which direction to go

[KReinisch]

I have been contemplating what set up I should go with. I have a remote woods where I need to either run a gas vacuum pump or generator with guzzler pump. I am leaning in direction of generator and guzzler because of cost.
If I run the generator I would go with a guzzler pump. I would have around 600 taps on 3/16 with around 1500 feet of 1 inch mainline.

What do you guys think?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I run a gast 1550 with a 1/2hp electric motor and power it with a 2000 watt honda. its really cheap to run and does a good job (25 inches of vac on 300 taps)

[maple flats]

Tell us more about the lay of your woods. If you are on a good slope, with 3/16 you may not need any mechanical vacuum. If you are too flat, the 3/16 will work with mechanical vacuum but may not be your best choice. Give us more details.
Put a guzzler on a small gas engine and change out to a larger gas tank, that may be your cheapest operating cost.
I run an Alamo 30 off a 5.5 hp Honda. I removed the original gas tank and I built a gas tank cradle on which I put one on that is 4.5 gal. The supplier I've bought them from a few times does not show it at this time. I got then from Surplus Center for $24.99 and free shipping. Try Ebay or amazon. Any good fuel tank that holds 4 or more gallons will be good.

[n8hutch]

I think that you would want a double guzzler at a minimum. I did just what you are talking about doing, first year on new everything it worked great, second year was much harder to keep up with the leaks. Even the smallest leak, like a pin hole from a bird, or a chew that didn't do through the lateral can be a huge problem with these guzzlers. I am looking hard at changing mine out for either a Airablo Flood or an Atlas copco pump.

There's a guy out in western NY Mapletrooper? That has a used Airablo Flood, and a releaser that in my opinion is a good deal , it's just too far for me to drive.

Only upside to a Guzzler is you dont have to worry about releaser problems, if you do go the guzzler route I would suggest alot of isolation Valves and gauges so leak detection is easier.

[KReinisch]

Tell us more about the lay of your woods. If you are on a good slope, with 3/16 you may not need any mechanical vacuum. If you are too flat, the 3/16 will work with mechanical vacuum but may not be your best choice. Give us more details.
Put a guzzler on a small gas engine and change out to a larger gas tank, that may be your cheapest operating cost.
I run an Alamo 30 off a 5.5 hp Honda. I removed the original gas tank and I built a gas tank cradle on which I put one on that is 4.5 gal. The supplier I've bought them from a few times does not show it at this time. I got then from Surplus Center for $24.99 and free shipping. Try Ebay or amazon. Any good fuel tank that holds 4 or more gallons will be good.

Right now the top part of the woods is set up on gravity. The slope is good and I got good results last year. The issue you is that I had a real issue with maintaining access to my tank due to mud. When that happened I ran another 1000 feet of pipe down to the bottom of the woods and I would pump one tank into another. It was my only option at the time. There is a real nice stone access road on the bottom of the property. So all and all the property has nice slope on the top half and then a gradual slope on the bottom.

[maple flats]

My thought is "what is the slope on the gradual slope part? If only 2% or less, you likely need a pump, if over 3% (3' per 100' ) I'd run 3/16 all the way to the stone roadway and use no pump. Yes, that's a lot of 3/16 but the freedom from any mechanical issues will save loads of long term expenses, the pump, the gas engine or generator and fuel every time you need to add gas, day in and day out throughout the season. The gas, oil changes and such gets pretty costly in just 1 season, then multiply that by several seasons.

[n8hutch]

I think that the Question is are you trying to Get as much sap as possible or are you just trying to have fun and make a little syrup? Running 1000' of mainline which it sounds like you have already done. Is wayyyyyy cheaper than running 24-3/16 lines down to your tank so for me that would be out of the question. Having Vacuum on 3/16 lines with a pump is a sure fire way to maximize your production. I'm not sure where the 3% slope # dave references comes from maybe he learned that at a 3/16 seminar or something, I've never seen that personally but I would be pretty nervous that the friction loss at 3% would be significant.

If you want the absolute most sap that you can get I would go with a real vacuum pump and a releaser. If you want some vacuum and you want it as cheap as possible get a guzzler. Mine is a 12volt setup and it served me well, I built a manifold for it with a screen in it to keep the ice out of my pump in the mornings. Also you can gain a few extra inches of vac buy having the discharge end of the guzzler slightly higher than the intake. Don't ask me why but it works.

[KReinisch]

I am looking to maximize my sap production. My hobby has quickly grown into a business and I need to keep up with the demand. I am looking at trying to make 500 plus gallons of syrup to keep my customers happy.