Tubing tension recomendations?

[Arctic Fox]

I was tightening up some 5/16 lines today and was wondering if you can over tension the lines by hand? Is this possible, and if so, how do you know how much is to much? I'm not pulling the line off the tees or connectors.

[therealtreehugger]

I was told they hold on really tight to the fittings, and you can put a lot of tension on them. Having gone back and looking at last years tubing, I had it tight enough that through the year, it started to bend part of a small fitting, rather than the tubing.

I would say tighten it until it is straight. My concern right now, especially with this cold weekend, is when it warms, things will relax, and lines will droop if I don't tighten enough.

[hogisland42]

If you go overboard you can stretch the plastic which narrows the internal diameter of the tubing, but you would have to really have to pull on it to do that. and to pull them off a fitting you wouldn't be able to do that by hand anyway

[gbeneke]

I make adjustments to my 3/16 tubing by having a few smaller bungee cords in my truck. When a line starts to sag, I hook the one end of the bungee on the tubing, go around the tree on the opposite side of the tree and hook up the other end of the bungee on the tubing. If not tight enough. just double the bungee and go back to the first connection. You can also go to a nearby sapling. This method, which I am not explaining well, also help to remove future sags as the bungee takes up the slack.
Doc

[maple flats]

Arctic fox, if by chance they sag when the sap is flowing, just add a side pull to remove the sag. Try not to pull too far so as to cause too sharp a bend. You may need to add few few. I use 1/2" plastic strap (looks like chain link), before I got that I used 14 ga wire, just be careful not to kink the 5/16.
https://www.zoro.com/prolock-poly-chain-lock-tree-tie-12-in-x-250-ft-1101/i/G3935312/feature-product?utm_source=google&utm_medium=surfaces&utm_campaign=shopping%20feed&utm_content=free%20google%20shopping%20clicks&gclid=CjwKCAiAgc-ABhA7EiwAjev-j_gIXmyQ2dBmYO3q1yjpA4-xOZogB-r_rSkLzyO8eh9fraS2X-f_ZRoCI5sQAvD_BwE Others carry it too.

[eagle lake sugar]

Moose will walk through my tubing occasionally, especially when in the rut. The tubing stretches until it's probably 1/4" o.d. before it breaks, the stuff is tough!

[Mead Maple]

I read this yesterday but decided to wait. Today I'll throw my $.02 in.

When I run line (3/16") it's usually me with a roll of tubing on my arm picking the path, my 9yo boy with loppers trying to clear some face whips, and my 7yo girl guiding my 3yo girl down the hill hopefully not ending up in a pile and me having to explain to the wife what happened. Once we get to the bottom, we'll hand off the little one to Mom and head back up the hill. Between the 3 of us we play a fun game of down-hill leap frog pulling tension every other tree or so while I walk the line with my hand gripping and sliding for tension. A lot of time once I get to a tree with good grip, I'll replace one of the kids and give a little more pulling while they go to the next. I'm generally not very bashful with pull but understanding that I also don't need to cause problems with broken lines if a tree were to come down or an animal walks through. But in the end I would consider it "pretty good tension" by the time I'm all said and done. This again is with 5/16".

[Sugarmaker]

Tight and down hill! I like to re-tension mine when I am gathering to remove any sags. I have adjusters at each end to allow tightening depending on temps too. If I tighten too much when warm, it can pull fittings apart when the temp drops 30 degrees.
Regards,
Chris

[Arctic Fox]

I've used 3/16 and I think I've gotten pretty good tension on that, with no sags when full of sap, but 5/16 will have a lot more sap in it. I used some 5/16 last year but didn't have it tensioned nearly enough and had some bad sags. I didn't do much with it last year because the line was full of sap and the taps were in, and I was running a diaphragm pump on the line.
This week I went out and tightened the 5/16 line up with my dad and to give you an idea of how much I tightened it, some drops that used to be on the tree are now about 7 feet away from the tree. There are no sags in the empty line now! I now need to go back and move my drops much closer to the tree.

[Pdiamond]

Mead. There is only one thing I have to say to you, Don't change a pea pick'in thing you're doing with your kids. That is amazing.

[Bucket Head]

I run and tighten lines just like Mead does it- but I do it with my father and/or brother in law. And lately, it's either my father or me, or sometimes both of us, who end up in a pile somewhere along the run!

Steve

[Mead Maple]

Mead. There is only one thing I have to say to you, Don't change a pea pick'in thing you're doing with your kids. That is amazing.

Thanks Diamond. We've spent the last two weekends inside painting because I was threatened with "there'll be NO sugaring this year until this downstairs is painted." Needless to say we finally got that done and at some point I'll have to mud a bunch of claw marks on the walls from them and I. We absolutely love being outside and the kids are crazy about sugaring. I see this being a long standing (expensive) tradition for many years to come but wouldn't change a pea pickin' thing. I appreciate the kind words!