blue mainline tubing, whats the advantage over black

[markct]

i notice they have blue half inch mainline for 22 cents a foot and the regular black is only 17 cents a foot, is blue more weather resistant, longer lasting? whats the advantage that would make me wanna pay an extra 5 cents a foot

[Mike]

I believe the blue is less pores than black, suppose to keep it cleaner,less bacteria........

[chipa]

They say the blue mainline heats up less than the black (lower sap temp on warm days). It is translucent.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If it's only 5 cents difference, it would be well worth it. I think you can get 1/2" for a lot less than 17 cents.

[sweetwoodmaple]

In 1/2", it's not that much difference.

Where the difference comes is in 3/4" and above. There is at least 20 cents per foot difference.

Warm days...yes. But, on 35 degree days, I love my black main line.

[H. Walker]

But the real question is why would you want to use 1/2" mainline? The common consensus is never go less than 3/4".

[sweetwoodmaple]

I use quite a bit of 1/2". My sugar bush has quite a bit of other trees mixed in, so I don't have that many taps per line.

Why run 3/4" out 100 ft to an area that only has 20 taps? 1/2" works good for that as long as you keep it at an even slope so vac can transfer.

My 1/2" all run into a 3/4" or 1" mainline. So, really they aren't "mainlines" per se.

Sometimes the common consensus just helps someone sell more tubing. :-)

[tuckermtn]

I also like my black tubing on 35 deg days...I only have about 800 ft on one run and another 800 on another run- so I'm not that worried about sap heating up...and I also use probably 500 ft of 1/2" on two sections where there is only 15 taps or so...

just my $.02 worth...

[PATheron]

Guys- I ran all blue in my bush and one thing I like about it is that you can see the sap running in it. Its nice on a mainline becouse if you get a sag the sap will go full column in it and mess up your vac a little. With the blue you will see it and you can prop up the sag and correct it. The sap will still come down to the releaser but it will come in columns. With the black you wont be able to tell where it is happening. That said, Id use black in a cold spot for the benefit of it thawing faster but I think Id only use it on steep pitch and run the blue on the flatter part so I could monitor the sap better. Black is a lot cheaper though no two ways about it. Theron

[802maple]

Short distances I don't worry about black mainline. We had a long distance of black 1 1/2" mainline (6000 feet) for a wet line with 5000 taps on it and even on 35 degree days with the sun shining it would heat the sap in excess of 80 degrees, not good. We tried painting and it helped a little. Finally we changed it all to white. I do like the translucent though for the reasons Theron gave.

[hookhill]

The old 1/2 mainline issue has reappeared. There are a few of us that are in the camp that a 1/2 mainline gravity fed system will average more sap than a 3/4" mainline. The idea behind this is that when your 1/2 mainline fills up it creates a natural vacumn. This would be similar to a placing your hand on over a garden hose as its draining. You can feel the suction. How many taps should you run on a system like this? I dont know. Right now we have 580 which is probably to many. Next year we may add a peristatltic pump and swap out the first 400 feet with 3/4".

[802maple]

I agree with Hookhill if you are going to have a good gravity system you need to have the lines overloaded slightly. All the info that is out there today relates only to vacuum systems. In my opinion you can only have one or the other and you can't hybrid them.

[drake1271]

i had trouble with the blue line splitting at the manifolds.. maybe a bad roll.. but i will never buy it again

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you don't have too many taps for 1/2" to support, you are much better with 1/2" vs 3/4" in my opinion at least on gravity because it is much less surface area for the sun to heat up and the sap should stay at least somewhat cooler vs 3/4".

Also, the more sap that is in the line, the faster it moves thru the line and the more it keeps the bacteria flushed out of the line.

[802maple]

Drake- You didn't by chance heat the line with a torch did you? If you did it will break down the uv protection and it will split. Black is more forgiving with a torch then any of the other mainlines.

[drake1271]

yes, i did heat it to get the fittings in??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Not a good idea to heat any tubing in my opinion. If you must, use some warmer water, but not a torch.

[802maple]

Fire will break down the chemical makeup and it will get brittle and crack.

[chipa]

Lamb makes some blue pipe also.The original Lamb stuff was kind of brittle. The pipe made now (by leader or Lapierre) is made from the same material as the 5/16 tubing; it is flexible and goes on fitings easily.