Leave the vacuum On?

[RC Maple]

I have tried to search for this answer but have not been able to find it. Our last freeze was Saturday night, 2/25. The sap pretty much has quit running by now. Our next freeze has been pushed back to Tuesday night. What is the best practice for tubing systems when there is a period of no sap flow? Is it best to run the vacuum some every day or leave it on the whole time? I turn mine off at night sometimes since it is a solar setup. What is best for the health of the tap holes? It would be nice to clean the tank and leave it clean and empty until the next run. It looks like after Tuesday we get back to good sap weather!

[johnallin]

Don't know if it's correct or not, but I turn mine off for a deep freeze or extended warm period.
I used to leave it on longer but noticed the sugar content would drop terribly - no sense in pulling straight water in.
Also gives me a chance to clean lifter, manifold and tank(s).
For me, it's not important to make a lot of syrup - just trying to make really good syrup.
Let's hope we have another week or so.

[MillbrookMaple]

Depends on you situation. My Releaser is out in the elements so if I leave it on when it hits freezing I end up with a block of ice in it. The chamber in a 6000 tap horizontal releaser holds a lot of sap so once last year it froze just shy of dumping and I ended up with a giant ice block that took major effort to thaw out in the field and I lost about 5 hours getting it working again. I now turn mine off when it starts to ice up and turn it back on when it starts to run again. Some say they leave their pumps running all season. My guess they have electric releasers inside buildings.

[darkmachine]

This is the first season I have just left mine on. I have a double barrel mechanical releaser. Ive had more warm weather than freezing weather. I turned it off twice, both times it was scheduled to be below 20 degrees. I have heard some producers say maintaining flow especially through warm periods can slow or prevent premature tap hole closure. With freezes separated by a few warm days with no freeze I am hoping that it will help have a decent season despite the wacky weather.

[RC Maple]

Thanks for the replies. I was planning on leaving the pump off. I had cleaned the tank and was going to leave it that way until the next run started. Even though we had almost 2" of rain on Friday and we had the crick running through two woods where I have over half my taps, it got just cold enough make the trees run Saturday and Sunday. They didn't run much but every tree ran. I ended up running the pump until last night when they were slowing to a halt. Can't wait to get going again.

[DrTimPerkins]

I have tried to search for this answer but have not been able to find it. Our last freeze was Saturday night, 2/25. The sap pretty much has quit running by now. Our next freeze has been pushed back to Tuesday night. What is the best practice for tubing systems when there is a period of no sap flow?

If your pump can handle it, best practice is to leave the pump running unless the trees/tubing are completely frozen. This will keep any sap that does come out moving away from the taphole (instead of serving as food for microbes IN the taphole) and will reduce the amount of sap backflow that might occur.