3/16" line into bucket question.

[Pibster]

I have several 3/16" lines with 10-20 taps on each line. I run each line into a 5 gallon bucket (with a lid) and collect daily. One bucket is never enough so I have tried to connect two buckets to each sap line using a Tee. I normally get a really full bucket with the 2nd bucket mostly empty. It appears that I am losing sap on the ground once the main bucket fills. What is the best way to connect two 5 gallon buckets, in series or parallel? Thanks.

[DRoseum]

You should plan to have storage for 2 gallons per tap on 3/16 with decent slop. For 15 - 20 taps you should have 30 - 40 gallons of collection/storage per line. 5 gallon pails are significantly undersized for the sap volume you should be seeing.

Trying to combine 5 gallons pails will be frustrating. You will not be able to split the flow perfectly into 2 pails with a tee. You could connect them with a tube and bulk head fittings but would need them to be perfectly level with each other and may still have leaks at the fittings. You will quickly spend more time/money for sub optimal solutions vs finding larger food grade barrels.

[eustis22]

maybe change over to 55 gallon food grade barrels? or a 275 gallon tote?

[Pibster]

maybe change over to 55 gallon food grade barrels? or a 275 gallon tote? Unfortunately I have 5 or 6 of these runs in different locations so I would need a lot of barrels. I do have lots of smaller 5 gallon buckets, that’s why I am hoping to use them.

[Pibster]

Thanks for the advice. Last year I did not get anywhere near 2 gallons per tap, maybe a lot of it was leaking on the ground.

[Swingpure]

Not sure if this would work, but it is something I was thinking of tryin at one point, is to have a piece of tubing come out the side near the top of one pail and have it run to the same location on the other pail. Have the holes just large enough to squeeze the tubing in. The feed tube from your lines would only enter into one pail and the overflow would go into the other pail. I always thought that would work.

[Pibster]

Sounds like it might work. I was always worried about having the line into the bucket too tight and creating a back pressure which may keep the sap from entering the pail. Maybe that’s not possible, not sure.

[CaptT820]

A nice intermediate size container between a 5 gallon pail and a standard 55-gallon drum, is a gatorade/home depot/lowes cooler that comes in a 10-gallon size. You can use the flip style spout and drain the bucket rather quickly. It has an added bonus of being insulated on warmer/colder days to keep the sap at a reasonable temperature. I usually just drill one or two holes in the top of the container lid to allow the sap to enter.

[ebliese]

You could also look for the 20 or 30 gallon barrels but, as you said, you have multiple collection points. And that particular size of barrel might not hold enough for your runs.

[berkshires]

Not sure if this would work, but it is something I was thinking of tryin at one point, is to have a piece of tubing come out the side near the top of one pail and have it run to the same location on the other pail.

I have thought about this too. I never did it because I think there is too great a chance the line between the buckets will freeze and then the sap will just overflow onto the ground.

If you did it with like a 1” ID pipe I guess the whole pipe would never fill up, but that would be a pain to work with.

I just bought some bigger (14 gallon and 22 gall) barrels for these situations.

GO

[maple flats]

Why not try the idea of a transfer line from 1 bucket to the next several times in series. If you try that, just keep the buckets in succession always down hill and keep the lines tight bucket to bucket. If you want to vent, put a small breather hole in each lid, but have the overflow tubing fit tight, and close to the top of each bucket.
In my 1st season I had up to taps on a 5 gal jug (that I got from a Chinese restaurant, I cleaned them well which wasn't easy. I don't recall any over flows, but I emptied them 2x daily.