Ok for collection point to be uphill with shurflow vacuum?

[Darrel Wright]

Does anyone run their little shurflow systems uphill to the tank? In my situation we currently have 3 3/16th runs down flowing down the slope of a ravine with about 35 ft of drop. Is it going to work to suck those line UP the slope with the shurflow vacuum? Or is this not advisble because any leak is going to mean no sap at all

[littleTapper]

Pump at the bottom; push to the top.

[Darrel Wright]

Pump at the bottom; push to the top.

The main reason for wanting to go uphill for these lines is to centrally locate the pump. There would be 2 other lines on the other side which is flat elevation.

[Pdiamond]

You can always try it and see if it works, what's the worst that could happen?

[Biz]

You will lose a significant amount of vacuum (and sap yield) doing this. For best sap yield, draw sap into collection tank at bottom of hill, and add a second pump to transfer from collection tank up the hill.

If a second pump is not an option, I have done this using a single pump for vacuum and transfer, and using a pair of manually activated ball valves for the transfer lines I have also set up customer systems to do this automatically with an S4 controller. It can still draw some vacuum during the transfer but in my setup I sap vacuum level drop about 10" during the sap transfer. Not ideal but it can work.

Dave

[DRoseum]

What Dave described is is exactly what I did for a couple years with one of my shurflo setups. It works, but isn't ideal for the reasons he stated. This year I added the 2nd pump for transfers uphill. I bought a diaphragm pump that is the exact same as my RO pumps - work great for pumping uphill and can help make sure I have a backup for the ROs if necessary. I'd recommended his approach as a starting point and then later add the 2nd pump (and then automation LOL).

There is always *just 1 more thing* you can do to improve things when processing sap/syrup. It's part of the disease we all have. Lol.