advice on sanitizing take down lines

[john henry]

I currently have quite a few lines that I remove every year. In the past I have been using the air / water rinse on all of them back at the sugar house after removal. The more I read from the experts doing all the research, what I am doing likely does very little if any good. So my season is over here in southern PA And I have almost all of my lines removed. I would like to try to sanitize my lines. I normally hang them up at the sugarhouse and "rinse" them and run filtered compressed oil less air through them and stash them away in totes in the sugarhouse. Should I just put them away now with some residual sap in them and then rinse / bleach sanitize / rinse In the late fall before I reinstall them? I would rather not do it in the spring and in the fall both... Or should I rinse / bleach sanitize / rinse them now and store away?

[Jeff E]

I have done rinses, and in the end, I end up with the same amount of stuff in the lines the following year that I get just pulling taps under vacuum.
I now just let the first sap flush the lines, dumping about an hours worth of early sap. Then I use sap filters and those get dirty pretty quick the first few days.

Many have said that using sanitizing agents can have some down sides, such as residue getting into the sap, critters liking the taste of it and starting a chewing craze to name a few.

In the end, I only want water, air and sap in my lines.

[christopherh]

I take some of mine down every year. Last year I filled the lines and let them soak for awhile in hypochlorite solution. The Maple News had an article on this awhile ago. I rinsed them very throughly. Great results this year, no plugs at all.

[Pdiamond]

If you put them away with residual sap in them, by fall they will also contain this yucky black mold that will never come out.

[berkshires]

This thread and other recent ones have convinced me to hold off on putting up my first lines for a while. It seems like sanitation on 3/16 lines is kind of a problem, and I think I can get enough sap from buckets near my sugar shack to feed my evaporator for now. I'll let you pros figure out the best protocol for 3/16 before I get into the game.

GO

[berkshires]

This thread and other recent ones have convinced me to hold off on putting up my first lines for a while. It seems like sanitation on 3/16 lines is kind of a problem, and I think I can get enough sap from buckets near my sugar shack to feed my evaporator for now. I'll let you pros figure out the best protocol for 3/16 before I get into the game.

GO