Taps and drops.

[Trapper2]

I know I have read this before and I know there have been studies. Should taps be changed every year and drops every 3rd? forgot best practice. These are on gravity, not vacuum.
Thanks

[tcross]

more or less, you're correct, for vacuum. or you could use check valve taps and change taps yearly and the drops when they get too short or they turn to junk. i'm not 100% sure that's the case with gravity.

[maple flats]

Only if you want to make the most syrup! Cutting corners reduces yield by a lot.

[buckeye gold]

Just do the math. Say you have 250 taps and you average .25 gallons of syrup per tap that's 62.5 gallons of syrup. Studies show that sanitation is important and even more so on gravity. I'm not taking the time to look up the actual numbers but theoretically lets just use a small percentage like a 10% loss of syrup per tap. That will reduce your syrup by 6.25 gallons. Lets use $40.00 per gallon as a value. That's $250.00 in lost income. To replace taps on 250 drops will cost you approx. $60.00 for taps. Not a good trade in my book. I suspect the difference is even greater then that, but I'm too lazy to look up the data. I go one better and replace taps and tees every year, drops every other year and whole lines between 3 and 5 years (depends on damage). Sometiimes what seems like being frugal is actually costing us in the long run, look at the big picture.

[SeanD]

Ditto to the responses. Spouts every year, drops every three. The other thing I will add is that you can arrange it so that 1/3 of your drops are replaced this year, 1/3 in '23, and 1/3 in '24. Then you always have some new taps on line and it theoretically evens out the booms and busts from new to older tubing. It also evens out the costs and labor a bit.

[SeanD]

I went back and re-watched the PMRC video on spot/drop sanitation practices (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z35z6oZDz4A&list=PLZP4fDl-nB9-4aZkQyDR070QpxcAr02q5&index=4&ab_channel=UVMProctorMapleResearchCenter). I had originally understood the best practice as check valves AND 3-year drop replacement, but it's actually presented as check valves OR 3-year drop replacement. I'm not sure if you are using CVs on gravity, but I thought I'd throw that in there. Of course, CVs AND 3-year replacement will provide higher results, but will add labor and cost to the decision.

[Trapper2]

I went back and re-watched the PMRC video on spot/drop sanitation practices (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z35z6oZDz4A&list=PLZP4fDl-nB9-4aZkQyDR070QpxcAr02q5&index=4&ab_channel=UVMProctorMapleResearchCenter). I had originally understood the best practice as check valves AND 3-year drop replacement, but it's actually presented as check valves OR 3-year drop replacement. I'm not sure if you are using CVs on gravity, but I thought I'd throw that in there. Of course, CVs AND 3-year replacement will provide higher results, but will add labor and cost to the decision.

Thanks for providing that link Sean.