

I had some sections 40' in the air last year crossing a holler- what we call a gully down here in Appalachia- just tie the wire on the main before you stretch it- I had to go back and forth a lot to tighten each end a little at a time. Like Haynes said, it will sag no matter what. I had to side tie to get the sag higher than my low ends. I used 1/4" nylon rope to side tie with.

[VT_K9]

I think I would go with 9 gauge for my support wire. We had a few runs I would say are about 125-150 feet long once...now not many over 75'. This keeps the line tighter and straighter. A few side ties only to prevent sags. I know the idea of side tying is to allow minimal damage when branches and trees fall on the line. Maybe you can stretch the wire and tubing a little at a lower level to install the ties first and then put it in position. I would also consider side tying if possible. A big issue is if you go high in a tree the wind can add a lot of tension to your wire/tubing. I would avoid any joint in the span. Next would be what diameter tubing...I would probably go with nothing less than 1" to avoid sags which result in higher probability of freezing. Maybe 1 1/4 as the cost is not a whole lot more.

Mike