Flat Land Setup

[HondoLane]

Looking for some setup help!

I have a semi flat sugar bush and I’m going to tap 50 trees. The sugar shack is approx 100ft from edge of the bush and open lawn to get there. I have a 275 gallon cage tank for collection.

What size tubing should I run? How many taps per lateral? Should I take each one to the tank or run a mainline to traverse the lawn?

I have power at the shack an want to run a shurflo pump setup.

I’ve read about and watched many videos on 3/16 hybrid setups where the land looked somewhat flat and results looked good.

What do you all recommend I do?

[littleTapper]

That sounds similar to my setup at home. Flat, but not quite that distance from the trees to my storage.

If you're pretty flat you can easily do all 5/16 hooked to a Shurflo (4008), and you can even run 5/16 from the pump to the tote if you keep that by the shack (then that will thaw at the same rate as your laterals). "Strive for five" taps/lateral, but a few more hasn't hurt in my experience. For me it's easier to put the pump central to the "laterals" and run power via extension cord and I suspect that'd be the same for you. My pump is built into a plastic tote with a manifold for each tubing run. http://mapletrader.com/maplegallery/2017-season/p2761-shurflo-4008-setup.html

Dealing with one size of tubing is kinda nice. I have a flat 5/16 pumped vac bush and a hillside 3/16 bush and that's just more tubing and fittings to make sure I have enough of :) If you do have some decent slope and can get 10' of drop or so, the hybrid setup might be worth it, but if you're introducing mechanical vac...then I'd just stick with 5/16. Hopefully someone with a hybrid setup can chime in and share their experiences.

[HondoLane]

Ok. I got ya. Been crushing this forum all week and acquired some good information.

One question I have is.... I have an open lawn to cross that’s is approx 115’ wide. What is the best way to traverse open space?

[Chickenman]

Straight, tight and down hill. That's what I've been told regardless of tubing type. Use some stakes, t-posts, whatever to give yourself some support if needed to keep out dips.

[HondoLane]

I’ve decided to pick up some high tensile and post to traverse the lawn. What gauge should I look for to support (3) 3/16 runs?

[Biz]

If you are using 3/16" tubing to traverse your lawn, it is not sensitive to dips or sags so it may be easier to set up. It would look nicer to be straight but sags does not affect flow in 3/16 tubing. 5/16 or larger is a different story, it needs to be set up as Chickenman suggests.

Dave

[HondoLane]

Thanks for the info.. I’m going to run some high tensile and a stake or two to make my traverse across open ground.

I finished up some tubing tools last night. Should be ready to go this weekend!
20472

[DrTimPerkins]

3/16" on flat ground.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ6hcsJf2hI