Results from first season w/ 3/16 on Shurflo

[mol1jb]

In one word: Amazing

Let me give you info on my setup. 120 taps on 3/16 with an average of 25 taps per run. 6 laterals total around 1500ft long each. Every lines starts on top of the IL river bluff and works its way down to the bottom where the tank is (around 100ft elevation drop over that run). Every lines is brought into a 1/2 inch pvc manifold before the pump. I run a Shurflo 4048. On a good day pulling 17" vac (squirrels won't leave my lines be). Pump is powered by a 20 amp 12 volt power source with an auto temp switch turning the pump off at 30* and on at 33*.

It worked almost too good. On a good run we were getting over 200 gallons collected. The previous year we had 60 taps on 3/16 gravity and this year we had doubled taps and added vacuum so it basically tripled the amount of sap we collected from last year.

For those who are thinking of adding cheap vacuum in the future, this is a great way to do it. All in with pump, manifold, power source, temp switch, ect was less than $250. You could definitely do it for cheaper with a smaller shurflo pump and less automation but the temp switch is super nice since some days freezing doesn't hit till 2am and I slept good after I set up the temp switch. I will try to post some pics of the setup later.

[Stiets]

That's great to hear it worked well for you. This was my first season with a Shurflo vac pump also. Agreed... amazing indeed!!! I had 60 taps on 3 lines with very little elevation drop. Yielded so much more sap with the pump than buckets. And the best part it all goes to one tank. Check out my video of my set up. https://youtu.be/i4EQw12tVGw

[achesser]

This was also my first year with the 3/16 on a Shurflo. I would say amazing as well!

We have 140 taps. 115 of those have 20-40 ft of elevation drop. 25 are only a couple of feet of drop. I had 2 gallons per tap storage in the woods and it was not enough a couple times. I tapped January 20th I am up to 4650 gallons of sap collected and still going for one more week it looks like. I kept thinking I was going to hang buckets. They never left the rack on the wall this year.

I would pull 15-20" at the pump manifold if I had no squirrel chews. That was only half the time though so my average was probably 10-12". I had 6 laterals going into a 4008 on one tank and 4 laterals going into a second 4008 on a smaller collection tank.

I have so many repairs and splices from rodents I was thinking of running new lines next year because my set up is so small. I collected 3000 gallons more sap with 60 less taps from last year when I used buckets. I think that pays for new lines until I can get a handle on the squirrels. I have hickory and oak mixed in with the hard maples so that is not helping me keep squirrels away.

[L&msugarbush]

Just did 3/16 gravity this year and what a difference! Have about 75 Taps on 3/16 and 110 buckets. On average I get about a hundred and twenty five gallon on the gravity lines and about 75 gallons on the 110 buckets.. I've seen my vacuum gauges reach up to 27-1/2 so I'd say that's pretty dang good

[lyford]

Stiets, what kind of elevation change are you working with on your 3/16 system?