Clamps

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

will i need to put clamps on my 5/16 hose connections?

thank you guys

RICH

[jemsklein]

you should not have too my lines take about 300 lbs before they pull of of the fitting

[royalmaple]

Do you mean on your barbed fittings like taps, tees , y's etc? If so then no. Just push them on to the end of the barbs and you'll be fine. Some of them you can pull a truck out of the woods and the tubing won't come off.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

THANK YOU ROYALMAPLE

will i need to put them together with a tool or just warm water and push??

RICH

[royalmaple]

If you are not going to use vacuum and are just trying to keep things in a budget then you can try the water. I use a two handed tubing tool and they are expensive. If you are thinking about doing much tubing they are well worth it. I know guys use hot water but I never have. You might have a hard time in the woods since there are going to be times when you just don't have enough hands to hold stuff keep things tight dip ends in hot water and press them together all in one shot. Not to discourage you, give it a shot you'll find out pretty soon if you feel comfortable doing it. But either way no need for clamps, just get the tubing on the fittings.

[maplecrest]

if you are going to use vac, do not use hot water the fitting will leak vac.if you do not have a tool, and what i do in a pinch is breath on the end of the line and it warms it enough to push on the barb. if you chew on it it will leak vac. i have found the same trick works for main line, so i do not have to drag a torch along. and does not leak vac.

[802maple]

One thing is don't use a torch as it will break down the formula in the tubing and evenyually it will get brittle and break. If you don't have many to do the onesided repair tool works just fine. If you are mechanically inclined the tubing installation tool isn't to hard to build or maybe a local sugarmaker that has one will loan or rent you his. Good luck

[Sugarmaker]

OSB,
The hot water will allow you to install the tubing easily over the barbed fittings but any amount of tension on the lateral and you might have the tubing pull off the barb. I used that method (hot water) last year and when the lines started coming apart I bought a tubing tool and also went to stiffer tubing, which stopped the pull apart problem, but I was not happy to find lines down when I went to gather:(

I have not had to use hose clamps and Hop I dont have to That would be a lot more work if you have a lot of taps. Most tubing and fittings are designed to be used with out them. But I have seen post where folks have used them to get really high stretch loads on long laterals.

I am definitely not a expert on tubing: only having used it one year. But I want to get as much sap as possible and I do believe a tight sloped system will get close to the sap as buckets.

By the way; I took apart all the lines this year and rebuilt them using the stiffer tubing and installed the lines cold with a 1 hand tubing tool. I am only doing about 400 taps so it wasn't to bad.

I do learn the hard way:)

Chris

[Pete33Vt]

With us we have used both we have a two handled tubing tool which works great for drops, but the one tool I would not be without is the one hand repair tool. The more you use it you will find you can do everything with them as far as lateral s go. and they fit great in camo pants side pockets. If I was to start over thats the first tool I would buy. We have two and would be without them.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

sounds like i will have to buy a tool. i only want to do this 1 time

THANKS FOR THE HELP GUYS

RICH

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Rich,

The maple guys have a nice 1 handed tool that was about $ 60 a couple of years ago.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

thanks westvirginia

probably 80.00 today

RICH

[rschoo]

how many taps are you shooting for next season?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

200 Hundred On Vac And 50 On Roadside

Rich