buckets

[PATheron]

Question for you guys. Have any of you tried to gather buckets by sucking the sap out with a vac pump? I was wondering if I put buckets out where I cant afford to tube it right and ran a suction line to gather it how long would it take to empty a bucket with the 5/16 line hooked to my vac pump? If anyone has any idea let me know. If it would empty the bucket fast Id turn my kids loose on them. Theron

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Theron,
I haven't tried sucking out of buckets as a gathering method but I did part of my wash of my system by carrying a 5 gallon bucket of hot water around and sucking it through the vacuum system. One bucket of hot water would do over 100 taps and each one sucked 15 seconds or more. I think it would take a long time to vacuum the sap with 5/16 line. Could you set up several dump stations that emptied down the hill by gravity so the kids wouldn't have to carry the sap far?

[lpakiz]

I am contemplating the same thing. I would like to try to hook up a 12 volt pump (approx 4 GPM) powered by my four-wheeler. I was going to try 7-10 feet of 1/2 inch hose tipped with a 15 inch long "stinger" to reach into the pails. I would have a toggle switch taped near the stinger to turn it off and on. Discharge wiould run into a tank(s) mounted on the ATV. Depending on how fast the pump was, I might also empty to the bulk tank with the same pump--just reverse the hoses. Any thoughts??
Larry

[Maplepro]

I seen a unit once that was homemade for sucking sap out of buckets it was a zero tank on a trailer with a vac pump hook to it they clamied it would suck a 2 gal sap can in 10 secs. but i never seen it work.

[brookledge]

The cheapest and simplest way for collecting road side trees or any trees you can get near with your vehicle is to use a rotary gear pump just like the one used for a filter press except larger. Either a 3/4" or 1" work good. When I used to use one when I had buckets I had 50' of suction and with one person driving and one going from tree to tree you can collect faster than any other way. No spilling or slipping with full buckets. Of course it is only good for road side trees.
As for using a vacuum pump if you are going to string tubing to each bucket then why use the bucket, just use tubing and gain the benifit of the vac.
Keith

[royalmaple]

I tried extensive tests here today.

By far the best and fastest method was 3/4 mainline hooked to the releaser. I think 1/2 inch would be even better for ease of movement.

At 20" on my pump, the water didn't have a chance in a bucket. I was able to suck a full sap bucket in 4 seconds. Even with a full 400' coil of 3/4 pipe and going up 10' over my sugar house doors.

I took some pretty neat videos.

[maplehound]

my neighbors use to get stuck with there tractor all the time, so they decided to leave the tractor parked at the road and use a PTO pump. I believe it was a roller type that both vacuumed and pressured through the pump. Then they pulled a hose of about 3/4" and 300ft around the woods from bucket to bucket sucking them out. worked good for them for several years till they gave up making syrup all together.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I don't think you want to try sucking it thru lateral lines, it would take way too long. 1/2" or 3/4" should work good.

[Amber Gold]

Depending on what property owners will let me use this sounds like a pretty good option. It sounds like it'd surely beat walking through the woods emptying buckets by hand. Some of them are going to be a few hundred uphill from where I'd empty them in the wood.

What would I use for a pump and hose? Would my sap pump work? I'm guessing you wouldn't use a garden hose. Something else. I'd think you'd want something fairly flexible and that can be easily rolled up. Is there a pump you can get to run off the truck's electrical system if the sap pump wouldn't work?

Thanks

[Haynes Forest Products]

I like the idea some of the problems i see is most pumps need liquid for lubrication and as you walk from bucket to bucket your pump will run dry for short periods of time. impeller pumps will burn up without liquid in them. sentrifical type pumps work better dry but some have seals that need to stay wet to work best. Diafram type will work best. You need a pump that will self prime. Why not use a GOOD garden hose one that wont kink every time you look at it. Dont we drink from them and do alot of our cleaning with them $45.00 for 100' seems like the way to go and with quick disconects life just got easer

[TapME]

Garden hoses come in two types, one to water the lawn with and another that you can drink from. If you get one be careful which one you get. The other is made of stuff you don't want to drink from. Just my 2 cents.

[maplecrest]

threeon, when i was a kid we gathered buckets with a brass gear pump on a 3 hp motor. bigger pump that filter press. could use pto also to run pump. the hose was a food grade 1 inch id. keeped burning the hose on the muffler of motor. but worked well. if two gathered and one drove tractor. the guy gathering had 4, 5 gal pails. would fill them i would come along with tractor and enpty pails while other took 4 more and kept going ahead. alone i would suck the pails i could reach with hose then move tractor along. 40 years later i still have the pump and motor and still works. but no hose.tubing and vacuum in the early years of my life.

[brookledge]

Jeff
I agree with you that a gear pump is the cats meow. Like I said in a past post I used to use one when I had buckets. The nice thing about them is there is no delay in primming as soon as you stick the hose in the bucket it imeadiately starts draining. Compared to centrifical that takes along time to prime.
Keith

[PATheron]

Thats pretty cool what you guys were doing with the gear pump. I was thinking about using the vac pump where I couldnt afford to tube it yet and suck them out that way. Theron