Pump House design

[Maplewalnut]

Looking for some thoughts on building a pump house. It will be about 60 yards and 40 feet drop in elevation from sugarhouse and only house an electric releaser with a 3 phase submersible pump. Will support about 1000 taps. Vacuum pump will be left at sugarhouse. With this set up would I need a small overflow tank to drain my pump line during hard freezes or would it just drain back into releaser? I know to insulate it well and may use propane monitor for heat so I don’t need as much electricity feed run

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks
Mike

[TapTapTap]

I'm looking to do a PS too. My distance is more like 1500 ft. I figure I'll need a collection tank and separate pump and controls to push it back to the sugarhouse. The reason is that the sap in the pump line is too much for the electric releaser capacity. I could check valve it but then I'd have the freezing issue. Even with you're shorter push i think you'll need to do something about the freezing pump line.

Right now i have a mechanical releaser and i pump it up with a little 2" honda pump which i typically do a couple of times a day (PIA). But I'm not convinced upgrading to electric will be any cheaper or trouble free.

Still thinking about it for next season.

[Maplewalnut]

I have plenty of tank capacity at the sugarhouse and from everything I hear once you switch from mechanical to electric releasers you never go back. Getting prices on electric releasers over the next few weeks.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

I swapped to electric releasers last year and they are amazing. My only suggestion is to buy new. You never know what you are getting used. (Bad experience) in terms of pump houses/stations I have 3, I'll try to upload some to YouTube in the Am and I'll post a link.

[TapTapTap]

I have plenty of tank capacity at the sugarhouse and from everything I hear once you switch from mechanical to electric releasers you never go back. Getting prices on electric releasers over the next few weeks.

That's where I'm at too, but I'm not sure whether the pumpline would thaw before the wet lines. If it doesn't, will the pump and seals and everything be okay when trying to push against a frozen line. And other problems like sap running into the wet lines of even vacuum pump line.

[sapman]

Is running pump line underground practical for either of you? I've seen it done. It certainly presents its own problems. If it's running through the sugarbush, probably not an option, with trees, roots, etc

[TapTapTap]

Is running pump line underground practical for either of you? I've seen it done. It certainly presents its own problems. If it's running through the sugarbush, probably not an option, with trees, roots, etc

I have heard about that. However, to do it right, the cost and challenges with an underground system far outweigh any benefit, unless you have the perfect site.

Take my property for example,. You wouldn't get 3 ft of trench before encountering boulders. Besides a bigger excavator, now you need replacement material for pipe bedding, and your 12" wide trench is now 42" wide because of that boulder so you need even more imported bedding. You could end up spending 10 times more on pipe bedding than on pipe. And that scenario could turn out to be a minor issue. If that boulder is bedrock, then i need a blasting contractor.

[doocat]

I think the issue you will run into is elevation. The pump in releaser has reduced flow when under high vacuum. They work great pumping into a tank but to pump up elevation I think there is a limit. A pump in a tank on the other will have only head pressure to fight against. I’m sure someone doing it will chime in. Craig

[TapTapTap]

Yes, Pump capacity becomes an issue and needs to be considered. High vacuum adds the equivalent of 30 ft more of elevation to lift the sap.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We release into a tank and the pump 1400 feet through a 1" above ground line and up about 30 feet with a half horse Grundfos.