Sticky Bernard singel # 216

[Parker]

I have a singel-mechanical bernard 216 that has been giving me lots of problems hanging up,It leaks vacuum where the line feeds the piston (slide),,,,,sometimes the float will hang up and not go down,,sometimes the float will go up and the piston wont slide over and release the vacuum,,and will remain stuck up,,,,I have been useing minral oil to lube it and cleaned all the mung off it with rubbing alch the other day,,The up and down action on the slid seems sticky--I have loosend the bolt that holds the slide together with littel affect,,I disconected the wheel on the back of the slide with littel affect,,,,,,,Any ideas appricated,,,,

[ziggy]

If you find out how to fix yours, then maybe I can fix mine too. I have the same problems and have tried the same fixes with no luck. I am ready to send it down the road and make it somebody else's problem. I have 2 homemade releasers which work 100% of the time, I think I need to build a 3rd.

[doocat]

I had the same problem. I tried cleaning and lubing the pivot arm and float shaft, etc. No joy!

I finally fixed it by disassembling it, cleaning everything with alcohol and reassembling it. No lubrication. Has not skipped a beat since.

[mountainvan]

Sounds like you got some water in the releaser mechanism on top. I had that problem on mine this year, didn't know it till after I got a new top. Luckily it was still under warrenty. Now I have clear plastic bags covering the top of my releasers.

[super sappy]

A guy north of me has 20 of these releasers. He said that the key is to put a clear plastic bag over the top every year. I looked at one of his bushes and I really think that this is the only maintenance that gets done. But he claims to never have a problem since he started this practice.-SS

[maplecrest]

ok guys, after fighting mine for three years, lubing with vasiline ect. the problem is the vac tubing on the piston, and i have the vac leak too. so i clamped them with a wire tie to see if that would help. well is that was not the problem. the sun hitting the tube made it soft and leak. not a miss since.so replace the tubing or clamp it.

[MASSEY JACK]

I bought a new one this year. It started that sticking crap too. I found that if I lubed it every day with PAM cooking spray it worked fine. A little around the float shaft and a shot on both ends of the flipper arm.The stuff is food grade and is not too thick. It worked for me...

[Brian Ryther]

My single worked fine until the last week of the season. For three days i was afraid to walk away from it. Every time I went away the plunger would stick. I think it was just sticky from a season's worth of sap splash.

I have been looking at the Lapierre single on the maple guys site. It is can handle up to 1200 taps and only costs $826, the Bernard single is only rated for 500 taps and Leader advertises it for $1270. Can any one tell me why not to buy the Lapierre?

[mountainvan]

Lapeirre owns bernard so there's no real difference. Leader has a bigger markup on releasers.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have the doubble Bernard and was told not to lube it at all and I didnt and not a problem. When I started my vac in the morning I would let the vac build up and then cycle the unit with the plunger arm just to check it.

[New Hope Mapleman]

Everyone I know that has a single vertical mechanical Bernard releaser has had this problem. I will never buy one. I have doubles and they never miss a lick. As far as where to buy-check prices with everyone. The same exact unit costs a spread of over $500 difference in price.

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

I have a single vertical bernard and used it for 2 seasons so far. I lubed the moving parts at the beginning of each season with the tube of whatever it came with and have had not a bit of trouble. It has been one of the best things I've bought.......other then the RO!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[Russell Lampron]

After many aggravating attempts to fix my sticky releaser I finally have it figured out. First and foremost don't lube the plastic arm, just clean it with hot water or rubbing alcohol. Add a 14oz. box of rice to the float. Remove and clean the arm with the roller on it and most importantly bend the spring clip on it so that it puts more tension on the plastic arm. If there isn't enough tension you will get half dumps and the releaser will jump around a lot when it slams shut.

Another problem that I had was that the little spring clip that the float hits against on the rod fell off. I also noticed that the one for the upper stop was missing too. I replaced them both with 1/4" U clamps from the winch cable on my 4 wheeler. Now my releaser has long smooth dumps like it is supposed to.

[Brian]

I use pam on mine, I spray it on the ball bearing wheel,the float rod and the vacuum piston in the top once aseason. That took care of all my problems with them.

[Brian]

Well after reading the next post about releasers I guess I was a day late and a dollar short.

[Jim Brown]

Another problem I found this season that will help is to keep them as level as possible. If they happen to tilt the float will rub up againist the inside of the releaser and not let the float drop.(voice of experience). I have three of them and have not had a problem with two of them. The third one has given me some problems but I found out what it was .(read above)

Jim

[Russell Lampron]

I forgot to add that the only place that I lube mine is the float shaft just under the o ring seal. I use the food grade grease that came with the releaser.

Jim putting rice in the float helps with the rubbing on the side issue. I have never had mine off level enough to make it rub the side.

The problems that the Bernard releaser has are at least fixable. In the Hobby Releasers sticking problems thread I see where Lapierre is refunding Peoples money. I was going to buy one of those but ran out of money and built a sap ladder instead. Looks it was a good move now.