Preparing to tear down and reuse lines next year

[MarquisVII]

The majority of taps are from neighbor's yards so I have to take them down. It seems like such a pain that I was thinking about just tossing everything and buying brand new next year, particularly because I will most likely be running completely different patterns next year due to expansion. However, it seems silly not to salvage what I can as long as it's not too cumbersome. I currently have five 5/16 lines ranging from 40ft to about 400ft.

Currently my thought is this:

- I will sanitize everything before tear down
- I will cut off drops before tear down, leaving the tees in the laterals during storage
- I will plan to reuse the drop lengths but with all new spouts and tees next year
- If I run new patterns next year, there will be many (if not most) of the existing tees that will need to be cut out and replaced with nipples ("connectors"). This will be in addition to all the new tees that will get spliced in to the laterals from the drops. So it's possible I could have about twice as many "friction points" as I do taps in each line.

Question is: will this be adding excess friction to the point it will drastically affect the sap yields my Shurflo will be able to pull?

If so, I will just cut out and toss all the fittings and stockpile all the various tubing lengths for future repairs and for making into more drops.

Main goal is maximizing yield, even if net profits suffer from purchasing another 2000' of replacement tubing next year.

[ennismaple]

Mark,

We replace our tubing every 10 years (using check valves on years 3-10) so if what you're taking down is reasonably new you'll be fine re-using it next season. Slightly used tubing isn't as good as brand new but there's a cost-benefit to consider - I'm pretty sure Dr Tim has posted graphs of the degradation of sap yield over time. It shouldn't be too hard to either draw a diagram or mark the trees to indicate where the lines go. Before semi-rigid tubing we used to annually take down and put back up all our tubing for close to 4000 taps.

[collinsmapleman2012]

You can definetely re-use the tubing. one thing i've learned from taking down a section every year- if you can keep them organized, next year will be less agonizing for you. i coil mine and zip tie to the mains, you could also use white duct tape and write on it if you want to label where they go.

[Super Sapper]

If you were going to put it back up the way you had it this year, reusing would be a good idea. With running a new pattern and having to cut out and repair the old line consider your time and it's worth. With new you can use seasonal spouts instead of the more expensive check valve spouts and will not have all of the couplings to repair where you took out drops. I use about 13,000 feet of 3/16 and replace every year as I need to take it down and put it back up. Putting up new for me takes less than half the time and studies have shown the yield is better, offsetting some of the installation costs. You will have to look at the options and do what is best for you.

[MarquisVII]

It's the new pattern that has me constantly second guessing this. I already sanitized with cal hypo and the lines are drained and drying. I am going cut all drops off and roll them up for storage while I continue to ponder this for the next 9 months:lol: I might just end up running all new lines next year, in which case I will have about 750' of random lengths to cut new drops from. Of course that would complicate flushing the residual cal hypo next year. Maybe I would do it inside with saved permeate before I start chopping the tees out.