Ok, I'm just going to say it...

[Woodsrover]

Was pumping concentrate into my head tank (which is in a separate room outside the main boil room) and got to BSing and next thing I know the dog is licking up something on the floor. Yup, overflowed the tank and pumped two or three or four gallons (or more?) on the floor. Rookie mistake and I'm not proud of it but it happened. Guess it's like burning a pan....Ya all gotta do it at some point.

Anyway, swept it out the door but I have a sticky back room for now. Worse things could happen. Hope the ants don't smell it come summer.

[Michael Greer]

I'm famous for trying to put 200 gallons into a 170 gallon tank at least once every year. Finally solved that problem by getting rid of the 200 gallon tank.

[prairietapper]

the ants and flies are going to love you.. I hope a few bees find it too. because I like them better than the first two! :)

[asknupp]

I'd rather have that happen. After finishing a long boil began trek uphill from sugar shack to the house. Tripped on on low cut stump and dumped 4 gallons of syrup and in the fall proceeded to roll in it. Everything I touched was left sticky until the next morning. Wife wondered what the hell happened. Still didn't want to talk about it as I was fuming mad.

[Tweegs]

Nah, you want a rookie mistake? I can show you how to make rookie mistakes.

I built a closet for the RO.
The head tank sits atop the closet.
The control panel for the RO is built in to the closet and directly below the head tank.

My wife overflowed the tank once, spilling 8% concentrate over all of the electronic controls.
Now this was just a small display and a few switches, all low voltage stuff (high voltage is in an enclosed panel on the opposite wall), so nothing spectacular happened.
The display went poof, and I’m here to tell you how well 8% can gum up a switch. Every one of them had to be replaced.

Solved the problem by first enclosing the control panel and then adding an upper level float on the tank.
The float controls a relay that will remove power from the pump contactor should the tank level get too high.

[Russell Lampron]

A few years ago before I had an organized RO room and tank set up my son-in-law pumped 600 gallons of sap down the drain. Wouldn't you know it! The year that I had my new RO room I was doing a flush on the RO and when I switched back to concentrating I forgot to switch a valve and pumped the concentrate from 600 gallons down the drain. The worst part about that one was that I had a bunch of people coming over for Easter dinner and to watch me boil. I have since made it a routine to walk out into the tank shed and make sure that the concentrate and permeate are going where they are supposed to when I start the RO.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Every time you put in another safety system you move the responsibility down the line. I have alarms on all the thanks that really matter because I was tired of running it on the ground or on my head. You can get float valves and 110 volt buzzers and put in warning lights for about $15.00 per.

Now speaking from experience I start to tune out all sorts of noises in the sugar shack and after a while you will get complacent and revert back to STUPID. OH and the bigger you get the more costly it is.

[Pibster]

On Saturday I had just finished pumping my sap up into my head tank from my collection tank which I haul with an ATV. My tank is on a wooden stand 8' high. I'm nursing a broken thumb so the cast makes operating the throttle difficult. Unfortunately I started the bike in reverse without realizing my cast was pushing the throttle wide open. The bike shot backwards into the head tank stand, knocking it over while breaking several fittings and popping the lid off. Lost all of my sap. :(

[Haynes Forest Products]

I can attest to this by my own actions BUT why is the sport of syrup making fraught with danger at ever turn.

[CharlieVT]

Yeah, you gotta be careful.

When I first got my filter press I started up the pump with the by-pass valve in the wrong position.
Instead of hot syrup recirculating back to the filteraid tank, it spewed across the the canning room.
The canning room is fitted with kitchen cabinets that had a Oak finish... they are now all finished in Maple. :D

[tgormley358]

That was one of the funnier reads on the forum in a while...LOL. Last night i finished pumping from my pickup to my head tank, disconnected fitting on the hose to my head tank, and went to put things away in my pickup, when i heard a gushing sound and looked back, the hose in my head tank had gotten a little vacuum from disconnecting and was dump sap from head tank onto the ground ... thankfully only lost maybe 10 gallons but in the process of stopping the flow I got cooled off with a nice sap shower.

[maple flats]

I did that once or twice, now I have an overflow line that feeds back to one of my sap tanks. If the head tank gets full the excess goes to that sap tank.

[Sugarmaker]

I have run sap from the head tanks down the drain by not closing the cleaning drain. Felt pretty foolish. I try to double check all valves now. Its bound to happen, too many valves says the wife!
Regards,
Chris

[Greg MacWilliam]

Just a side note to prevent a trip to the ER. The ends of hose clamps are very sharp and from now on all are taped with electrical tape.

[Daveg]

Nah, you want a rookie mistake? I can show you how to make rookie mistakes.

I built a closet for the RO.
The head tank sits atop the closet.
The control panel for the RO is built in to the closet and directly below the head tank.

My wife overflowed the tank once, spilling 8% concentrate over all of the electronic controls.
Now this was just a small display and a few switches, all low voltage stuff (high voltage is in an enclosed panel on the opposite wall), so nothing spectacular happened.
The display went poof, and I’m here to tell you how well 8% can gum up a switch. Every one of them had to be replaced.

Solved the problem by first enclosing the control panel and then adding an upper level float on the tank.
The float controls a relay that will remove power from the pump contactor should the tank level get too high.

Well, you just made your 777th post to MapleTrader, so your luck is going to be all "GOOD" from now on.

[ennismaple]

Most producers have sent concentrate down the drain by accident, have started a filter press without making sure it's seated properly or have put 550 gallons of sap into a 500 gallon tank! Those who haven't are either new or liars!

[Ghs57]

I fil my 55 gal head tank from an 275 gal IBC tote. There could never be a problem with that, could there?

[Michael Greer]

I solved THAT problem by putting an overflow on my head tank. When it's full it drops noisily into one of the other tanks.

[Wanabe1972]

Two years ago I backed my truck to my holding tank that had about 240 gallons of sap in it. I notice the vacuum was low at the releaser so I started the sump pump up to fill the truck tank and went into the woods to investigate. When I got back both tanks were empty as I forgot to shut the ball valve in the truck tank. I have also accidentally opened the wrong valves in my RO and dumped 100 gallons of 8 percent down the drain. I'm planning a no F-up season this year though.

[Sugarmaker]

I know its a year old, but just browsing and had to look! Reminds me of past Friday when I put 440 gallons of sap into a 400 gallon tank!:) Wouldnt have been bad it out side but this was above the kitchen area! I need to be more careful, go slower, pay more attention, or just plain think a little more! What a mess!
Regards,
Chris

[deitzd]

My first year with 5/16 on gravity I bought a used stainless steel vat with a fitting in the bottom of one end. My calculations figured it held about 85 gallons. I put it in the snow at a low spot and leveled it with pieces of wood. I fashioned a tent over it with a blue tarp to keep the rain and snow out. I used a baitwell plug from the inside to keep sap out of the fitting to prevent frozen sap from cracking the elbow. I tied a stainless steel wire to the handle of the baitwell plug so I wouldn't have to reach into the sap to pull the plug and then I hooked the wire to the support for the tarp. One nice warm day we had a good run and the vat should have been full of sap but the snow had melted from under the vat putting tension on the wire and pulled the plug. I lost it all.

[18mile]

I forgot to close the valve on the opposite side of the flue pan. Ran 150 gallon of 12% on the floor. I was watching the float box and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t rising. I finally notice my feet were wet!

[SyncroScott]

So I was just reading this thread two days ago, and thinking to myself (since this is only my third season), "When am I going to dump something?" TA-DA!!! The answer is "Today!" Well, not quite just sap, but I had gotten done with a boil and had about a half gallon in my draw-off pot (as a hobbyist my draws are pretty small)....and it dumped over due to a bone-head maneuver. Oh well, had to happen sometime, right?! I'm mostly irked at the lost time and the stick floor than anything else! Haha. ;-)