Sucking air from inside tree?

[West Sumner Sugar]

Has anyone ever run into this? I couldn't build any vacuum so I started checking my lines. Changed a few tees but nothing changed. Finally got a few pairs of vice grips to isolate parts of my line and tracked a leak back to a single tap. Changed the tee, dropline and tap and still leaking. Using the clear CVs I was able to see air bubbles being pulled into the tap. So Im guessing there is a hollow spot in this tree and Im sucking air from inside the tree. 27" of vacuum with this line pinched off, little to no vacuum with it open.

[Bruce L]

Could be a hollow spot,or close to an old taphole that is allowing air to your new tap

[Arctic Fox]

I had an experience similar to yours this season with an older red maple. It didn't look like the healthiest tree (as evidenced from it not healing very well from prior taps, though the crown looked fine) but we tapped into clean white wood and the spout seated well, but once the sap started running it was pretty clear there was a leak in the line. After changing the tee we ended up pulling the tap and putting a line connector in and that restored the vacuum. What caused the problem? I don't know. The spout, drop line, tee, and lateral were all good.

[DrTimPerkins]

Either the tree had a crack, was hollow inside, or you tapped too close to an open taphole. It happens.

[nas]

Here is a video of a hollow tree we tapped a few years ago
https://youtu.be/MOomFBeKI8c

Nick

[West Sumner Sugar]

Its always something. This is only the 3rd year on this tree and I know Im not near another hole. Must just be a hollow spot. Oh well, plugged it off this this year.

[Russell Lampron]

I tap a lot of reds and this happens more than you would think. So far this year I've found 4 in my 600 give or take reds. Now that the trees are getting thawed out I won't be surprised if I find more.

[DrTimPerkins]

Must just be a hollow spot. Oh well, plugged it off this this year.

This happens. We've already done a lot of work looking at the loss of sap yield from tapping into stained wood. While tapping this year, the crew flagged spouts where brown wood was hit so they could keep an eye on them. There were 43 taps across 5,452 taps where brown wood was hit (about a 0.8% stain hit rate, which is very good). Of those 43, 9 taps (so far) have been found to be leaking and required correction or removal (pull spout and cap). So brown wood costs both in terms of reduced sap yield and ALSO leaks which reduce vacuum and require time to track down and fix later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxeuNtUZQ5A

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Great video Dr. Tim, thanks for sharing.