Locked up sap on 3/16 with Shur flo

[steviepap]

Hi I have about 250 taps (leadercheck valve) on ten lines of 3/16 going into to two separate tanks with Shur Flo pumps . All lines are reading great vac at the top of the runs (20 to 25). However it seems like there are a lot of drops full of sap and not draining into the main line of 3/16. T' s are not clogged. It just seem that they get into a vacuum lock. Is it the check valve taps? They were added to the system this year. Not sure what is going on. Seems like my collection is about half of what it would normally be on good runs.

[n8hutch]

What are you using for drops? If you have 3/16 drops then I would say your sap is just not running. If you have full 5/16 drops than you could have an issue at the tap, but its highly unlikely that all your taps would have issues, so I would still say that you just haven't had any good runs. What makes you say that your t's aren't plugged? I use all CVs on my 3/16 lines going on there 3rd season this year. Last year I had alot of plugged Ts and the only way I could tell was I would follow the lateral up from the main to where the sap wasn't moving. Pulled that T apart and it was plugged inside.

[steviepap]

My drops are 3/16. I checked t' s by pulling spout and letting air in system to let sap flow out. Maybe I am missing something. Thanks.

[mol1jb]

Hi I have about 250 taps (leadercheck valve) on ten lines of 3/16 going into to two separate tanks with Shur Flo pumps . All lines are reading great vac at the top of the runs (20 to 25). However it seems like there are a lot of drops full of sap and not draining into the main line of 3/16. T' s are not clogged. It just seem that they get into a vacuum lock. Is it the check valve taps? They were added to the system this year. Not sure what is going on. Seems like my collection is about half of what it would normally be on good runs.

What are the outside temps when this is happening? Sometimes I find that when it just gets above freezing and the 3/16 drops thaw out yesterdays sap that froze in them but the tree hasn't thawed yet then the sap just sits in the drop until the tree thaws out and starts to release sap.