Keep Vacuum running in warm temps?

[johnallin]

I see where some never shut off their vacuum pumps.

I also see that sugar can drop without a cold re-set, but vacuum will still pull water out of the trees.

I don’t RO my sap so if sugar drops significantly, it’s a real waste of time and wood over here. My vac pump is still running and pulling sap but the sugar is dropping.

Seems to me that I may be better off waiting for another cold snap.

Does anyone run high vac without an RO?

I’m fighting the thought of getting one...just seems like a whole ‘nother complication and job list to me.

[Maple Man 85]

Not many run vac without an RO usually because you made the investment to get more sap. Why not make the processing more efficient as well...

[ryebrye]

Not many run vac without an RO usually because you made the investment to get more sap. Why not make the processing more efficient as well...

Those who sell sap do, (but usually to someone with an RO.)

[Russell Lampron]

I can see where you would want to shut the vacuum off because you don't have an RO.

The advantages of having an RO far outway any inconveniences that it may create. If you do get one, get a professional model. They process for a longer time without losing flow rates and are easier to clean. I've had my Lapierre since the summer of 2004 and wouldn't be without it. Boiling raw sap sucks!

[maple flats]

Amen to that, except I believe any quality RO will prove a God send. After you use that a few years, you can then move up to a better RO especially if you get a lot more taps. Investing in an RO is far more profitable than getting a bigger evaporator. By the way, my vacuum has been running since midday Wednesday, when my trees finally woke up.

[tcross]

i run hi vacuum and do not have an R.O and don't really have plans to get one. i see it this way. With a vacuum..... i can get sap on days when i would not without one, i can get way more sap than i could without one on any run, i can collect sap right to my sugar house, i can collect until i have as much sap as i want and then shut the vacuum off if i want, i can tap all my trees and sell my excess sap. i'm sure there are more reasons, but those are the ones that seem to stick out for me and my situation.

[Russell Lampron]

I have my vacuum pump on whenever the temp is above freezing. As the days and hours add up the sap volume and sugar content drop but it's sap and syrup that I wouldn't get if I was on gravity or buckets. Like Dave, my pump has been on since Wednesday and I got sap yesterday and the day before that I otherwise wouldn't have.

[johnallin]

I just checked tank and I've got 200+ gallons since yesterday morning from 120 taps so far on vac...but it's only 1%.
The vac has been on all week, with no freeze until last night, I'm thinking it's just all water I've been pulling in.
Bags are at 1.5 - 2.25 just not much in them.

Not willing to waste wood on 1%, I dumped it and will clean the tanks and pans. Today we should see a nice run with the cold we had last night.

An RO is beginning to make sense, I'd sure like to squash that 200 gal down to 50 gal at 4%

[Russell Lampron]

If I had that 1% sap I'd be turning it into 14% and then turning it into syrup. The syrup that it would make would pay for the electricity and some toward the purchase of the RO. With the increased syrup produced and the amount of wood saved the RO will pay for itself in a short amount of time.

[mol1jb]

Last year we had 120 on vac for the first time. We were drowning in sap and exausted at the end of the season. This year is our first season on RO and I will never go back. We have had a ton of sap this week and have easily managed it with time to spare. Best decision we could have made. I was nervous about maintenance and cleaning but it is really easy and that stuff fits in nicely while the pans are cooling down.

[Asa Matras]

We keep ours on when its warm within reason until its just barely running. Vacuum and ro kinda go together. You'll love it, its worth it. The ro will eat up 1% sap and make it worth boiling.

[johnallin]

All good replies and appreciated.

When I installed the vac system, it wasn't production I was looking for as much as a clean-tight system for collecting and processing sap into syrup. The vac pulls sap directly from tree to sugarhouse. It's not being pounded to death in a Honda Pump or sitting in a poly tank until I can get the pump down there to collect, and clean the tank. All good things in my view, but keeping the vac running and having sugar drop so low, was something I missed - completely.

I split my own wood and enjoy working the evaporator, but (with 1% sap) I don't enjoy spending 2 1/2 hours to make a gallon of syrup, nor dumping 200 gallons of sap - 1% or not - 200 gallons is 200 gallons, that stinks too.

I will be taking a trip to the "RO store" tomorrow.

[maple flats]

I left the vacuum running all night Friday night because the temperature was warm and the sap was running good. Then when I got to the sugarhouse early yesterday, the releaser was full of slush, enough to prevent the float from lifting and dumping. Then the moisture trap did it's job and it was full of sap and then closed the inlet from the vacuum pump. It took an hr to get the releaser cleared but it never warmed enough to flow yesterday. It got to 34 , which was good enough for sap flow after the previous freeze, but 26" got no sap yesterday. I will try again today, when the temperature gets to 34. Before that I always get slush coming into the releaser, which nuts it up. It might be a tiny leak which causes the slush but I've not found it. It is not forming at my 3 needle valve micro leaks, because there is no slush going up the sap ladders. I may set up a temperature shut off to turn the pump off at 30 or 31 F.