vacuum pumps

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I Have A Alamo Sp11 Does Any Have Any Idea How Many Cfms, And Will It Be Enough Vac For 200 Taps??
Thanks
Rich

[802maple]

It will work fine

[Parker]

That is a VERY nice pump for up to 900 taps,,I had one on 400 taps and was able to maintain 22" for the whole season,,,,,

[ziggy]

A SP11 will handle 200 taps without a problem, just remember the important thing is not what the vacuum gauge on the pump reads, go to the very end of the system and get a reading. You really want that 20-22" at the end of the system. I good tight system with properly sized lines you should only have an inch or two of vacuum loss over the entire system. I have seen many small systems with 22-24" at the pump and at the end of the system you are lucky to have more than 4 or 5". And you really need to check the systems as many times as possible during the season, it does not take very much of a leak to loose a lot of vacuum.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

1 more question, will this work? i need about 6 hundred feet of 3/4 mainline then i would like to run about 4 or 5 1/2 branch lines off of that to my 5/16 tubing and taps. im sure i will have to use ladders on the 1/2 inch lines. thank
you for the help

RICH

[Parker]

I am not sure that the 1/2" mainline is big enough to transfer the vacuum you want to get at the taphole,,,what has worked well for me is running 2-3/4" lines up into the woods(conductor line) then where 1 of your lateral mainlines starts "T" ing the 2-3/4" lines together and run a 3/4" mainline for your laterals to run into,,you want to get as much vacuum to the taphole as possible, and I dont think the 1/2" will do that for you,,,,,as for the ladders I would definatly run the 3/4" line on each side of them,,I use a 6-way star on the bottom and top of each 8' lift,and that seems to work for up to 20 taps,,this is what has worked well for me
I have also found it is useful to have a valve at the junction of your conductor line and your lateral line,,have a vacuum gauge on the conductor line side of the valve,,when you have a leak somwhere in the system you can isolate each lateral mainline with the valve,,see if the vacuum in the system returns to normal,,,,this saves a lot of valubal time during the season
As for the "T"s between the conductor line and the lateral mainline I used to make them out of 2"pvc but found they often broke,,now I just use 3/4" 3 way fittings and lots of hose clamps,,,They dont seem to brake and transfer the vacuum well.
You might want to put a booster or 2 in your system depending on how long your mainlines will be,,I could e-mail some pics of my set up if you wanted (picture worth 1,000 words)

[Russell Lampron]

Rich,

That set up will work but you should use 3/4" for the main and branch lines. You will have better vacuum transfer to the ends of the lines and manifolds and fittings are more readily available in 3/4".

I have 200 taps set up with a similar amount of branch lines and my releaser is 900' from my vacuum pump. I get good vacuum all the way through my system.

Russ

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

PARKER
explain to me how a booster for vac works please

RICH

[ziggy]

If you have not purchased the tubing yet, don't waste you money on to small of diameter tubing. Instead of 3/4 and 1/2 run 1" and 3/4". One of the nice things about that is that saddles for the 5/16" will fit on both the 1" and the 3/4". A vacuum booster is a tank some place in the system so that when the system needs vacuum there is a source near by, kind of like a bladder tank on a well pump. Larger line diameter does the same thing, the advantage of larger line diameter is that it presents less friction for the vacuum and you get less vacuum loss over the length of the system.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

will 100 psi tubing work, or will it collapse?

RICH

[royalmaple]

You can use 100psi potable water line. It is what basically anyone using black pipe uses. It won't collapse.

If you mean as a connection from your dryline to your wetline, ok for that too, just make sure you have enough distance between the two pipes at the connection so you don't essentially make a 1 pipe sap ladder, kinda defeats the purpose of a designated wet and dry line. Or you can make up some pvc connections at these locations and shut off valves etc.

So if you were going to make a connection between a 1 inch dry and a 3/4 wet line you wouldn't want to make that with a 2" piece of 3/4 pipe. Make it longer so the idea is to get the vacuum to the wet line better and remove the gases, but not suck the sap into the dry line.

[Mike]

Last time I checked it was $198 for 1000 ft of 1" black pipe.....

[royalmaple]

Are you sure that was 1 inch pipe? I have a contractors account at a plumbing supply house and my cost for 1 inch pipe is around 25-26 cents a foot in any size coil. 3/4 is about 15-17 cents.

Who had it for that price?

[brookledge]

Another good thing to do when you are connecting wet line to dry line is adapt up to atleast twice the size and better to go 3 times larger. If you have 1" main use 2" or 3" pvc pipe as a riser that way there is no chance of the sap jumping up into the dry line. If you use the same size for your riser there is a good chance that sap will jump up into the dry line and that is not what you want.
Keith

[Parker]

Ogdens- I looked thru alll my pics and dont have any good mainline set up pics,,I will take some this afternoon after I get my equipment moved and get them to you

See, if you read the trader you learn something new all the time,,,I had gotten away from the 2"pvc boosters-and risers,,they always seem to break and leak vacuum,,so I have been making them out of the same tubing (3/4 or 1") that I was working with,,,useing "T"s and lots of hose clamps,,I seemed to be getting good vacuum to the last tap on the runs,,,,,BUT,,I was getting sap comming down the dry line into the releaser,,,,,,,back to the drawing board,,,,,,,,does everyone use the 2"pvc and do they break on you?

[royalmaple]

I have been using schedule 40 pvc and no problems. One main thing when useing pvc is to make sure to use the appropriate primer and then glue. No primer and you won't have a good lasting seal.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Is There A Rule Of Thumb On How Many Taps Should Be On A Spider

Rich

[Mike]

Royal Maple, That was at Webbs plumbing supply...The price i got was about 3 months ago.....I bought 3 rolls 3 years ago and it was $168 a roll......And it is 1" ...................Mike

[royalmaple]

That is a really good price for 1", 16 cents a foot. That is what I have been paying for 3/4 potable water line 100 psi.