SmellsLikeSyrupNH
02-23-2022, 06:38 AM
Good luck to everyone on their season this year!
I really went big over the past year and did a ton of upgrades. With that I have a huge learning curve and figuring out to do. Equipment malfunctions are my biggest frustrations!
First things first, I installed 3/4" mainline at a horse farm near my house. 375 taps there. Set it all up with a Guzzler pump, and it seems to be going really well. So far I have collected almost 800 gallons from there over the past 2 weeks. I have no complaints on the setup, just wish I could figure out these micro leaks and get that pump to read higher. I have 3 valves and guages along the mainline and at the pump I am getting about 18-20", at the end of the line getting about 14". Ive walked the lines a dozen times and just cant seem to find where the leaks are. Im still happy with that increased sap, and I will continue to tinker and try and improve it.
I have 2 other smaller section, 1 has 75 and the other has 125 taps. Both of those are also on their own guzzlers. Getting 20-22" on both of them, very happy over all. I had some squirrel bites that were pretty easy to find on the 125 setup. Once I found them its flowing like crazy. Emptied the tank last night, came out this morning and it had 150 more gallons.
At my main bush at my house, Up to almost 500 taps. Got a Welch 1397 Vac Pump and a Lapierre releaser. Had a learning curve to get over with this. My releaser had 2 issues when sap started flowing. First I didnt line up the arrows right on the top to the cylinder and it caused the flap to not open. I flooded the moisture trap and the vac pump. Lesson learned. Drained the pump, aligned the arrows and under the top of the cover of the releaser there is a white sleeve the rod for the float rides up and down. That rod was not up inside the cap securely, it was just free sliding on the rod. I secured it up into the top and the float mechanism works great now. dumping very well!
Last night around 530 I pumped out 150 gallons from that tank and everything was working as expected. I went inside my house and came back out at 930 to see how it was going before I went to bed. I could smell burnt rubber. I checked the pump and the electric motor was spinning just fine with no belts on it, the main wheel on the pump is frozen solid. Seems to have seized. :mad::mad::mad: It had plenty of oil, I just added some more to it yesterday and it was completely filled on Sunday. It had less than 20 hours of run time and it was just totally rebuilt. As of right now I have no clue what to do with it. I talked to the guy who rebuilt it and he will be in the area this weekend and I will give it back to him. I paid $1400 for the rebuild and to only get 20hours out of it is very disappointing.
Luckily I have 1 more Guzzler I am going to hook up to my main line and run with that until I can get the Vac Pump issue resolved. Today I wont get anything out of that line as its down and I had to come to work at my real job, will be in the 60's all day and Im easily losing a few 100 gallons of production from that. Luckily we have a freeze up coming after today and it will give me time to fix it.
I think thats enough whining for today....I wont even talk about my RO LOL.....AAARRGGHHH!!!!!
I really went big over the past year and did a ton of upgrades. With that I have a huge learning curve and figuring out to do. Equipment malfunctions are my biggest frustrations!
First things first, I installed 3/4" mainline at a horse farm near my house. 375 taps there. Set it all up with a Guzzler pump, and it seems to be going really well. So far I have collected almost 800 gallons from there over the past 2 weeks. I have no complaints on the setup, just wish I could figure out these micro leaks and get that pump to read higher. I have 3 valves and guages along the mainline and at the pump I am getting about 18-20", at the end of the line getting about 14". Ive walked the lines a dozen times and just cant seem to find where the leaks are. Im still happy with that increased sap, and I will continue to tinker and try and improve it.
I have 2 other smaller section, 1 has 75 and the other has 125 taps. Both of those are also on their own guzzlers. Getting 20-22" on both of them, very happy over all. I had some squirrel bites that were pretty easy to find on the 125 setup. Once I found them its flowing like crazy. Emptied the tank last night, came out this morning and it had 150 more gallons.
At my main bush at my house, Up to almost 500 taps. Got a Welch 1397 Vac Pump and a Lapierre releaser. Had a learning curve to get over with this. My releaser had 2 issues when sap started flowing. First I didnt line up the arrows right on the top to the cylinder and it caused the flap to not open. I flooded the moisture trap and the vac pump. Lesson learned. Drained the pump, aligned the arrows and under the top of the cover of the releaser there is a white sleeve the rod for the float rides up and down. That rod was not up inside the cap securely, it was just free sliding on the rod. I secured it up into the top and the float mechanism works great now. dumping very well!
Last night around 530 I pumped out 150 gallons from that tank and everything was working as expected. I went inside my house and came back out at 930 to see how it was going before I went to bed. I could smell burnt rubber. I checked the pump and the electric motor was spinning just fine with no belts on it, the main wheel on the pump is frozen solid. Seems to have seized. :mad::mad::mad: It had plenty of oil, I just added some more to it yesterday and it was completely filled on Sunday. It had less than 20 hours of run time and it was just totally rebuilt. As of right now I have no clue what to do with it. I talked to the guy who rebuilt it and he will be in the area this weekend and I will give it back to him. I paid $1400 for the rebuild and to only get 20hours out of it is very disappointing.
Luckily I have 1 more Guzzler I am going to hook up to my main line and run with that until I can get the Vac Pump issue resolved. Today I wont get anything out of that line as its down and I had to come to work at my real job, will be in the 60's all day and Im easily losing a few 100 gallons of production from that. Luckily we have a freeze up coming after today and it will give me time to fix it.
I think thats enough whining for today....I wont even talk about my RO LOL.....AAARRGGHHH!!!!!