3/16 tubing - why not replace lines every year?

[Biz]

Thinking about my new 800' 3/16 line I am putting up, 50 taps, it seems like it is easier to just put up a new one every year. I take mine down after the season, personal preference, so that may skew my numbers. Although if left up, there would likely be maintenance labor due to squirrel chews etc.

New 3/16 line and drops every year:
Cost for 800' line $50
Drops about a buck (CV) - $50
Labor to install new drops
Zero cleaning cost
No clogging from residual crap in lines
Easy to string line
Maximum sap yield
Perhaps a bit wasteful throwing everything out each year

Reuse line:
New tap (annually) $20
New drop every 2-3 years, say $25 average per year
Stringing line with drops attached (tangles!)
Cleaning every year
Rolling up every year with drops attached
Reduced sap yield each year (I seem to get lower yields each year even replacing drops)

So new lines every year is a higher material cost ($100) but less labor and higher yield.
Reusing line is lower material cost ($45) but higher labor and lower sap yield.

Leaning towards just replacing everything each year. I bet the increased sap/syrup yield alone justifies the cost of annual replacement, not to mention several hours of labor saved. Looking for opinions.

Dave

[tgormley358]

I don’t have great insight as a recent newbie to tubing but I replaced mine this year and found the labor time to be significant as a cost in the equation, more than you do Dave. I plan to re use mine next year to save that time, but will have to add back the cleaning time which I skipped last spring. I really don’t like throwing out so much plastic. I’ll have to see the effect only yields per tap. Im wondering how you even measure that reliably for comparison purposes year to year given the other variables that change like weather, the timing of when you tap - early, late, or just right.

[Super Sapper]

I am thinking about replacing every year also. I replaced 1/2 of the woods and it took about the same amount of time as putting the other 1/2 back up so labor would be the same. I have to take it down every year and put back up.

[maple flats]

If I had to take my tubing down every year I'd find another way to Have fun. I would not try to take down and save or throw away 1000 taps and redo every year. Maybe that's just me.