mianline underground

[maplekid]

do any of you guys run your main lines underground and is this more ificient to keep ice out of the lines

[ennismaple]

We don't but there's a large producer near us that has a lot of mainline underground. If it's below the frost line I can't see a problem.

[maplehound]

I would think you would do alot of damage to the root system of your trees installing it.

[maplekid]

i wasnt planning on doing it thre is a sugarmaker down the road road that has underground mainline and where the tubing comes in there is a 1 inch tube with a star fitting on top and it all connected. just looks like a bunch of big spider webs it very cool looking when there is snow on the line. whent into his sugarhouse and looked at his evaporator and filter press. hes got a pretty good sized evaporator i think he said 30x8 with revalution pans on it im pretty sure he said revalution not sure i was to busy studeing everything. on thing i did see is he has auto drawoff and his is oil fired. he tapped around 800-900 trees and has another 270 or so in the woods downthe street he has vaccum on that one(the farmer wouldnt let him in there with the backhoe). our day got cut short today on the count of the rain and the tornado warning. maplehound how is your knee doing hope it gets better

[Sugarmaker]

Maplekid,
Looks like I need a pass word for your pics??
Chris

[maplehound]

maple kid, The weather does make it vaery hard to move about on a bad knee. I am looking forward to the 21'st, that is when i get the replacement knee. The the work of rehab begins. I think that walking around in the woods and helping with the addition to my house will be good rehab.

[John Burton]

I've never seen one installed ,but have always wondered about where the lines cross from underground to areial through the frost line . i would think there could be and ice problem at these spots it may be tough to insulate

[maplekid]

yeah the pics have been held up i dont have a camara so i have to use hers there will be some on there some time thios week

[royalmaple]

I would think that you could also run into problems with sags in the main line especially if you are running vacuum. And trying to keep the line tight would be tough too. Unless you had some really super slope I think it would be much easier to install above ground tubing. You can bet there will be a couple nice vw bug size boulders in the way of where you want to go just after you scratch the surface of the soil.

Your still going to have the lateral lines above ground so what is the problem having one more line running through the bush?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

There Is A Fellow Up In The Area That Runs Under Ground But It Pumped It Isnt On Vacuum

Rich

[maplecrest]

the trick to underground pipes is more than one pipe. most sugarmakers here put three lines in the ground one dry for vac two wet for sap. if one freezes the other one is available. if both freeze your in a bit of trouble. under the roads another is wraped around them all to run hot water to thaw them out if it freezes under the road way that freezes deeper than under the snow pack. works very well where you do not want to see the main lines or where land ownwners do not want to see them. like the united states boundries near the long trail. app trail ect. jeff

[drake1271]

we had miles underground but you need to bring it up in manhole

[ibby458]

I was out driving thru my bush with the tractor yesterday (to pack down some trails), and mentally laying out lines. To keep my slope right, (on the main line) in one spot I have to either go underground thru a small knoll, install a sap ladder or get a dozer to take the knoll off.

I'm inclined towards the buryiing it option. It would be about a foot deep, and I have tons of 3" Styrofoam blueboard to insulate it. Coincidently, it's also where the main trail crosses it. Underground sure would be nice there. The slope should allow complete draining, and the sun hits that area first thing in the AM to thaw it.

Am I missing some drawbacks?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Might want to connect it to some very heavy gauge wire or other stiff substance to ensure you keep consistent slope on it so it will stay drained and not have any sags that could freeze or cause bacteria buildup.