Vacuum in small flat woods.

[ddociam]

I’m opening up two groves this fall and would like to know what the best system to use on each one. There is very little natural slope. Not even one percent. I might be able to achieve that by starting high on one end and low on the other both woods will have a 1” mainline with lateral lines coming in but none over fifty feet long and at most 7 taps. Both mainlines are about 700 feet long and one with about 170 taps and the other 200 taps. I’ve considered using a 5.5 gallons per min pump. Or a guzzler.
Does anyone have an idea of what would give the most bang for the buck both will be emptying right into a tank.
I haven’t talked with Mountain Maple about their S3 controller but have been intrigued by it.
Jerry

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

For a cheap setup, a shurflo pump or guzzler setup would work OK. 170-200 taps is pushing it for a shurflo so go with a guzzler if you can afford it. The S3 controller is a great addition. We are planning to get at least one this year to go with our shurflo setup on 120 taps. We have another bush with 100 taps we hope to have ready for next season as well with a shurflo and s3 controller.

[Biz]

The S3 setup with 4gpm or larger diaphragm pump should handle the sap. A Guzzler gives you room to expand taps but there is a price jump. You want to be very careful of mainline pitch. For the pump to work well, there must be no sags or flat areas anywhere for sap to pool up, regardless of what pump is used.

Dave

[ddociam]

Last year was my first year with tubing. I made plenty of mistakes. With sags, leaks, and slope. I’ll do better this year. Last year. I had five surf lo pumps in five different groves. I just hooked the pump and strainer up to the mainline with a recirculating line with a clamp to regulate the flow and of course a battery. Nothing fancy. They were a lot of work but over all it was way easier than buckets. I still had 75 buckets out so I was busy last year. I will be down to just a few buckets this year.
Any more information on set up and or size recommendations would be appreciated.

[maple flats]

If you have rather flat land, you might want to design your tubing layout to all slope towards a center or near center point that is the lowest. There put the diaphragm pump and it can give vacuum to the taps helping to get more sap. The pump can then push the sap to a collection tank.