Shurflo - Vacuum Gauge/s?

[littleTapper]

I've been lazy (ok, cheap) and have not run any kind of vacuum gauge on my Shurflo setup the last two seasons, but would like to kick that bad habit this season and possibly get better results (but the last two seasons GPT was darn good). So, with this, I'm wondering what is the most cost-effective way of doing so.

I run a manifold off my 4008 pump with shut-off valves for eight 5/16 runs plus a recirc line. Would it be worthwhile running a vac gauge on the end of each run or just run a single gauge off the manifold and use the valves to isolate possible leaks/underperforming lines if I'm not seeing high vac? My land is flat so I suspect if one line is leaking a bit, the vac will be low everywhere and having gauges at the end of each line would tell me nothing. Is that theory correct or am I way off base?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and experience!

[maple flats]

On the end of each lateral gives you a very good indication of what the woods are doing, just having one on the manifold and opening just 1 valve at a time can help but would be poor at best.
It all depends on how much data you want.
I have vacuum gauges on the end of each mainline but only a few laterals have them. On mine, if a gauge looks like there may be a leak, I walk that line looking at each lateral where it enters the main, if there is a leak there will be a fast movement on the lateral, if no leak, it will flow slow and steady. On strictly lateral lines into a manifold you just need to watch each line and you will see when there is an issue, then you need to walk that lateral and find then fix any leaks. Fast movement in the line means a leak.

[littleTapper]

Thanks! I've been using movement alone as an indicator so far and that does help even without gauges - but some do move at different speeds so seeing the actual vac at the end each line would be beneficial. My woods is small so it doesn't take long to visit every line. I would think another benefit of having a gauge on the manifold is to dial in the recirculation line to help make the most vac. It's a crapshoot without it :)

[mol1jb]

I had a very similar manifold for my shurflo with a vac gauge. It was helpful to have the individual line shutoffs so I could turn everything off and back on one line at a time to read on the gauge what lines were running well and which lines were leaking