question about using mainline and shurflo pumps/diaphram pumps

[snakes14009]

So I am already starting to plan for next season, since we just added a new single 4x40 RO to the sugar shack, i figure i better bring home more sap to make the RO work for the money it cost. So i am planning on adding vaccum to two seperate woods one can be 145 taps the other can be 150ish. Both have the same concern which is both have paths for tractors/side by side that cut through the sugar bush. So I am seeing if anyone has used mainline to 5/16 with a shurflo and what the results where. I know it will take time to pull vaccum but, its run mainline with one point crossing the road or do i just keep my 3/16 and just disconnect 10 or more lines from the manifold? I am already running 3/16 tubing but i would like to get some more out of the woods i already have before I go up in tap count. Currently i have 5 collection points/ barrels at one of the woods and would like to cut down to one IBC tote.

Hopefully i am making sense. Just looking for people real world experience with larger mainlines and shurflo.

[Scm]

I have a trail that crosses my 1200' 3/16 line near the top. I just put the line up high enough to get under. The vacuum had no problem pulling the sap uphill for that part of the run.

[maple flats]

In my current sugarbush I have 3 spots where a busy trail passes under the mainline. While I use a piston pump and have sap ladders to raise the sap up and over the trails, it can be done but it's not ideal with diaphragm pumps. I suggest you make each lift location by setting up the diaphragm pump to push the sap up over rather than trying to pull it up over. Those little pumps re much better at pushing than pulling. To set them up, just have all of the laterals or mainlines converging, yhen biuld a manifold with as many 3/16 lines as needed to push the sap up. I say 3/16 because the sap doesn't fall back thru the gasses, they remain seperated. I'd p;lan 1 line 3/16 for each 20 taps, to make it work the best, also have a recirculation line, from pump out back to pump inlet, a needle valve in that allows adjustment, you don't need a large flow, just enough to keep the diaphragm wet. If this set up isn't at the end of the line,(you have more taps closer to the tank) you will need another pump to get some vacuum farther down the line towards the main tank. That pump should be higher GPM rating or it won't make enough vacuum past the pushing pump.
Another way is to find an old dairy pump and run it on a gas engine, if it's a vane pump replace the vanes if badly worn, and increase the oil flow, they will pull sap far better. In the pst I ran 2 remote sugar bushes, eachabout 600-750 taps. One location had a Surge 75 vane pump the other had a Surge 40. One got 19" vacuum only because it was hooked up to a vacuum tank rated at 20" vacuum, I regulated to 19", the other ran at 22" vacuum, each had a Honda 5.5 HP gas engine and had double pulleys, a single would slip. 1 had 4 sap ladders, the other had 3. They were before 3/16 became a thing, the legs on the sap ladders were 5/16 tubing. I hooked up 7.5 gal fuel tanks on each and only needed to add gas once a day.

[UB29]

I run a 3/4" mainline (about 800ft) right up through the middle of my property, with 138 taps on it.
5/16" laterals, each handling no more than 5 taps.
Down at my 200gal. tank, I platform mounted a Shurflo 4048 set-up. Pump pulls great vacuum, and this set-up beats any other of my Shurflo systems. With a tight system, I see 23-25" vacuum regularly, which is darn good for a diaphragm pump.

Bill

[BAP]

Go with the main line and set up a quick coupler in the main line where it crosses your trail so you can easily take it apart to get through when you need to.

[DRoseum]

You could Put valves on both sides of the coupler to close and hold vacuum on each side if you need to disconnect/reconnect mid season.

[snakes14009]

Hey thanks all of you for the quick response. As I write this I am boiling and I fear maybe for the last time. We will see what mother nature holds

[Super Sapper]

If you like your 3/16 and want to stay with that it will work. You can go up over the trail high enough to get under and me back down. The drop back down will mostly offset the rise on the other side. 3/16 with mechanical vac is very forgiving on slope unlike 5/16. I have a woods with 13 runs of 1000 feet with 30 taps each on a hybrid system with 2 surflow pumps. Half of the lines have good slope and elevation drop and the others are pretty flat. I just run the lines and some go up and down with little loss of vac. I have put a gauge on couple of the flat lines and it only loses about 2 inches to the end. I had a dip in a 5/16 line going to a vac gauge with a low spot in it and when I adjusted it to take out the low spot it jumped 5 inches. 3/16 will not work on flat ground without mechanical vac but with mechanical vac it is much more forgiving than 5/16.