Bad start to the day

[Maple Lady]

Entered my shack this morning only to find the floor all wet. It hadn't rained so I didn't know what was going on at first. My evaporator and float box were all covered, then I realized the float box was overflowing! My head tank was shut off but there was a slow leak past the ball valve. It's brass and I didn't think this would happen. It was brand new just last year. I hadn't boiled since last Friday and had been adding sap to the tank. I didn't lift the covers on the pans to realize they were filling up slowly. Will take a look at the ball valve tomorrow now that the tank is empty. Could've been worse I guess, but any suggestions so this doesn't happen again?

[Sugarmaker]

Ball valves are usually pretty good. Keep a eye on everything!:)
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

What do you have for a head tank? They make plugs for the drains on the round bottom tanks.

[buckeye gold]

I have never left sap in a head tank. If I can't boil it I move it to storage tanks, but I usually boil all I have being small.

[Crooked Cellars Farm]

This has happened to me as well, although it didn't overflow my evaporator. Mine happened during a freeze and blew my ball valve apart. Fortunately it was frozen and I didn't spill 55 gal. of sap all over the floor. I now have 2 valves feeding from my head tank to my float box. One valve is at my head tank that I leave completely open when I'm boiling and one at my float box that I use to control the flow into the float box, in case I have too much head pressure. That way if I do leave sap in my head tank, which I try not to anymore, I can have some redundancy in the line so I'm not relying on just one valve. Best bet, or best practice would be to not leave sap in your head tank and keep it in a storage tank until your ready to boil.

[Maple Lady]

What do you have for a head tank? They make plugs for the drains on the round bottom tanks.
It's one of those white 55 gallon barrells. I have a bulkhead fitting on the bottom. I'd have to disconnect the hose in order to plug it. If that's what you mean.

[Maple Lady]

This has happened to me as well, although it didn't overflow my evaporator. Mine happened during a freeze and blew my ball valve apart. Fortunately it was frozen and I didn't spill 55 gal. of sap all over the floor. I now have 2 valves feeding from my head tank to my float box. One valve is at my head tank that I leave completely open when I'm boiling and one at my float box that I use to control the flow into the float box, in case I have too much head pressure. That way if I do leave sap in my head tank, which I try not to anymore, I can have some redundancy in the line so I'm not relying on just one valve. Best bet, or best practice would be to not leave sap in your head tank and keep it in a storage tank until your ready to boil.

I had thought about a second valve for safety measure, but think I may have to start filling my spare barrell until I can boil it and pump it to the head tank. Too many freeze ups on the valve I guess.

[maple flats]

Is it safe to assume you had a freeze? A ball valve will fail if it is full of sap during a freeze. The problem is that the ball itself allows no place for expansion as the sap freezes inside the hole in the ball. At least 2 options, the cheaper of the 2 is to have 2 valves in series, that is how I do sap transfer lines where sap will often still be in the line. To shut off I close the valve closer to the from tank, then drain the line down stream, then with that valve empty I close the valve, then open the first valve. With the second valve drained and closed it will not freeze and fail, the other valve in the open position also will not fail as long as it is close enough to the tank to push any expansion back into the tank.
Option 2 is to get a valve like this: https://www.brewershardware.com/1-Tri-Clover-Butterfly-Valve.html?category_id=274 but then you also need to get the adapters to change from thread to Tri-clover and a seal for each joint. That is the way all of my tanks are. That valve will not fail if it freezes, but you would need to thaw it to get flow. There may be other options as well.

[Maple Lady]

Is it safe to assume you had a freeze? A ball valve will fail if it is full of sap during a freeze. The problem is that the ball itself allows no place for expansion as the sap freezes inside the hole in the ball. At least 2 options, the cheaper of the 2 is to have 2 valves in series, that is how I do sap transfer lines where sap will often still be in the line. To shut off I close the valve closer to the from tank, then drain the line down stream, then with that valve empty I close the valve, then open the first valve. With the second valve drained and closed it will not freeze and fail, the other valve in the open position also will not fail as long as it is close enough to the tank to push any expansion back into the tank.
Option 2 is to get a valve like this: https://www.brewershardware.com/1-Tri-Clover-Butterfly-Valve.html?category_id=274 but then you also need to get the adapters to change from thread to Tri-clover and a seal for each joint. That is the way all of my tanks are. That valve will not fail if it freezes, but you would need to thaw it to get flow. There may be other options as well.
Thank you Maple flats. I ended up buying a new ball valve and will make sure there is no sap left below it. It worked fine last year and there were lots of freezing nights. But when I think back, I never had sap in the line going to the float box. I never thought about it this year when I ran out of time to boil all the contents of my tank and sap was still in the line. Took the valve apart and the ball was indeed cracked. I'm sure it won't be the last lesson I learn. Lol.

[maple flats]

It is not just sap below the valve but mostly sap trapped inside the ball (ball valve). That is where 2 in series works, close the top one, drain the lower one, then close the lower one (ball now empty) and open the top one. It sounds like a lot of steps, and it only works if you can fully drain the bottom one before you close it, that means the air must get in from the bottom.

[Big_Eddy]

Or with the valve closed, drill a hole from downstream into the centre of the ball. When you close the valve and drain the line below the valve, the small amount of sap normally trapped in the ball can then also drain out. It is usually easier to disassemble the valve to drill the ball than to do it in place. Be sure there are no burs or sharp edges on your drilled hole to damage the sealing material.


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[Maple Lady]

Thanks Big Eddy, that's a good idea.