Vacuum on 5/16

[TheNamelessPoet]

Is it ok? I have lots of 5/16 tubingleft, and some taps to last me a year or 2. I was considering adding vacuum next year at a family members house, if he has enough trees close enough. just curious if I did 5/16 for a year or 2 if it would be an issue.

[Jeff E]

That would be standard for lines going to trees. But we typically have no more that 7 trees on a 5/16 line. Those then connect to a bigger line, like a 3/4" for vacuum. Up to 200 taps on a 3/4".
Lots of posts regarding tapping/tubing guidelines....

[West Sumner Sugar]

Ive got 80 taps on 5/16 hooked to a Shurflo pump with no issues. It pulls sap on days you would never expect it to. Any vacuum is better than no vacuum!

[DougM]

We have 3 lunchboxes with 112, 82, and 93 on them, all 5/16" tubing. We usually have around 22" at the pump & 15 or so at the far ends of our lines, probably 400-500' away from the pump.

[VT_K9]

I would recommend trying it. Even small vacuum makes a difference on flow. We had great luck with a sap puller for a few years prior to going to a full vacuum system. I know a lot of people here are using a sureflow 12 v pump to establish vacuum.

I would limit my sap lines to around 100 feet for good transfer of vacuum. I also would limit my taps per sap line to 5-7 (looking to stay closer to 5). Each run would enter a larger, 3/4" or 1", mainline and then carry the sap to a primary collection point. Mainlines can be combined to a larger mainline if necessary (our sap puller had a 1 1/4" inlet/outlet on it).

A challenge with a sap puller or sureflow pump is they do not build enough CFMs to run a sap ladder (a tool to lift sap from one elevation to another) which can vary in height. This is one reason why we moved to a vacuum.

I would size your line more to handle sap to avoid dips and freezing. Sure 3/4" can handle quite a few taps, however 1" is not much more and can address freeze challenges better. Sight down the "run" and look to see if the top of the pipe dips below the bottom of the pipe. This is where you can add posts or side tie. However sometimes a larger line handles a small dip better.

Good luck,

Mike