Shurflo / how many taps

[Tom_saw]

I have 5/16" laterals and 1" main setup with about 75 taps running into it . I would like to convert it to a shurflo system . Do I get rid of the 1" main and go all 5/16" ? Right now there about 9 laterals going into the 1" main . The length of the mains,3, are about 500' total. Can I combine several of the laterals ?

[mol1jb]

An easier way to start might be to just hook up a shurflo to the end of your mainline and see what kind of increase that yields. Many have put shurflo on existing main lines and seen good results.

[n8hutch]

I would just hook it on to what you have, try to maintain a nice shallow pitch to the shurflo, you want it to get the sap in a slow trickle rather than gulps, it will pull higher vacuum that way. I had one on 300 feet of 3/4 mainline last year and I had 20" at the end of the main, 105 taps. Some days I had better than 20 inches

[Biz]

Are you just using the 1" mainline on gravity now? Keeping the lines as-is and adding a Shurflo pump should increase sap yield nicely as mol1jb and Nate suggest, as long as the mainline is set up properly, with no sags etc.

Dave

[Tom_saw]

Right now it is set up to gravity flow. I was going to install a releaser and vacuum pump but i think I want to try the shurflo system .