Trouble shooting tubing during a run.

[ddociam]

I am a newbie to tubing. I have three groves tubed with 1 inch mainline with 4008 pump. Recirculating line. I’ve some leaks which I’ve fixed. I have some sap just sitting in lateral line not seeming to move.
I’m on very flat ground and there are some places where the mainline fills up. But mostly I’ve got the gradient so it doesn’t.
Any trouble shooting hints from those more experienced. I could use some help. My main lines are all less than 500 feet.


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[mol1jb]

Laterals are 5/16 or 3/16?

[DrTimPerkins]

Question...is sap coming out of the mainline when it should (during a thaw period)? If so, it may be fine, just slow flow. Does it come out in a steady stream or in big batches that squirt in and then stop. Probably hard to tell with the 4008 though.

If your mainlines are filled, you are getting very poor vacuum transfer as well as very poor liquid transfer. You do need some slope to keep the sap moving downhill. The mainlines should not ever be more than about 1/2 filled if you're using vacuum. You'd be better off sloping the mainline and using sap ladders (spiders) or running the laterals up to the mainline if necessary (or another type of method). That way you'd at least get good liquid flow and good vacuum transfer in the mainline.

Watching sap move in a line, in particular in a 5/16" lateral line is very deceiving. Often it doesn't look like it is moving when it actually is. Better to watch to see if the bubbles are moving at all...even twitching a little.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We just hooked up a Shurflo for the first time this week on one of our brand new mainlines, 125 taps. We have good slope for the mainline, no issue there for us. We had collected several times already so I new things were flowing. Went up Tuesday, second day with the pump on to check for leaks. Was happy to not find any but I saw the same thing as you with the lines and it drove me nuts. Walked to the end of the mainline, cracked the ball valve to check and we had vacuum at the end of the 1000' line. Didn't have a gauge on it yet but it felt pretty strong. So I decided to walk away and ignore those lines. Had 50% more sap the next day than another tank that had been neck and neck with this one every run this year. So I decided that I need to ignore the sap sitting in the lines and trust the vacuum is doing it's job.

[DrTimPerkins]

So I decided that I need to ignore the sap sitting in the lines and trust the vacuum is doing it's job.

Exactly. A watched pot doesn't boil. A watched tubing system doesn't flow.

[ddociam]

Gentlemen. Thank you. We had a slow down here so I pulled all the batteries in to charge.
The laterals are all 5/16. The mainline is one inch and the flow seems to be steady but very slow. It just gushes in when you first start it then goes to this spurt spurt spurt type of flow. I used a c clamp on the recirculating line to adjust. That seems to work real well.
Most of the trees were planted about 10 feet apart but there are gaps were it may 30 feet so the Lines droop. I have side tied and propped up so it is fairly even.
I might try shortening the run to increase the slope.
I vaguely understand the concept of sap ladders. But have no idea how to set one up.


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