2 taps, 1 bucket... is this right?

[l3rian]

Seems like it should work, but production seems low. Seems like the tubes get "vapor locked" or something. Would I be better off running each tap individually? They fill with sap, but it's barely dripping out. Tried to upload a picture, but it keeps failing on my phone. Basically, I have 2 taps with a tube attached coming into a "T" with the third leg attached to a tube going to the bucket. It's 36 degrees out right now, and the sap in the tubes is thawed, just not dripping out really. Feel like maybe I did something wrong.

[maple flats]

What are the daytime temperatures and how many days of 38 or above since you had multiple days well below freezing? The trees likely are not fully thawed.
The old timers used to say the season won't run well until the trees have a donut shaped bare spot around the trees, that's when the roots start to be thawed.

[johnallin]

Seems like it should work, but production seems low. Seems like the tubes get "vapor locked" or something. Would I be better off running each tap individually? They fill with sap, but it's barely dripping out. Tried to upload a picture, but it keeps failing on my phone. Basically, I have 2 taps with a tube attached coming into a "T" with the third leg attached to a tube going to the bucket. It's 36 degrees out right now, and the sap in the tubes is thawed, just not dripping out really. Feel like maybe I did something wrong.

Unless your T is plugged with wood chips, it shouldn’t be a problem.
If you can run both drops straight to your bucket you wouldn’t have to be concerned about blockage.
That T fitting is just one more complication on what should be a simple setup.
Connect your drops with a zip, or bread tie and run them into the pail. Spend the extra money on a good beer and have fun.

[johnallin]

Seems like it should work, but production seems low. Seems like the tubes get "vapor locked" or something. Would I be better off running each tap individually? They fill with sap, but it's barely dripping out. Tried to upload a picture, but it keeps failing on my phone. Basically, I have 2 taps with a tube attached coming into a "T" with the third leg attached to a tube going to the bucket. It's 36 degrees out right now, and the sap in the tubes is thawed, just not dripping out really. Feel like maybe I did something wrong.

Thinking more about this…maybe you’ve created a hamster bottle.
Water will sit there until something touches the end of tube.
Go to single lines and let the sap fall downhill through the tube and into the pail.

[l3rian]

I was kind of thinking the same about the hamster analogy. I tried jiggling the tubes and I could get some to come out. Capillary action maybe holding it in? It might be a bit early though. Have had 6 days where it was above 40, but today just barely hit it. I am getting some sap, just not buckets full like sometimes. I'm in Iowa and we were in a "snow hole" all winter. New Orleans probably got a much snow as we did this year. So no donuts in the snow as there isn't any. And it was a dry fall too. Assuming that would slow things down as there can't be a ton of moisture in the soil. Supposed to warm up and get rain this week. Hoping that speeds things along. I'll be out of town for about 10 days, so the wife and kids are on bucket duty. The sap I have collected so far is frozen solid, so hopefully it's still good when I get home to boil.

[ebliese]

We have done two singles into buckets and two taps to a "T" connector. We haven't noticed a difference in production. However, this got me thinking about how we use our tees. The whole tee connector is rotated almost 180* so it looks more like a "Y" than a "T". A picture would help, but it sounds like the site is having issues, so this is the best I can do:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=392452352560816&set=pb.100080331798539.-2207520000

[berkshires]

Unless you have vacuum in your system, one line per tap straight to bucket. Combining two taps like that is going to produce back pressure for sure.

GO

[DrTimPerkins]

Seems like it should work, but production seems low. Seems like the tubes get "vapor locked" or something. Would I be better off running each tap individually? They fill with sap, but it's barely dripping out. Tried to upload a picture, but it keeps failing on my phone. Basically, I have 2 taps with a tube attached coming into a "T" with the third leg attached to a tube going to the bucket. It's 36 degrees out right now, and the sap in the tubes is thawed, just not dripping out really. Feel like maybe I did something wrong.

Probably nothing seriously wrong, but when you Y to lines together, they'll always flow oddly. One will run, then stop and the other will run. It will reduce sap yield only minimally. Better to have each line go into the bucket separately if you can to avoid this, but probably not worth bothering with.

It's important to realize that trees produce not only sap, but also gases, so there will almost always be bubbles in the line that sometimes look like they're moving backwards (the air is because it floats up as the sap floats down). That is normal.

Whatever you do...DO NOT VENT!

[l3rian]

Think I was being paranoid an it was just a bit too early. The wife and kids got 30-40 gallons from 10 trees with 2 taps each yesterday. Thanks for all the help!

[RC Maple]

Spend the extra money on a good beer and have fun.

A lot of good information in this short thread. This may be the best nugget...