Connecting Two 3/16 line.

[Maple22]

Planning on having several sets of 3/16 lines. For one line due to the layout of trees I was thinking about connecting two 3/16 lines. The smaller of the two lines would have 4-5 taps, and the larger of the two would have close to 10-12 taps. The connection would be roughly at the halfway point of the longer line. Would this be too much for the 3/16 to carry effectively causing back ups? Area does have decent slope. Thanks!

[Cjadamec]

If at all possible the best thing to do is run the tubing in a zig zag pattern to put all the taps on the same line. You want to have 20-30 taps per 3/16 run to get the most benefit from the tubing.

Everything I've read on 3/16 tubing strongly discourages joining two lines with a tee.

[raptorfan85]

You should not T 3/16 lines together. The best way I heard it described was by Dr. Tim. What he basically said was think of it as an intersection with a traffic light. You get cars moving from one direction, then the other, but never at the same time. Thats what your sap will do, one leg of the T will flow and the other wont, or vice versa depending on the flow at the time.

[maple flats]

If at all possible run them on one line , do not T them together. If that is not possible, continue each to your collection tank. Do not run the 3/16 over much flat ground because friction will take it's toll.
With just 4-5 taps on the one line you will get little if any vacuum and the 10-12 taps is rather marginal, but if you can put them all on one and have a good total fall, you will get good vacuum and flow. The total drop in elevation is important.

[Maple22]

Thanks everyone for the help, I thought I read that in the past that making a Tee with 3/16 is a not good, just wanted to make sure. I'm just trying to use as little tubing as possible.

[Cjadamec]

In this case the added production from getting all those trees on the same line without using a tee should out weigh the cost of the tubing.

Each of my 3/16 runs uses just of 1000ft of tubing. There are 25-30 taps on each run.