5/16" blue ( Canada made) plastic taps question

[Hunt4sap]

I purchased a actual syrup 5/16"drill bit and have had several of the items in title above fall out of trees?( 1/2 full -4 gallon buckets) tap and all on ground.
I'm wondering if I drilled holes in these trees at too much of an angle upwards?( My fix was to use a metal 5/16" spile of a different brand that deffinatly fits tighter when tapped in...)
When I put these blue plastic spiles in after drilling holes in trees they went all the way in to there shoulder with very little effort.
Has anyone else had trouble with these " blue Canada made spiles"/ buckets falling off tree and loosing all your sap from that bucket?
Thanks Matt

[Pibster]

I bought the blue taps from DSD Stars in Quebec. They were 0.225" so they required a special drill bit but I've never had a problem with one leaking or coming loose.

[KV Sappers]

I had the exact same problem your having with these blue spiles three years ago. I went with the blue spiles because I wanted to get off the 7/16 spiles I used but with the 5/16 problems I had I ended up redrilling the holes and using 7/16 spiles. I now use Sap-Meister 5/16 stainless steel spiles and use a 19/64 bit to tap the hole and they work great.

[Hunt4sap]

What size drill bit is the special one for these spiles?
I'll have to mic them and see if mine are that measurements.225"...

[berkshires]

Do you mean these? https://www.leaderevaporator.com/p-209-plastic-516-hooked-spout.aspx

[Hunt4sap]

Yes, I believe that it's them
I bought mine from eBay( new) but same thing
I just wondered if I drilled the hole angled up too much and that's what caused them to slip out of hole?( Because there very smooth compared to the metal ones that are 5/16 that I replaced them with that fit tight)?

[berkshires]

I've used those spiles (among others) for four years now. I have always used a standard wood bit, never used a proper tapping bit. Could the tapping bit you have be a tiny bit bigger than my 5/16" bit?

These spiles do seem a bit less tight than some of the other taps and spiles, but I've never had one pull out, even in pretty heavy wind. I guess angle could be part of it. Or if the hole is not even, and is reamed out a bit. Or you got a bad batch of spiles, and they're a bit too small?

[DrTimPerkins]

I recall hearing other people say the same thing about this product (spouts won't stay in taphole) over the years, but there are plenty of others who have had good success with them. There must be some combination of factors (bit size, poor taphole, hardness of plastic perhaps) that produces these results. Just not sure what it is.