Tees

[220 maple]

During are State Maple Assoc meeting this his past Saturday one of the discussion topics was clogged 3/16 tubing, one of the producers had one line that was extremely clogged. One of the factors was the 3/16 line was not on steep ground, everyone else using 3/16 have it installed on ground with a lot of drop, the steepest possible, 3/16 just like 5/16 stays very clean when installed on steep ground. This gets me to my question? Could a tee be made polycarbonate, therefore being clear which would allow me to see how clogged it maybe, a polycarbonate tee for 3/16 tubing system only!

Mark 220 Maple

[DrTimPerkins]

Could a tee be made polycarbonate, therefore being clear which would allow me to see how clogged it maybe, a polycarbonate tee for 3/16 tubing system only!

Polycarbonate does not hold up well over several seasons. Very low UV resistance so they get brittle and break. I suppose a manufacturer could make them with a UV additive. The other alternative is to use silver impregnated fittings, which are good for 2-3 years. Note that silver-impregnated fittings or spouts are not allowed for organic maple syrup production.

Clogs tend to form just upstream of the fittings, so even with a polycarbonate fitting they would be quite difficult to see since they would be under the junction of the fitting and the tubing. They are difficult to detect visually in the best of circumstances. A better indicator is a lack of flow in one line or one section when other lines are flowing well.

Lastly, clogs form more rapidly on less steep ground (one reason why 3/16" is NOT recommended for such applications), but can form even on steep drops, but are less likely to. They are also less likely to form when supplemental pumped vacuum is used. This is because there is a larger pressure differential between the low and high side of the fitting. With only natural vacuum, especially if the clogging slows of stops flow almost entirely, there is little or no vacuum on the low side, but some head pressure on the uphill side. With pumped + natural vacuum, there is very low pressure (vacuum) on the low side, and high pressure on the uphill side, so a much higher pressure gradient. All of this means that clogs are less likely to form with pumped + natural vacuum than with natural vacuum alone, and are also more likely to be dislodged if the do form.

[maple flats]

The clogs are why I started a program of cleaning my tubing soon after the season, then again mid fall, each time using calcium based chlorine, then as I prepped for tapping I ran the pump pulling water thru, then I changed every tee and any connectors in the 3/16. Doing that I had very few in-season clogs. My 3/16 was not on steep ground. The chlorine I used was calcium hypochlorite, used for increasing swimming pool hardness. Each time, I filled the lines for a day, then drained and flushed with clean water.
My drops were all 5/16, 5/16 taps , into a 3/16 x 3/16 x 5/16 tee.