Releaser Icing?

[Pete33Vt]

Any of you had a problem with icing. My releaser is an old model with the vaccum coming in from the top, and a small plastic ball that would float up and shut off the vaccum in the event of a problem. Yesterday the sap was coming in pretty good, and that ball was frozen to the cage that it sets in.I didn't have any problems but if the sap level had come up to far I am not sure the vaccum would have been shut before getting sucked into my pump.
Any thoughs?

[802maple]

Have you got leaks in your woods? If you do the air coming from them will freeze them up even though it is warm out as it causes a ventury effect that reduces the air temperature to freezing piont or wind chill factor in other words. Otherwise I don't know.

[gmcooper]

I have had our releaser freeze up with slush on a couple occaisions. Usually when the temp drops and the pump still running over night. Sap kept running slow then as it made it to the releaser it turned to slush. Would have frozen solid in the lines if not for the vacuum pump pulling it along. Once it hit the releaser it froze into a mess. first float stuck then it backed up everything.

Back to your situation, yes if the air temp drops enough at the releaser the metal cage for the ball float will collect ice first and as you noted the ball is stuck there. Same thing can and does happen in moisture traps anoly probably doesn't get noticed as much. As 802 mentioned any air leak would speed the process up a bit as well. Other than trying to keep the releaser warmer I'm not sure how to prevent it from happening again.
Mark

[sweetwoodmaple]

After my mess with my releaser the other day, I'm tempted to install a 25' vertical riser in the vacuum line either at the releaser or just before the pump.

It would look silly but the vacuum can't pull sap higher than that, so it would keep the pump from gulping sap in case of a problem.

You can make scrap out of a pump if you let it run very long gulping water (I almost found out on Monday).

[802maple]

It can lift higher than 25 feet if your trees in the bush are higher as it only lifts from the static level of the sap and not the level of the releaser. so in other words the more it fills toward the pump it will also back up in to the woods until it has filled the 25 foot tube to the top.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Good Point. In my situation, the vac pump is in the Sugarhouse, which is just about the highest point.

Hopefully, the icing would either totally freeze up, or thaw after a certain period of time and the sap would go back through the releaser.

Vacuum is great and I wouldn't go back, but it can be a nightmare and get expensive if you mess up. Especially when I only have 500 taps to support the $$ it costs for all the equipment.

[PATheron]

Brian- Ive been having that problem with mine too. Mine is a new bernard double and it has been freezing up sometimes and has trouble dumping in the morning. The ball on mine froze up too. It usually will dump on one side and not on the other so I swap it over by hand for a little while. Not a good situation so today we made a box for it with plywood and energy shield foil insulation. Im hoping that fixes it. I wonder if its becouse I run my pump all night if its going to run the next day. If I dont I think the sap seeps later in the night with difference in elevation in the bush and freezes the line solid. Seems if I run the pump all night it keeps them cleaner for the next morning. My lines are TIGHT so I dont think its the air leak deal like Jerry was saying. Ill let you know if it helps. We put a trouble light in the box. Theron

[brookledge]

When the humidity levels are high it will make freezing more of a problem then on days when it is dry. I have seen days when it is raining out and the temps are around freezing and it will ice up. But on a dry day with the same temperature it will not freeze up
Keith

[802maple]

As Keith said they will ice just from the humidity also and that is mainly form the slight leaks in the releaser it self around the slide valves and such. Also it doesn't take much of a leak in the woods, 8-10 hairsize leaks is sufficient to accomplish this. cracks in trees, hollow trees, to close to a old hole, I have found vacuum leaks this way when one of my tappers tapped a little over a inch from a old hole.

[sweetwoodmaple]

I don't run my pump when it's below 32 degrees. I'm afraid of filling my releaser with ice.

My woods are in a valley, so with no wind it can be 5 degrees colder than at the house. That has got me in trouble on more than one occasion as I depend on a pump line from the tanks to my overhead tank.

Some day, when I get the courage, I'll post the pics of my releaser. The Governor has seen it.

I has all the features except the ball float of a mechanical releaser, but the valves are controlled with solenoid valves. And...it is all made of PVC pipe. Let me tell you, it takes a little thinking on how to arrange a two tank, two flapper valve system all in PVC pipe and actually get some volume for sap. The mimimum cycle time is about a minute (dump and vac fill). Not sure where that get's me at 7 gallons per dump as far as max number of taps.

I have $300 in all of it. I'm not sure it was worth the frustration, but it works. It also only sits about 16" above the top of my releaser tank, which I need for slope in my woods. The small vertical releasers take up more vertical space, which makes having a large tank somewhat of a problem.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

SWEETWOODMAPLE

Please get some pics of your releaser i am interested to see what you have built

RICH